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U.S.
Says Anti-war France, Germany Not Needed for Iraq Coalition
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"The
president believes that NATO is changing, that the European Union
is changing, that Europe is, indeed, changing," said
Fleischer
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WASHINGTON,
January 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – Facing unwavering
German and French opposition to a U.S.-led war on Iraq, the White
House said Thursday, January 23, the two heavyweight European allies
are not need to disarm Iraq.
The
White House claimed that most European nations will in disarming Iraq
by force even if Germany and France "stay on the sidelines",
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
U.S.
President George W. Bush "will still assemble a rather robust
coalition of the willing, if it gets to that point," said
spokesman Ari Fleischer.
"There
may be a few good friends who stay on the sidelines. There will be
many more good friends who heed the call if it comes down to it."
Dismissing
Germany's steadfast refusal to take part in any campaign to disarm
Iraq by force and France's reluctance to okay war, Fleischer said each
nation would have to make up its own mind.
Bush
"respects the rights of different nations to come to differing
conclusions," said Fleischer.
"I
can't explicitly from this podium say to you, here's who's committing
this number of divisions of this or that nature," he added.
"My
point to you, though, is dig beyond Germany and France to find out
what the real story of European governments is, because there's a
deeper story here."
Bush
"has no question or doubt in his mind that if it comes to the use
of military force and nations exercise their prerogative not to be
involved, the United States and the coalition assembled will still be
overwhelmingly militarily successful, if those nations choose not to
participate," he said.
"The
president believes that NATO is changing, that the European Union is
changing, that Europe is, indeed, changing," said Fleischer.
The
spokesman also reiterated Washington's determination to abide by that
U.N. Security Council resolution, which calls for consultations if
Iraq is found not to be complying.
"It's
terribly important to totally dismiss" talk of unilateral U.S.
action, said Fleischer.
Speaking
With One Voice
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Schroeder
and Chirac said they would do all they could to prevent a war in
Iraq
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This
came after Germany and France reiterated Thursday their opposition to
a war on Iraq with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder telling 500 students
that they are against "legitimizing war" on Baghdad.
"I
have said that for Germany we cannot approve legitimizing war"
against Iraq in any future vote on military action at the U.N.
Security Council, Schroeder said.
Schroeder's
new statements on Iraq are the clearest indication yet of how Germany
might vote if a new resolution on military action were put to the
Security Council, which Berlin will chair from February 1.
"It's
our common policy," added French President Jacques Chirac, in a
good humored exchange as the two leaders were grilled by the
"youth parliament" on foreign policy.
Later,
in talks with German President Johannes Rau, Chirac said that when
Europe was struggling to find a united voice "it's the voice of
the Germans and the French, speaking together, which expresses a
certain European conscience."
He
said Paris and Berlin want "to promote reason and the rule of
law. To find, right to the end, a peaceful and negotiated solution to
conflicts, which is always preferable to the use of force and its
disastrous consequences."
Marking
the 40th anniversary of the 1963 Elysee Treaty on post-war
reconciliation, Chirac and Schroeder joined
hands in opposing the U.S. threats of waging war on Iraq.
The
two leaders reaffirmed ongoing efforts to build an E.U. anti-war
consensus on the issue.
Both
Germany and France insist that January 27 status report on inspections
to the U.N. Security Council should only be an interim report rather
than a possible trigger for war.
Most
of the 15 E.U. states insist that a second U.N. resolution would be
needed before they could support any use of force against Iraq.
A
German government spokesman said on Wednesday, January 22, that
Germany would only vote against a war or abstain.
On
Tuesday, January 21, Schroeder said his government would not support a
U.N. resolution for war against Iraq while the French foreign minister said
he intended to mobilize the E.U. against an early military
strike.
Rumsfeld's
"Old Europe" Remark Draws Fire
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"We
have a Europe that is looking to the future," de Villepin
stressed
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In
a related development, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld incurred
the wrath of French and German officials after describing the two
countries as being part of an "old Europe".
Leading
the angry line, French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, hit
back at Rumsfeld's, asserting that France and Germany were not
backward, rather, they were future-oriented and calling on all sides
to "respect each other."
"We
have a Europe that is looking to the future," he said.
French
Finance Minister Francis Mer said he was "profoundly vexed"
by Rumsfeld's remarks.
"I
want to remind all of us that this 'old Europe' is spring-heeled and
can bounce back. We'll prove it in the course of time," AFP
quoted him as saying.
Extreme-right
French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen said Thursday that any war against
Iraq would be "the first big crime against humanity of the 21st
century" and urged France to veto U.N. authorization of a
military operation.
The
United States and Britain, he told journalists, "have carried out
an overt air war on Iraq for 10 years and have already, by the
blockade, brought death by famine and misery to more than a million
children."
Le
Pen, who lost in presidential elections to Jacques Chirac last year,
also described Rumsfeld's remark as "Yankee sour grapes".
The
United States, he said, "wouldn't exist if it wasn't for what he
calls 'old Europe'."
For
his part head of a German parliamentary foreign affairs committee
Volker Ruehe said Rumsfeld "is not a diplomat" and his
remarks were "not clever."
Defending
Rumsfeld's remarks Fleischer said: "That's
a chronological description that is chronologically accurate."
On
Wednesday, January 22, Rumsfeld lashed out at the two E.U.
heavyweights for their opposition to a military offensive against
Baghdad.
"You're
thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old
Europe.
"Germany
has been a problem and France has been a problem," Rumsfeld told
reporters.
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