Letter to the French Foreign Minister, Mr. Villepin
LETTER TO THE FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER, MR. VILLEPIN
Monsieur Dominique de VILLEPIN
Ministre des affaires étrangères
37, Quai d'Orsay
75700 Paris
May 20, 2003
We are a group of American citizens residing in France. On January 11, we wrote to you to express our appreciation of your refusal to condone a senseless and unnecessary war. Although you and the other members of the Security Council who were in the majority were unable to prevent the war, you were able, on that occasion, to prevent the United Nations Organisation from losing its credibility by becoming a rubber stamp for United States' policy. Please accept once again our gratitude.
We are taking the liberty of writing to you now in view of your forthcoming visit with Mr. Colin Powell. We feel confident that you will continue to uphold the principles of multilateralism, international law, and the fundamental role of the United Nations. International peace, and particularly peace with justice, can only be based on respect for the rule of law.
We believe that the UN must not abdicate its responsibility for overseeing the postwar normalisation process, including the rapid restoration of Iraqi sovereignty and control over their country's natural resources. Any decision about industry privatisation belongs to the Iraqi people acting through a duly elected government. As no weapons of mass destruction have been found, and the former regime has been effectively dissolved, there is no reason to delay normalisation and the withdrawal of the occupying forces. We believe that the destruction of Iraq's national museum and library should be investigated by an international commission., as you have suggested
Concerning the Israel/Palestine conflict, we feel that the European Union and the United Nations should actively shoulder the responsibility they have assumed in co-sponsoring the "road map" peace process.
We should like to take this occasion to express our strong disapproval of the negative climate that has been created through systematic misinformation.
You have said that the UN is the incarnation of a universal conscience. We want you to know that there are many United States citizens who share that conviction.
Sincerely,
Americans Against the War (Paris)
