NATO SUMMIT: France has rowed in behind a NATO plan to train Iraqi security forces with the offer of a single army officer based at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, writes Denis Staunton
The French soldier will help to co-ordinate the transfer of military equipment to the Iraqi army.
At a meeting with President George Bush at NATO headquarters yesterday, all 26 countries in the alliance agreed to contribute to the training force. The US will make the biggest contribution, however, providing 60 out of a total of 160 training personnel.
NATO already has a training academy in Baghdad, with a staff of about 100. However, France, Germany and Belgium ruled out sending any of their armed forces to Iraq itself, offering instead to train Iraqi forces outside the country or to provide funding.
Mr Bush put a brave face on NATO's modest offer of help, saying that "every contribution helps" in preparing Iraqi forces to take responsibility for the country's security.
"The NATO training mission is an important mission, because after all, the success of Iraq depends upon the capacity and the willingness of the Iraqis to defend their own selves against terrorists," he said.
Mr Chirac yesterday backed a call by the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, for a reform of the transatlantic alliance to take account of the enhanced importance of the EU.
"Europe and the United States are real partners. So we need to dialogue and listen to each other more. We must also, as the German chancellor has underlined, continue to take account of the changes that have occurred on the European continent," he told NATO leaders.
Washington reacted with alarm to Mr Schröder's initiative, launched at a security conference in Munich earlier this month. Mr Schröder had said that NATO was no longer the "primary venue" for dialogue between Europe and America, implying that Europeans were no longer willing to accept US dominance within NATO.
In his introductory remarks at yesterday's meeting, NATO's Secretary General, Mr Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, insisted that NATO remained the most important transatlantic political forum but opened the door to a measure of reform.
"We could do more. We must work on expanding the political dialogue," he said.
In a further blow to NATO's status, Britain announced that the US and the EU would stage a joint conference to co-ordinate international help for the reconstruction of Iraq.
"There is a need to find a mechanism to co-ordinate this in the best way possible," a British government spokesman said.
The EU has offered, independently of NATO, to train 770 senior Iraqi police officers and justice officials within the EU and in countries close to Iraq. A senior Garda will be part of the planning team, but there are no plans to train Iraqi personnel in Ireland.
