Bush and his closest Iraq war ally, British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, had breakfast talks on possible NATO involvement in
training Iraqi security forces
.
The news came as world leaders, including Iraq's new interim president Ghazi al-Yawar, met at the Groups of Eight summit in Georgia on Wednesday.
Bush did, however,
acknowledge that some members of the Western military alliance
might not be able to contribute.
"We believe NATO ought to be involved," Bush said, but
added: "There's going to be some constraints, obviously. A lot
of NATO countries are not in a position to commit more
troops."
But nor do some countries want to send troops. France has always opposed the suggestion of sending NATO to Iraq, and Germany's Gerhard Schroeder has said it would rather not commit troops as well.
Iraqi security
Blair emphasised that Iraqis need to be in a position to
provide stability and security themselves.
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"We believe NATO ought to be involved [in Iraq]... There's going to be some constraints, obviously. A lot of NATO countries are not in a position to commit more
troops"
George Bush,
US president |
"There is a capability that is there at the moment, but we
know there are gaps in that capability and we are there to help
them and make sure the Iraqis ultimately can take care of their
own security and defence," he said.
NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said earlier that
it would be difficult for the alliance to turn a blind eye if the
Iraqi interim government called for its intervention in the weeks or
months to come.
Howver, Spanish
Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said
NATO involvement in Iraq
would be a mistake.
He added that even if NATO does become involved, Spain, a member of the
alliance, would not send any of its troops back to Iraq "no matter
under what umbrella".
Spanish dissent
Spain last month completed the withdrawal of its 1400-strong
military contingent, fulfilling a pledge by Socialist Prime Minister
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who won the general election 14 March
.
The Iraq war led to bitter divisions between the United
States and long-time allies like France and Germany.
And since the US-led invasion of Iraq last year, the country has been beset by car bombings and
bloodshed
.
But Bush is hoping the leaders will now focus on the future and help put an international stamp on Iraq.
Negotiators from the G8 countries - the United States,
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia - are
working to complete the details of an initiative urging
Arab and Muslim leaders in the Middle East and North Africa to
adopt democratic reforms.
Middle East concerns
The leaders
will discuss
Bush's Middle East initiative with their Middle Eastern
counterparts at the summit.
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Iraq has been beset by violence
since last year's US-led invasion |
The initiative has been the subject of meticulous negotiations for six months and the United States had to
rewrite some of it to satisfy European concerns. One change
that was made was to emphasise job creation.
Arab leaders are concerned the initiative will be
seen as an attempt to impose Western-style reforms on them.
Officials are still working on the final text, and an
agreement could be reached as early as Wednesday.
US officials said summit negotiators are also close to
an agreement on a plan to stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
The proposal would, among other things, suspend for one
year all new transfers of equipment for uranium enrichment and
reprocessing.