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| Wednesday, 23 February 2005 |
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Bush wins token NATO pledge of Iraq aid BRUSSELS, Tuesday (Reuters) U.S. President George W. Bush won a largely symbolic pledge from NATO allies, including Iraq war critics, to help train Iraqi security forces on Tuesday but France and Germany pressed him for reform of transatlantic ties. On the second day of a fence-mending tour, Bush took his charm offensive to summits with NATO and European Union leaders, eager to mend fences after two years of bitter rifts over Iraq. A NATO official trumpeted the agreement of all 26 allies to make some contribution to the Iraq training mission as a token of the alliance's rediscovered unity. "We have the 26. As far as we are concerned, that is everyone working in the same direction," the official said. But the boast masked wide divergence in the level of help on offer. France, the most virulent European critic of the war, agreed for just one of its officers at NATO headquarters to help coordinate offers of equipment to the Iraqi military. The United States is to provide around 60 trainers out of a total close to 160. France, Germany and Belgium remain adamant that their personnel not serve inside Iraq. French President Jacques Chirac endorsed a call by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, initially rebuffed by Washington, for a reform of the alliance to take account of new realities such as the rise of an enlarged and increasingly integrated EU. "Europe and the United States are real partners. So we need to dialogue and listen to each other more," Chirac told the NATO leaders, according to speaking notes released by his staff. |
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