France has no vote on NATO military matters, only on political questions. 5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires
Posted on 07/26/2004 9:26:21 PM PDT by Pikamax
France set to brake U.S. on NATO training Iraqis BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO, urged on by the United States, hopes to finalise plans this week for NATO to train Iraqi security forces. But NATO member France wants to slow things down, arguing for only the dispatch of another alliance fact-finding mission, diplomats said on Monday.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told a news conference he "really hoped" the 26-nation alliance would take a decision this week on its support for Baghdad's battle against insurgents.
NATO ambassadors are due to meet on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the training, which was pledged at a summit last month but left deliberately vague because of French and German resistance to an overt or collective role for the alliance.
Washington is likely to press at those meetings for a rapid deployment of instructors to Iraq, whose interim government has asked NATO for military equipment and protection for U.N. personnel as well as training for troops and border guards.
But diplomats said France, keen not to be rushed into a risky mission in Iraq for the sake of what it sees as the U.S. political calendar, would seek to slow things down.
NATO experts went to Baghdad earlier this month to explore the possibilities for military training. Their findings, along with a wider list of options, will be presented this week.
"I agree wholeheartedly with the NATO secretary-general that the alliance should decide this week to establish a NATO training mission in Iraq," Nicholas Burns, the United States' ambassador to the alliance, said in a statement.
"NATO needs to act quickly to give the Iraqi government and people the support they so desperately need."
U.S. ELECTION
However, France wants NATO's Belgium-based military headquarters to act as a clearing house for training, and it is opposed to putting the mission under the operational command of the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq.
It also wants more clarity on what security would be provided for trainers, how much training would be carried out inside Iraq and how much abroad, and who will pay the costs.
"All those questions will not be solved by Wednesday, it's obvious," said a senior NATO diplomat, who requested anonymity. "So the (French) idea is that we send a kind of fact-finding mission to Iraq which would report back by September."
Even before the ink was dry on the summit agreement in Istanbul last month, French President Jacques Chirac declared that he was firmly opposed to seeing NATO's flag fly in Iraq.
Diplomats said France, which joined hands with Germany in opposition to last year's U.S.-led war on Baghdad, does not want to hand U.S. President George W. Bush a show of international support for his Iraq policy ahead of the November U.S. election.
France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg plunged NATO into a crisis ahead of the war last year, blocking for weeks military reinforcements for ally Turkey, one of Iraq's neighbours.
U.S. officials see French zeal for a European Union security policy as an effort to subvert NATO and curb U.S. influence.
But France's attitude is ambiguous: it is, for instance, a big contributor to the NATO Response Force, a U.S. brainchild designed to give the alliance a bigger military punch.
Kerry's PUKE buds...
France has no vote on NATO military matters, only on political questions. 5 Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires
France is not a full member of NATO. Its time we vote them off the island.
Did you know, Kerry is French? He was in Vietnam too!
We can get around the French when it comes to sending NATO troops anywhere.
THE NEXT TIME (AND THERE WILL BE A NEXT TIME) FRANCE NEEDS OUR HELP, WE HAD BETTER NOT GIVE THEM ANY.
DAMN STUPID UNGRATEFUL FROGS THEY DON'T DESERVE TO EXIST ANY MORE THAN THE TERRORISTS DO.
"France is not a full member of NATO. Its time we vote them off the island."
Or off the planet
Somebody seems to be forgetting who controls those oil contracts that ELF/FINA used to enjoy. Hint - it isn't the United States. And the Iraqis may not appreciate being used as a pawn in France's pathetic attempt to interfere with U.S. politics.
This damn sure won't make kerry look good (siding with our enemies again).
Agreed.
Albright goes to France and now france is opposing whatever the USA does.
Suspicious?
France does not even provide soldiers to NATO and have not for decades. They may "assign" for a specific mission, but there is no dedicated contingent.
France does not walk the walk of their agreements.
the damn frogs aren't military members of NATO anyway -- they
bailed out of THAT some years ago, too -- so why the hell does
ANYONE care what this worthless, washed up, socially and
culturally uninteresting country full of foul smelling hairy
people think?!
Yes, by all means, let Iraqis die so that you can influence the US elections.
Disgusting, and ultimately racist politics.
Didn't Chirac complain that Bush shouldn't talk about Turkey in the EU because he was "interfering" in EU internal politics?
Now France is opposing us not on logical grounds, but simply for the sake of opposing us so Bush won't get a domestic political benefit?
Stop "interfering", you worthless scumbag.
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