France, Germany Back U.S. Plan on Iraq

AP | 5/03/03 | ROBERT WIELAARD

[kattracks]

France, Germany Back U.S. Plan on Iraq

By ROBERT WIELAARD .c The Associated Press

KASTELLORIZO, Greece (AP) - France and Germany, America's harshest critics of the Iraq war, on Saturday reluctantly endorsed a U.S. plan to divide Iraq into three zones and deploy a stabilization force that excludes them.

The initiative, unveiled as the European Union foreign ministers met on a Greek Aegean island, appeared to take EU officials by surprise. Some said they only learned of it from news reports quoting officials traveling with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who was on a visit to London.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said the plan ``is not a new situation and is not in contradiction with our discussion about giving the United Nations a role in postwar Iraq.''

The Americans ``can do what they want. This does not bother us at all,'' said a French diplomat.

The United States plans to set up an international military force in three regions of Iraq, with Poland and Britain controlling two zones and U.S. forces the third, U.S. officials said. They said Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ukraine and Bulgaria would provide troops.

Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewiczs told reporters ``this is a fresh responsibility for my country, but we are ready to share it.''

Poland ``would prefer'' a U.N. Security Council resolution endorsing the stabilization force, but that it should go ahead without one, if necessary, Cimoszewiczs said.

``We see a vital role for the United Nations in humanitarian relief,'' British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told reporters after the meeting.

He briefed Fischer and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on the sidelines of the EU meeting.

He said there was no attempt to sideline France and Germany, although that appeared to be the case. He called past disagreements over Iraq ``a matter of history'' and said it is time to look forward rather than back.

The ministers agreed to mend the trans-Atlantic relationship that was damaged in the months before the war.

They asked the EU head office to draft a strategy on how Europeans can better deal with such issues as international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction in the hands of unstable countries.

05/03/03 09:32 EDT

[COBOL2Java]

France and Germany have about as many faces as this guy...

[scooby321]

and if they didn't we would not do it LOL

[Beck_isright]

I don't recall asking them if we cared what they thought.

[The Wizard]

starting to hit home, I see

[kattracks]

No, but it just goes to show that they will fold when met with determination, which President Bush has plenty of.

[George W. Bush]

They said Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ukraine and Bulgaria would provide troops. Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewiczs told reporters ``this is a fresh responsibility for my country, but we are ready to share it.''

The Poles are scrappy! These New European countries are like a breath of fresh air after our Weasel allies stabbed us in the back. I'm glad the non-Weasels in Old Europe are sticking with us.

I look for more military ties with New Europe and a greater prominence for their leadership in coming years.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

...reluctantly endorsed a U.S. plan ... appeared to take EU officials by surprise ... The Americans ``can do what they want. This does not bother us at all,'' said a French diplomat ...

The French and Germans are trying to avoid another gobsmacking.

[Trust but Verify]

It's all about strength. Enemies respect strength. They detest weakness.

[Dog Gone]

Excellent strategery. It gets out of the "occupying power" label and into an administration by the Coalition of the Intelligent.

And it leaves dumb weasels on the sideline where they belong.

[kattracks]

I agree, and I'm convinced that the perception of weakness, after 8 long years of clinton's "foreign policy", resulted in 9/11.

[spokeshave]

"Some said they only learned of it from news reports "

Strategery anyone....?

[schaketo]

The Americans ``can do what they want. This does not bother us at all,'' said a French diplomat.

What’s missing from this article is a section subtitled:

And what if it did bother you?

[republicanwizard]

I know. This administration really is good.

[xJones]

I agree, and I'm convinced that the perception of weakness, after 8 long years of clinton's "foreign policy", resulted in 9/ll.

That is horribly right. After Clinton's aspirin factory bombing, attacking empty al-Queda camps, and ignoring so many other terrorists acts, a terrible conclusion was reached by bin Laden and others. If 9/ll had happened on Clinton's watch, no camel's butt would have been safe in Afghanistan from cruise missiles, but I doubt Bubba would have known what else to do.

The United States plans to set up an international military force in three regions of Iraq, with Poland and Britain controlling two zones and U.S. forces the third, U.S. officials said. They said Denmark, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ukraine and Bulgaria would provide troops.

He said there was no attempt to sideline France and Germany, although that appeared to be the case.

Jack Straw had to have choked when he told that whopper. :) But where did the Australians go?

[yeetch!]

The Aussies are going to Bush's ranch for the weekend. (LOL)

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

The Americans ``can do what they want. This does not bother us at all,'' said a French diplomat.

The first part of this statement is true. The second is b.s.

[Drango]

Endorse all you want. You still ain't gettin' any of the rebuilding work.

[thinktwice]

From Victor Hugo's Les Miserables; showing that there are parallels in history.

"The French Revolution, which in nothing more nor less than the ideal armed with the sword, rose abruptly, and by that very movement, closed the door of evil and opened the door of good."