President Bush conceded Thursday that it is unrealistic to expect NATO countries to send more troops to Iraq, but made a parting plea to world powers to do more to guide the Iraqi people to a stable democracy
Published:
11 June 2004 y., Friday
President Bush conceded Thursday that it is unrealistic to expect NATO countries to send more troops to Iraq, but made a parting plea to world powers to do more to guide the Iraqi people to a stable democracy.
"They need our help, and they will have our help," Bush said at the end of a Group of Eight economic summit where European allies expressed resistance to giving NATO an expanded military role.
That means the United States and Britain will continue to provide the bulk of military troops in Iraq for now, although Bush said that over time, "the solution for Iraqi security is going to be provided by the Iraqis."
French President Jacques Chirac said he believed any direct involvement by NATO troops in Iraq held "great risks, including something of a risk of a clash between the Christian West and the Muslim East." Chirac did not rule out a training role, however.
Germany also opposes sending NATO troops to Iraq, although Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Thursday that "we have also made it clear that the decision of the NATO members who are involved in Iraq won't be blocked."
Šaltinis:
chinadaily.com.cn
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.
The most popular articles
At the fall meetings of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 8 October in Palermo, Lithuania’s Permanent Representative to the OSCE Ambassador Renatas Norkus will deliver a speech about the strengthening of ties between the OSCE and the Mediterranean partners.
more »
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov thanked Lithuania for helping Russia to fight forest fires.
more »
Lithuania will encourage the governments of the OSCE participating states to take more pro-active measures to ensure the safety journalists and to put more effort into investigating cases of violence against journalists, and will emphasize the importance of media self-regulation.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite presented letters of credence to Dainius Junevičius as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Lithuania to the Arab Republic of Egypt.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė presented letters of credence to Loreta Zakarevičienė as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Lithuania to the Republic of Poland.
more »
President Dalia Grybauskaitė extended congratulations to President Christian Wulff of Germany on Unity Day.
more »
At a meeting of a group of Moldova’s friends on 30 September in Chisinau, attended by eight foreign ministers, Lithuania’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Audronius Ažubalis stressed EU assistance in support of Moldova’s efforts to consolidate democracy in the country.
more »
Dalia Grybauskaitė congratulated Demetris Christofias, President of the Republic of Cyprus, on the 50th anniversary of independence of the Republic of Cyprus.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė received the President of the Parliament of Luxembourg, Laurent Mosar.
more »
President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė attended the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Resolution adopted in 1960 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe "On the situation in the Baltic States on the twentieth anniversary of their forcible incorporation into the Soviet Union", in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania.
more »