PARIS, March 25: French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin said it was his “profound hope” that “the United States will soon return to the United Nations and again support the idea of international legality,” while speaking on French TV on Friday.

Earlier in the day, speaking in Geneva before the Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations, Mr de Villepin stressed the belief already expressed by President Jacques Chirac according to which the present US war with Iraq is “illegitimate.”

The foreign minister noted that “for each situation should correspond a solution that is appropriate, proportionate and legitimate.”

DECONTAMINATION UNIT: The French Army has sent a decontamination unit to Qatar, which apparently contains several dozen men specialized in counteracting NBC warfare.