Jeremiah
02-23-2005, 09:33 AM
IRAQ war wobbler Jacques Chirac scuttled George Bush’s fence-mending trip to Europe yesterday — by cranking up a row over the future of Nato.
He embraced a German-led plot to ditch the alliance as the backbone of transatlantic relations, in favour of the European Union.
He also snubbed President Bush by speaking French at a dinner, despite having fluent English.
Diplomats insisted Mr Bush had pulled off a coup by getting all 26 Nato members to contribute to a £2.5million programme to train and equip Iraq security staff. But the clash on Nato overshadowed everything.
France and Germany, led by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, want defence enshrined in the EU constitution.
Mr Bush said Nato was the “cornerstone” of US-Europe relations. Tony Blair agreed it was of “fundamental importance”.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005083136,00.html
He embraced a German-led plot to ditch the alliance as the backbone of transatlantic relations, in favour of the European Union.
He also snubbed President Bush by speaking French at a dinner, despite having fluent English.
Diplomats insisted Mr Bush had pulled off a coup by getting all 26 Nato members to contribute to a £2.5million programme to train and equip Iraq security staff. But the clash on Nato overshadowed everything.
France and Germany, led by Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, want defence enshrined in the EU constitution.
Mr Bush said Nato was the “cornerstone” of US-Europe relations. Tony Blair agreed it was of “fundamental importance”.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005083136,00.html