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| Europe |
| Franco-US relations on the mend |
| 2004-06-10 |
| The two world leaders looked like and proclaimed themselves friends today, with hardly a hint of the deep differences that divided them over the invasion of Iraq last year. On more weighty matters, Mr. Bush said the two had discussed NATO’s role in Iraq, and that he had assured Mr. Chirac that they would consult closely. "We had our differences in the past, but we’re friends, and friends are able to discuss the future," Mr. Bush said. President Bush made a plea on Wednesday for a continued, even expanded, NATO presence in Iraq. At that time, Mr. Chirac said he saw no "mission" that would warrant his sending French troops there, a position that he has long maintained with President Gerhard Schröder of Germany. Mr. Schröder reaffirmed that position today in a meeting with German correspondents, according to a pool reporter who spoke with one of the German reporters. Today, at a session arranged for photographers covering the meeting of leaders from the world’s eight leading industrial and military powers, Mr. Chirac made no mention of the NATO issue. A senior administration official, at a separate briefing, said he had heard "caution on the part of the French" over NATO at the Bush-Chirac meeting, "but not a hard, `no.’ " The official added: "So I don’t want to push this too far and suggest there was some breakthrough agreement. But I think that the two sides have established the basis for discussion and consultation about what NATO’s role might be." French and American relations, the official said, "are in a far happier place now than they were through much of 2003, when the Iraq war — when the disagreements about the Iraq war — were in an acute phase." "Those disagreements now belong to a phase of recent history; that is, they no longer govern the present and do not really govern the future," he said. Mr. Chirac congratulated Mr. Bush, host of the meeting, on the way it had been organized, calling it a success. "We’ve just reviewed some with our colleagues from the Middle East yesterday; we’ll be doing so with our colleagues from Africa today," Mr. Chirac said. "And this gave us an opportunity of reviewing the major areas of concerns for today’s world, to better understand each other and also to prove our efforts for peace, development and human rights." In a joint statement, the Group of 8 leaders urged Sudan’s government to immediately disarm Arab militias and other groups waging a campaign of looting, burning and rape in the remote western Darfur region of Sudan. The leaders said they looked to the United Nations to lead an international effort to avert "a major disaster" in Darfur, where about one million people have been displaced in what aid officials call one of the world’s worst refugee crises. In other action, Mr. Bush endorsed the establishment of a global H.I.V. vaccine enterprise, and announced plans to establish a second H.I.V. Vaccine Research and Development Center in the United States. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #14 Franco-US relations on the mend In a pig's eye. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-06-10 10:49:29 PM |
| #13 Actually, this is just a nuanced way to say that France is doing as much as it can in its current reduced circumstances. Chirac is moving into the elite circle of people like Robert Byrd, Teddy Kennedy, and Robert Mugabe who are self-parodies |
| Posted by: RWV 2004-06-10 6:19:08 PM |
| #12 This is great news. We can now depend on France to re-double its efforts to help with Iraq and the WoT. |
| Posted by: Sam 2004-06-10 6:11:57 PM |
| #11 Does anyone have the photo of the Prez's fingers crossed behind his back while he was talking? |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-06-10 5:43:20 PM |
| #10 No way...not with Chirac. OT (sorta) but just saw a blurb about Chirac pushing an international poverty tax. This guy just doesn't quit. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2004-06-10 5:34:30 PM |
| #9 GWB's just patting Chiraq on the back, looking for the proverbial soft spot to sink the knife. Corleone would approve. |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-06-10 5:32:47 PM |
| #8 Ain't buying it. |
| Posted by: jules 187 2004-06-10 5:25:07 PM |
| #7 It just goes to show that GWB can be disingenuous. LOL! |
| Posted by: danking70 2004-06-10 5:12:17 PM |
| #6 The two world leaders looked like and proclaimed themselves friends today, with hardly a hint of the deep differences that divided them over the invasion of Iraq last year. Ditto : Super Hose : #5 |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-06-10 5:09:22 PM |
| #5 Forgive you enemies, but remember their names." - JFK |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-06-10 5:04:09 PM |
| #4 Hopefully GWB is just playing his poker hand close to his chest. I hope all this smiley stuff is just---stuff, because Chiraq has stabbed this country in the back repeatedly, and France's profiteering in the oil-for-palaces program was achieved on the backs and the deaths of the Iraqi people. France has nothing to bring to the table except a few thousand troops and a wheezing aircraft carrier parked in Toulon. Its all window dressing with France. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2004-06-10 5:03:54 PM |
| #3 cheaderhead. Remember the French are a defacto-islamic country. Dogs are now "unclean". But your point is well taken. |
| Posted by: BigEd 2004-06-10 5:02:50 PM |
| #2 Maybe GWB just remembered his mothers admission to him in his youth to be kind to dogs and the handicapped |
| Posted by: cheaderhead 2004-06-10 4:57:24 PM |
| #1 What's making me nervous is a "Happy Jac", smiling GWB and optimistic Arabs all in the same story... What did George give them? The contents of Bakers briefcase??? |
| Posted by: Capsu78 2004-06-10 4:54:08 PM |