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Bush wants NATO in iraq Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5385240http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5385240
Bush Sees Possible NATO Role for Iraq, Not Chirac
Wed Jun 9, 2004 02:23 PM ET
By Steve Holland
SEA ISLAND, Ga. (Reuters) - President Bush proposed a NATO role for Iraq at the Group of Eight summit on Wednesday but the main opponent of the war, French President Jacques Chirac, said the alliance had no role there.
Fresh from gaining passage of a U.N. resolution on Iraq, Bush and his closest Iraq war ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, discussed possible NATO involvement in training Iraqi security forces over breakfast.
"We believe NATO ought to be involved," Bush said, but added: "There's going to be some constraints, obviously. A lot of NATO countries are not in a position to commit more troops."
Chirac told a news conference he did not think it was the "mission" of NATO to intervene in Iraq.
"Nor do I think it would be relevant or well-understood in Iraq," he said, adding that he would be willing to consider the idea if the interim government due to take over in Iraq on June 30 requested it.
But Chirac and fellow G8 member Gerhard Schroeder of Germany, who both strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year, reported a warm diplomatic atmosphere at the summit.
"There has been a remarkable change in the American foreign policy," said the German chancellor. U.S. officials described Bush's meeting with Schroeder on Tuesday as the warmest between the two leaders in more than a year.
"American colleagues understood they have to play ball and they did play ball," said Chirac.
Bush is seeking the endorsement of his G8 colleagues for an initiative aimed at promoting democratic and economic reforms in the greater Middle East, and has invited the leaders of Afghanistan, Bahrain, Jordan, Tunisia, Turkey and Yemen to the summit.
Blair's official spokesman told reporters a communique on the initiative expected later on Wednesday would stress a renewed commitment to the roadmap and quartet process aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"We fully support that (the communique) and in particular the emphasis on working in partnership with countries of the Middle East and North Africa, both in terms of reform and in terms of building up capacity," the spokesman said.
On Iraq, Blair said Iraqis needed to be in a position to provide stability and security themselves.
"There is a capability that is there at the moment, but we know there are gaps in that capability and we are there to help them and make sure the Iraqis ultimately can take care of their own security and defense," Blair said.
In Baghdad, Interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said the country would need foreign troops to fight guerrillas even after the U.S.-led occupation formally ends on June 30 in line with the U.N. resolution.
Underlining the challenge, guerrillas killed 12 members of an Iraqi security force entrusted with pacifying Falluja, west of Baghdad, and saboteurs blew up a northern oil pipeline.
Iraq's new president, Ghazi al-Yawar, made his first entrance on the world stage at a lunch at the summit in Sea Island, Georgia, being held behind tight security.
The G8 countries -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia -- are discussing Bush's Middle East initiative with their Middle Eastern counterparts.
Chirac said he wanted to be sure that it did not appear to be a G8 attempt to impose Western-style democracies on Arab and Muslim states.
"We feel in France that reform cannot be imposed from the outside," he said.
The initiative has been the subject of negotiations for six months and the United States had to rewrite some of it to satisfy European concerns.
The summit formally began on Wednesday when the leaders held their first plenary session, focusing among other things on economic issues.
They were scheduled to issue a statement once again outlining their efforts to expand trade, and probably calling on all members to use the opportunity of strong global growth to do whatever is necessary to bolster their economies.
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