| This is progress of a sort. |
France and Iraq will restore diplomatic relations that were severed 13 years ago during the Gulf War, the French Foreign Ministry said Monday. Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi met Monday with Bernard Bajolet, France's highest diplomatic representative in Iraq, and discussed restoration of ties that Saddam Hussein broke off in 1991, a ministry said. France opposed the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam last year and has turned down American requests for military help in quelling an insurgency that threatens the interim Iraqi goverment. However, France has said it is willing to help train Iraqi security forces a very little bit and also supports limited forgiveness of Iraqi debt to help the country regain its economic footing as long as they get their oil field concessions back. |