The US President, Mr George W. Bush, will strenuously make the case today for NATO's help in Iraq at a summit of the military alliance's leaders in Istanbul. Mark Brennock, Chief Political Correspondent, reports.
He signalled during Saturday's US-EU summit in Dromoland Castle that he hoped NATO countries would agree to help train the new Iraqi security forces.
"The faster the Iraqis take over their own security needs, the faster the mission will end," he said.
Mr Bush is under pressure to get assistance from other states in rebuilding and securing Iraq as power is transferred to an interim Iraqi government on Wednesday.
Insurgents carried out further attacks over the weekend and five more foreigners including, three Turks, a Pakistani man and what was reported to be a US marine, were taken hostage and threatened with beheading if demands were not met.
During his visit to Ireland, President Bush insisted that the US and Europe were now united on Iraq and that the divisions were in the past.
Although he is expected to get backing today for the training of Iraqi troops, even from European leaders who opposed the war, the coalition's original hope that NATO troops would be deployed in Iraq were again shot down last night.
Before leaving Berlin for Istanbul, the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, insisted that Germany would not send troops.
"We are going to work together to help make sure that NATO is configured militarily to meet the threats of the 21st century," Mr Bush told reporters as he arrived in Istanbul yesterday.
The tentative agreement on training represents a compromise between the US and reluctant European allies such as France and Germany.
The agreement, for example, will not call for those countries to send troops to Iraq to carry out the training mission they had opposed.
To avoid a summit dispute the communique will be sufficiently vague to accommodate both sides.
Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the NATO Secretary General said: "We will give a clear signal of our willingness to enhance our support to a sovereign Iraqi government, including through the training of Iraqi security forces."
Mr Bush strongly defended the US invasion of Iraq after his summit with the EU, while acknowledging European concerns about US policy.
He insisted that "a free and democratic Iraq is rising in the heart of the broader Middle East". He said US forces would "stay as long as necessary, and then we will leave". They would work "to stand up an Iraqi security force and police force that is able to function, to work up a chain of command where the Iraqi police and security folks know that they're working for Iraqis, not for Americans. We will complete the mission."
In a strong statement of support for a key ally in the Muslim world, Mr Bush gave enthusiastic public backing to Turkey's desire to join the EU.
While the EU has yet to be convinced of Turkey's democratic and human rights standards, the US sees EU membership as a further means of anchoring Turkey, a NATO member, in the western world.
Mr Bush described the country as "a proud nation that successfully blends a European identity with the Islamic traditions.
"As Turkey meets the EU standards for membership, the European Union should begin talks that will lead to full membership for the republic of Turkey."
During a half-hour meeting before the EU summit began, the President, Mrs McAleese, raised the concerns of Irish and European people over the war on Iraq and the treatment of prisoners.
Mrs McAleese warned that there was a disconnection between some world leaders and their citizens on Iraq.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, also raised the issue, but sought to play down its importance at a press conference later. He said he had raised it twice before with Mr Bush, and that the US President shared his concerns.
- (Additional reporting Financial Times, Reuters)