Bush European 'fence mending'?
Reuters: U.S. President George W. Bush has won a largely symbolic pledge from NATO allies, including Iraq war critics, to help train Iraqi security forces 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. Link
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. Link
posted by exoplanet at 3:19 PM
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