LEAD, FOLLOW, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY:

Paris, Moscow and Berlin Issue Declaration Against Iraq War, Call for Ministers' Gathering (Kim Housego, 3/15/03, AP)

France, Russia and Germany issued a joint declaration Saturday saying there was no justification for a war on Iraq and calling for a meeting of foreign ministers at the U.N. Security Council to set a "realistic" timetable for Saddam Hussein to disarm.

France's foreign minister, Dominique de Villepin, said his country would accept a "tight timetable" for Iraqi disarmament - but not an ultimatum that would automatically lead to war if missed. But he said war appears increasingly inevitable.

"It is difficult to imagine what could stop this machine," he told France 2 television, before adding "one does not have the right to be discouraged."

They're French; they're born discouraged. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 15, 2003 5:17 PM