Posted on 06/28/2004 8:27:59 AM PDT by Rennes Templar
ISTANBUL, Turkey (June 28) -- NATO leaders at a summit meeting in Istanbul agreed Monday to offer training to the security forces of Iraq's new interim government, which formally took power in Baghdad just hours earlier.
''They have agreed it,'' NATO spokesman James Appathurai told Reuters. The 26 NATO leaders gathered in Turkey's business capital had the final word on the deal hammered out last week by alliance ambassadors in Brussels. NATO envoys had wrangled for 24 hours over how to respond to Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's request for help for his security forces, which are battling a wide-scale insurgency.
The deal had to be left deliberately vague and differences remain still on whether NATO should train Iraqi officers inside Iraq under an alliance flag, or limit itself to training outside the country and acting as a clearing house for national efforts.
France insists the training is a job for allies not the alliance as a whole, and there should be ''no NATO flag'' on the ground in Iraq.
The administration of United States President Bush, keen in a U.S. presidential election year to persuade others to help share the security burden in Iraq, is pushing for the most active NATO role possible.
It says NATO's role should be comprehensive, training the army, police, border security forces and bulk of the national defense.
The differences echo the rows within NATO last year before the Iraq war when France and Germany, which opposed the U.S.-led conflict, blocked military assistance to Iraq's neighbor Turkey.
06-28-04 07:16 EDT
Not from the Supreme Court.
GO LANCE!
When thousands more of us die, they might be force to come around. That is the future, I hope we're up to it.
I'm reserving judgement on that ruling. Waiting to hear more analysis. Seems to be not clear at this time.
Too bad Bush can't get the nations to work with him and help us.
The title is a bit deceiving though. Signs OFF?? Should read NATO SIGNS DEAL TO TRAIN IRAQI FORCES! What clymers! ANYTHING to put a negative spin on the deal!
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