De Villepin(r), Fischer(L) and Ivanov; the peace camp made clear they want U.S.-led forces to win

PARIS, April 4 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Amid clear signs of giving in to the fait a complete, the Foreign Ministers of France, German and Russia - the three countries which led opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq - were to meet in Paris Friday, April 4, to discuss the UN's involvement in the country's post-war settlement.

Dominique de Villepin was to host a lunch with Joschka Fischer and Igor Ivanov before flying to Rome for afternoon talks with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini and an audience with the pope, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

In recent days - with U.S.-British forces appearing to make headway in the invasion plans - France, Germany and Russia have for the first time made clear they want U.S.-led forces to win the conflict, moving away from what appeared to be a neutrality based on their view that the war was illegal.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told parliament in Berlin that his country hoped the war would end quickly with the fall of Saddam Hussein, and on Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country did not wish the United States to fail.

French President Jacques Chirac sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth Thursday apologizing for the defacement of a British war cemetery and saying the thoughts of all French were with British soldiers fighting in Iraq.

France is hopeful that it can persuade Britain to support its view that UN authority is essential to legitimize post-war arrangements in Iraq.

The three Foreign Ministers were expected to discuss the timing and phrasing of a new UN Security Council resolution to set post-war Iraq within an international framework. All three countries are concerned not to approve any wording that appears to legitimize the U.S.-British invasion.

Another topic was expected to be the idea for a reconstruction conference like the one that took place near Bonn following the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“Powell Chance”

The meetings come a day after U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met NATO and European foreign ministers in Brussels in what was seen as the first step in a process of reconciliation between the US and Europe after the bitter divisions over the Iraqi war.

European countries are pressing for a central role for the UN in Iraq's post-war administration, but the US has made clear it will reserve for itself and Britain a free hand in determining how the country is run until it decides otherwise.

After failing to prevent the outbreak of the invasion, the so-called peace camp was urged Friday by the German press not to spurn the fence-mending chance offered by U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell in a day of talks with his EU and NATO counterparts in Brussels the previous day.

The conservative daily Die Welt said Powell's attempt to seek dialogue with his European counterparts was significant.

"For Europeans, it means reach out your hand to the United States, do not reject their collaboration in Iraq, show conciliation. Because without the USA, Europe loses its military protection," it said.

"Without them, suspicion grows between EU members. Without them, the Russian bear gains weight on the European continent. The quarrel over Iraq is not worth risking all that," it said.

The Sueddeutsche Zeitung also urged EU leaders to seize the day. "Powell's trip should be understood as an opportunity," it wrote.

"Europe cannot simply complain ad nausea about U.S. military might and the failings of a common (EU) foreign and security policy," it wrote.

"In Washington, the feeling will grow that the United States needs the support of its allies so that it does not crash on the altar of a grandiose imperial hubris."

"Europe - old and new - will not unite itself by opposing the United States," the paper added, and must instead "draw up a common response to the doctrine of European security."

However, Powell told France's Le Figaro newspaper Friday that the UN "has to be associated" with Iraq's post-war administration, and that it should play a part in running humanitarian aid programs and installing an eventual civilian authority.