Bush: NATO would train security forces

SAVANNAH, Ga. – President Bush said Thursday that NATO’s role in Iraq probably would be limited to training the country’s security forces because of opposition from key allies to introducing the alliance’s troops to put down a bloody insurgency.

Closing the Group of Eight summit, the president said that it’s an “unrealistic expectation” that allies such as France and Germany would agree to putting NATO troops in Iraq.

Bush’s comments at a news conference in Savannah indicated that France and Germany, while opposing the deployment of NATO combat troops, would not object to the training of Iraqi military forces. He said the controversy over the alliance’s role in Iraq would be resolved before a NATO summit in Istanbul later this month.

Asked whether American faces would dominate Iraqi security for some time to come, Bush responded, “No, it doesn’t appear that way. There will be an Iraqi face on the security of Iraq. The Iraqis will secure their own country, and we’re there to help them do so.”

The situation in Iraq dominated the three-day summit, which brought the heads of state from the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Russia and Japan to the remote Sea Island, Ga., in the humid South to talk about subjects as diverse as developing a vaccine for the AIDS virus to controlling weapons of mass destruction.

Meanwhile, Bush said he is looking into a report that two intelligence chiefs for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi last year had ordered the assassination of Saudi Arabia’s ruler, Crown Prince Abdullah, while Gadhafi was renouncing terrorism and negotiating an end to sanctions against his country.

“We’re going to make sure we fully understand the veracity of the plot line,” Bush said. “When we find out the facts, we will deal with them accordingly.”

He said he hasn’t talked to Gadhafi about the report, first published by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, but had sent him a message that “we will make sure he honors his commitment” to resist terrorism and dismantle his nuclear weapons program before any sanctions are lifted.

On another issue, Bush said he did not remember seeing a Justice Department advisory opinion last year saying he had the power to authorize any interrogation techniques he deemed necessary to fight terrorism.

But, he said, he gave instructions that “anything that we did would conform to U.S. law and would be consistent to international treaty obligations. That’s the message I gave our people.”

The president also defended his plan for bringing democracy to the Middle East, despite some criticism at the summit that it was too heavy-handed and aimed chiefly at promoting U.S. values.

“There was some concern when the initiative was first proposed that this was America trying to make the world look like America,” he said. “It’s not going to happen. I fully understand that free society in the Middle East is going to reflect the culture and traditions of the people in that country, not America.”

Though Bush had his differences with French President Jacques Chirac, the United States and Europe appeared to draw closer during the summit after divisions over the Iraqi war last year.

“There were very sharp disagreements in 2003,” a senior administration official said. “Those belong to the past, and historians will have a great time writing about them.”

Bush got a boost this week when the United Nations Security Council approved a resolution providing for a turnover of power and elections in Iraq but could not get France and Germany to budge over providing troops.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would not commit forces to Iraq but said he would not stand in the way of a wider NATO role. Chirac ruled out NATO participation unless the new Iraqi government asked.

But the White House did not give up on Chirac, indicating that after another meeting between Bush and the French leader today, Chirac may be willing to bend on the NATO question.

“What we did not hear is a firm red line of ‘No’s,’ ” the official said. “I think it’s clear that French are cautious about the visible NATO role, and I think it is clear that the views of the Iraqi government will be important.”