Advertisement

Bush Tries to Solicit Aid From Traditional Allies

Share
Times Staff Writers

The Bush administration moved quickly Monday to enlist new support for its struggle to turn Iraq into a viable democratic state, using Sunday’s election as leverage at home and abroad.

President Bush spoke by telephone with French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, urging them to help consolidate the gains expected from the vote.

Bush would like European allies to provide technical advice and support to help build basic public education, develop national assembly operations and train police, among other things, senior administration officials said.

Advertisement

The election “will change the politics around Iraq,” said a senior administration official who declined to be identified. “It’s not that the election radically alters the situation, but because [Europe’s] chattering classes were so hostile and dismissive of it, the result has created an exaggerated sense of success that gives us all a chance to pull ourselves together and pull together.”

Generating more help from key allies, including France and Germany, who strenuously opposed the U.S.-led invasion and have provided little concrete backing in the difficult months since, is viewed as crucial to the success of the administration’s work in Iraq. These allies possess important expertise that could lighten America’s burden in the region and even shore up support for additional funding from Congress.

Bush is expected to request an additional $80 billion from Congress this month for the war in Iraq and other military purposes. Senior congressional aides said that a successful election coupled with broader involvement of traditional allies would help ease doubts on Capitol Hill.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said European leaders had not made specific promises of assistance, but they had indicated a new willingness to help.

“I think that each of those countries will talk about the ways that they are able to help the Iraqi people as they move forward to putting in place the institutions for a democracy to fully emerge,” McClellan said.

Chirac, according to his spokesman, Jerome Bonnafont, called the election “an important step in rebuilding politically the country” and said that “the strategy of terrorist groups had partially failed.” Both Bonnafont and McClellan described the conversation between the leaders in positive terms.

Advertisement

Meanwhile, French Foreign Affairs Minister Michel Barnier said in an interview on Europe 1 radio that “France had already expressed its availability to accompany the Iraqi people in its political and economical rebuilding.”

Bush is scheduled to meet Chirac, as well as Schroeder and Blair, this month on a visit to the continent. Repairing frayed relations with France and Germany is viewed as an important goal of that trip.

Bush and his closest foreign affairs advisors have concluded that making significant headway on an ambitious policy agenda that includes spreading democracy beyond Iraq will be impossible without the support of European allies.

Sunday’s election did not erase the skepticism about the wisdom of America’s involvement in Iraq that has dominated the public mood in Europe over much of the last two years.

In Britain, the Liberal Democrat party’s foreign affairs spokesman and a leading war critic, Menzies Campbell, said it would be churlish not to salute the courage of ordinary Iraqis who had voted under threat of violence. But he remained cautious about the future.

“We would be wise to accept the judgment of Kofi Annan that this was merely the beginning,” said Campbell, who on the eve of the Iraqi election had called for a withdrawal of U.S. and British troops.

Advertisement

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said that Berlin still believed it had been right to oppose the invasion, but said Iraq deserved “great recognition” for the election.

He said Germany wanted to look to the future, but indicated that its participation would not include sending troops.

“The challenge of putting Iraq on a stable democratic footing is one we must all take on together -- within the political limits we have set,” Fischer said in Brussels, according to news agencies.

Still, the election could create new openings for the administration.

A senior European diplomat based in Washington agreed with Bush administration assessments that positive election results would help catalyze greater European involvement.

“Success helps create a better atmosphere for the entire transatlantic relationship,” said the diplomat, who declined to be identified by name or nationality. “Now we need to join forces to help the Iraqis prepare for a better future.”

In France, the conservative-leaning national daily Le Figaro concluded that “Bush won his electoral bet.”

Advertisement

Columnist Philippe Gelie added that “this is the second election George W. Bush won in three months” and suggested that Bush had strengthened his hand as he sought to reinvigorate transatlantic ties.

Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations, Samir Shakir Mahmoud Sumaidy, described European reaction to the election Monday as “very favorable.” In a telephone interview with the Los Angeles Times, he expressed hope that a positive international response would encourage greater backing for his government.

European officials indicated a willingness to assist a new Iraqi government on such issues as drafting a constitution, the main duty of the transitional national assembly elected Sunday.

Sumaidy urged world leaders Monday to publicly support the Iraqi political process and “not to say or do anything that would give support for the insurgents or terrorists.” Members of the interim Iraqi government have been sensitive to charges that they are U.S. puppets.

Beyond that, Sumaidy said, Iraq would like to see other countries play “a more active role in helping to improve the capability of the Iraqi security forces, through training, equipment ... and any other practical ways of helping.”

Even though the Americans have spent only $2 billion of an $18.4-billion reconstruction package approved by Congress in 2003, the Iraqis badly want countries that pledged funds at an international donor’s conference to provide the money. The European Union last month pledged $260 million for rebuilding Iraq on top of about $400 million offered previously.

Advertisement

Approximately $33 billion was pledged at the Madrid conference in 2003, including the $18.4 billion from the United States. Of the non-American portion, Sumaidy said, “not much” had materialized.

Times staff writers John Daniszewski in London, Sebastian Rotella and Achrene Sicakyuz in Paris, and Christian Retzlaff in Berlin contributed to this report.

Advertisement