Nato clinches Iraq deal

7.00pm

BRUSSELS - Nato has clinched a deal to start training Iraqi forces next month after the United States, faced with resistance from France, agreed to shelve its demand that the mission come under US-led coalition command.

"This alliance is united on Iraq," Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer declared after envoys from the 26 allied nations met for the sixth time in three days on an issue that rekindled tensions over last year's Iraq war.

He told a news conference around 40 Nato officers would leave for Iraq in early August to help the insurgency-plagued government rebuild its ministry of defence and military headquarters.

US ambassador to Nato Nicholas Burns sounded triumphant that Nato had agreed to have a genuine presence in Iraq and said he expected the training force to grow rapidly into the hundreds within months.

"The Nato flag is definitely going to be in Baghdad," he said. "Today's decision for us represents the unification of Nato ... we've come together in a way that we could not a year-and-a-half ago."

Both Paris and Washington immediately claimed victory for their stand on the command arrangements, over which they have sparred since the middle of the week.

Washington had pressed for an immediate decision to put Nato's mission under the command of the US-led multinational force in Iraq, arguing this was essential to ensure the safety of Nato staff in a dangerous environment.

France feared this would be the thin end of the wedge, inserting Nato into the Iraqi battlefield through a back door.

It resisted the US push for a "double-hatted" commander who would report to both Nato and a US general, saying the alliance could not be subordinate to one of its allies.

In the end, the allies decided to leave the decision on the exact relationship until mid-September.

"The French, Germans and others forced the Americans to retreat," said a senior French diplomat.

"NATO'S FLAG WILL BE IN IRAQ"

But Burns told reporters that Washington was "very pleased" with the outcome because the principle of "unity of command" between the 160,000-strong multinational force and the alliance training mission had been agreed.

"Unity of command" appeared, however, only to mean coordination between the missions and security for Nato trainers.

"It's a distinct mission, so it's not ... integrated into the multinational force," de Hoop Scheffer said.

Diplomats said the command dispute was more about political symbolism than military security.

Some said Paris, Europe's fiercest opponent of last year's US-led invasion, wanted to avoid handing Washington any international support on Iraq that could enhance US President George W. Bush's chances of re-election.

Iraq's interim government has asked the alliance for military equipment, protection for UN personnel and training for both its regular forces and border guards.

Nato leaders promised the government support when they met in Istanbul last month.

However, the wording of the summit accord was left vague because of French and German resistance to an overt or collective role for the alliance in Iraq, forcing alliance envoys back around the table to agree on details.

France backed away this week from its initial objections to a Nato training mission inside Iraq. But, like Germany, it has vowed not to deploy any of its own personnel to the country.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq