Bush papers over splits with Chirac on Iraq

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SAVANNAH, Georgia - US President George W Bush on Thursday sought to paper over differences with France on a Nato role in Iraq and said he did not envision sending more troops from the military alliance there.

However, French President Jacques Chirac continued to express scepticism at a proposal by Bush and his ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair that Nato should help train Iraqi security forces.

Their public dispute on the issue was a sour note in an otherwise harmonious annual Group of Eight summit, where leaders of the United States, Britain, Japan, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Russia were united in their desire to help Iraq, while pledging no new troops or financial aid.

A day after G8 leaders backed democratic reforms in Arab and Muslim nations, Bush described "the spread of freedom throughout the broader Middle East" as "the imperative of our age" and said he did not feel snubbed by the failure of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Kuwait to attend the summit.

Bush went into the summit buoyed by a unanimous UN resolution passed on Tuesday that granted international legitimacy to Washington's plans for Iraq's transition back to self-government.

However, the mood of unity was marred the next day when Chirac -- a leading opponent of the invasion of Iraq last year -- expressed doubts about Bush's Nato proposal.

Bush and Chirac held bilateral talks on Thursday but apparently failed to achieve accord on the Nato issue.

The United States has about 130,000 troops in Iraq and, along with Britain, is seeking greater involvement by the military alliance in dealing with the precarious security situation.

"I don't expect more troops from Nato to be offered up ... Nobody is suggesting that. What we are suggesting is for Nato perhaps to help train. That would come at the request of the Iraqi government," Bush told a news conference.

Chirac, giving his own news conference, said a Nato mission in Iraq could carry great risks -- "even of a clash between the Christian West and the Muslim East, although that is rather a caricature".

As for Nato training Iraqis, he said: "We would have to have details ... For the moment there is not a concrete proposition and I have no comment to make."

Blair said "you'll never get people who were against removing Saddam and against the Iraq war to change their minds", but he believed disagreements over a Nato mission could be overcome.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said he viewed with scepticism the prospect of engaging Nato, even in training Iraqi security forces, but that Berlin would not block such efforts.

Bush's joking mood at the news conference turned grim when he was asked about a March 2003 memo by administration lawyers arguing that he was not tied by US and international laws barring torture.

The memo became public this week while the Iraqi prison abuse scandal that severely tarnished the US image was still fresh in many minds and amid concerns about the treatment of suspects held in secret in Guantanamo Bay.

"I'm going to say it one more time. In fact, maybe I can be more clear. The instructions went out to our people to adhere to law," said Bush.

The leaders issued a statement on Thursday urging rapid action to get the Arab-Israeli peace plan back on track.

It said the G8 would help efforts led by the so-called Quartet of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, to restore momentum on the "road map" for peace.

Leaders from six African countries -- Algeria, Ghana, Senegal, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda -- met the G8 leaders in Sea Island to find ways of dealing with the wars raging on their continent, development issues and fighting Aids.

Saturation security at the summit venue, an island connected to the mainland by a single causeway, has deterred the large-scale protests seen at previous such gatherings but about a dozen demonstrators were arrested on Thursday.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq