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ReverendCaveGrower
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 220
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 Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 9:52 pm Post subject: War Critics Paris, Berlin, Moscow Hail Iraq Vote |
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=1&u=/nm/20050131/wl_nm/iraq_eu_dc
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By Mark John
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Iraq (news - web sites) war opponents France, Germany and Russia Monday hailed elections in the country as a success and, in a sign of warming transatlantic ties, pledged to back U.S. efforts to restore stability.
In a bigger than expected turnout, up to 8 million Iraqis cast ballots Sunday, braving suicide bombs and mortar attacks by insurgents that killed 35 people.
EU leaders, despite concern over the low turnout among minority Sunnis, joined Washington in declaring the poll a success, three weeks before a Feb. 22 summit with President Bush (news - web sites) that is meant to relaunch Europe-U.S. ties.
President Jacques Chirac, who faced U.S. wrath for leading a diplomatic campaign against the war, told President Bush by telephone the vote was "an important step in the political reconstruction of Iraq" and declared the turnout and organization a success.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said Berlin still believed it was right to have opposed the war but wanted to look to the future and what it could do to help in Iraq.
"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," he told reporters in Brussels, reaffirming Germany's refusal to send troops to Iraq.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) praised the election as "a step in the right direction" and told ministers at a government session to work for Iraq's future stability.
Paris, Berlin and Moscow were dubbed the "non-nein-nyet coalition" for opposing the U.S.-led war in the U.N. Security Council. The subsequent diplomatic chill has been described as the worst crisis in transatlantic ties since World War II.
But Americans and Europeans are readying a reconciliation they hope will be sealed when Bush visits NATO (news - web sites) and the EU next month in the first foreign visit of his second term.
Spain, which initially backed the war but angered Washington by withdrawing its troops after a Socialist government took power last April, also praised the election as an important step toward the goal of a fully sovereign, secure Iraq.
SUNNI ROLE
Last week the EU Commission offered to pump a further 200 million euros ($260 million) into the Iraqi economy. The EU also expects to approve by Feb. 22 a plan to train some 700-800 senior Iraqi police officers and magistrates a year.
"We regret nothing ... (but) we are looking ahead," French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier told French radio Europe 1 of a stance which reflects a gradual improvement in relations with Washington since the peak of the row nearly two years ago.
While overall turnout was put at around 60 percent, many polling stations were deserted in the parts of the Sunni Arab heartland where the insurgency has been bloodiest.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said it was vital that the Sunnis -- who make up just 20 percent of the population but had a privileged role under ousted leader Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) -- had a say in constructing Iraq's new democracy.
"All the different factions and different sensitivities should participate in the drafting of the constitution," he told Reuters in an interview, referring to a document to be drawn up later this year ahead of new elections scheduled for December. |
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Fyrefly1
Cannabis Sacrament Minister
Joined: 07 Sep 2004
Posts: 2209
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| Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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We can only hope that when all is said and done that something good will come out of Iraq.
There's been enough bad already...
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Fyrefly1
"All truth passes through three stages: first it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third it is accepted as self-evident."
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Ferre
Cannabis Sacrament Minister.
Joined: 14 Apr 2003
Posts: 7295
Location: Amsterdam
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| Posted: Mon Jan 31, 2005 10:27 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah, Halliburton&co made enough profits by now and the American and European people 'may' pay for the damage and all the other the costs. It's far from over yet. 
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