Chirac leads resistance as Bush courts Nato allies

[kskiska]

President George Bush was facing stiff French-led resistance last night to his efforts to persuade his Nato allies to agree to train Iraqi security forces.

The French president, Jacques Chirac, is determined to thwart any deal that allows the US and Britain to claim that the alliance has a formal role in the disputed occupation.

Tony Blair flew into Istanbul last night intent on talking up the summit's chance of achieving even a modest success in respect of Iraq and in terms of a wider Nato role in "forgotten" Afghanistan, but was keen to say nothing that would further offend France.

(snip)

The political tension has been compounded by severe security worries after a spate of bomb blasts in Turkey's second city and mass demonstrations against Mr Bush. Yesterday main roads from the airport were closed to all but VIP traffic and the city's conference zone was cordoned off.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1248861,00.html

[Massacure]

1. I love the French.

[ewagner]

2. Ouch....

The Guardian gets their "licks" in:

the final two paragraphs:

"That means extending the protection given by the 34-state International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) beyond Kabul. But Nato members say they are overstretched, and the 6,500 Isaf soldiers are far outweighed by the 20,000 US soldiers still hunting Osama bin Laden.

They are also outnumbered by the estimated 30,000 Turks protecting the summit"

[cliss]

3. 30,000??????

Unbelievable. To protect Bush. Notice how the numbers keep getting larger and larger? In England, it was 700 security people from the US. In Rome recently, it was 10,000. Now it's 30,000?

Wow, the guy is becoming more radioactive by the day.
Soon, there won't be enough security people to protect him.

[hang a left]

4. Well I just heard on the Criminial News Network

that there has been some kind of deal struck for Nato to train Iraqi forces in Iraq and elsewhere. I don't know what that means.

[ze_dscherman]

6. Training "security forces"

Just which forces (could be police), how many and where remains unclear. E.g., the Germans have already declared they may help training Iraqi police, but will not send a single soldier into Iraq.

[struggle4progress]

5. Must we start now start calling Chirac the president of Freedom? eom

[bushwakker]

7. Bush wants UN and NATO to save his sorry, stupid ass

after scoring political points with moron-Americans trashing these organizations he now realizes he needs them. I hope they don't play ball. For once AWOL should have to face the consequences of his own fuck-ups.