France calls for US troops to leave Iraq in 2008

Paris -- France has called for the US to end its military presence in Iraq in 2008 at the latest.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told news programme I-Tele that the departure of US troops was the "only solution" to the ongoing conflict, adding that a civil war was already underway in the country.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said setting a timetable for complete withdrawal, and handing "full sovereignty" to Iraqis, was a prerequisite for any political solution. Only after a timetable was set could the Iraqis move forward with national reconciliation and regional dialogue, he said.

"The US have failed in Iraq," Villepin told the Financial Times in an interview posted on its website late Tuesday.

"If you do not say that in one year there will be no more American or British troops in Iraq, nothing will happen in Iraq except more deaths and crises," he added.