Urge France to lead on Iraq

Next week, all world leaders gather at the annual United Nations summit in New York. Over 100,000 of us have already signed the "NEW Plan" for Iraq -- an international peace conference, held by impartial mediators, to broker an end to the war and full US withdrawal. Now we need a messenger for this initiative, one strong enough to overcome Bush's objections and engage all parties. France could be the perfect messenger -- a major power which opposed the US rush to war, whose new Foreign Minister is a humanitarian founder of Doctors without Borders.

We need as many people as possible to sign on to the NEW plan and send it urgently to France's President Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, asking them to push for internationally-led talks to stop the horror in Iraq. So please spread the word by forwarding this email-- and if you haven't already added your own name, click below now :

 http://www.avaaz.org/en/au_secours_iraq/b.php/?cl=18175038

Kouchner and Sarkozy will be at the UN summit next week. Will they use this chance to build the independent initiative we need -- at the UN, through the EU and with Muslim states? We'll send our messages directly to them and alert the French press, who may find it compelling that citizens around the world are asking for French leadership on this global problem.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in Iraq since the US-led invasion, likely more than in Darfur, and the bloodshed has only accelerated in 2007. Electricity, food and drinking water are all running short. Iraq has produced more refugees than any other crisis in the world today, and Baghdad has lost over half its Sunni population to ethnic cleansing.

As warring parties, neither the US nor Iraq's sectarian government have a hope of brokering inclusive talks on Iraq - its people have no confidence in either. It's time for the rest of us to stop playing 'we told you so', and start doing whatever it takes to save Iraq. Let's begin by raising a massive global outcry for France to step up at the UN -- you can add your name and spread the word today at this link:

 http://www.avaaz.org/en/au_secours_iraq/b.php/?cl=18175038

With hope,

Ricken, Paul, and the Avaaz team.

PS for all the facts & figures behind our campaign on the massive humanitarian catastrophe engulfing Iraq, click here:
 http://www.avaaz.org/blog/en/iraq

For the BBC/ABC/Japanese TV poll revealing how ordinary Iraqis want a change of course:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6983027.stm

McClatchy Newspapers syndicate report on the crisis in Iraq, and how the US are spinning it:
 http://www.mcclatchydc.com/iraq/story/19566.html

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