Thu Jul 29, 2004 11:04 AM ET
By John Chalmers
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) - Wrangling NATO allies narrowed differences over a plan to train Iraqi forces Thursday but, still dogged by their split over last year's war, Paris and Washington remained at odds over who should command the mission.
"The positions are so entrenched it's very hard to see how we can get a series of miniconcessions from both sides to meet in the middle," said one diplomat after the 26 allied nations' ambassadors met behind closed doors for a second day.
However, one alliance official said significant progress had been made and there was a good chance that the envoys would clinch a deal when they reconvene at 5:30 p.m. (11:30 a.m. EDT).
Some diplomats have accused France of trying to stall an operation that the alliance hopes to launch in insurgency-torn Iraq next month with an advance party of around 30 personnel.
Others counter that France is not isolated, and say it has quiet backing from Germany and Spain.
"It's not at all one versus 25," said one.
Paris argued during two highly charged meetings Wednesday that it was Washington's "extraordinary demands" that were holding things up.
The United States insists that the NATO mission should come under the command of the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq and that it should be commonly funded rather than paid for only by nations which provide the training.
NATO leaders meeting in Istanbul last month promised support to Iraq's government, which has asked the alliance for military equipment, protection for U.N. personnel and training for both its regular troops and border guards.
However, the wording of the Istanbul summit accord was left deliberately vague because of French and German resistance to an overt or collective role for the alliance inside Iraq, forcing alliance envoys back around the table to agree on the details.
"GRINDING AN ANTI-AMERICAN AX"
Critics accuse Paris, a fierce opponent of the U.S.-led Iraq war, of seeking to undermine NATO and curb American influence.
They suspect France is reluctant to hand Washington a show of international support for its Iraq policy that could help President Bush's re-election in November.
Reflecting U.S. irritation, the Wall Street Journal Europe accused France in an editorial of "diplomatic cynicism."
"There they go again," it said. "The French stand one against all at NATO, blindly grinding their anti-American ax and making a mockery of alliance cohesion."
The standoff on training echoed a blazing row at NATO before the war last year, when France and others blocked the deployment of military reinforcements to Turkey, one of Iraq's neighbors.
Paris was the only one to hang tough in that dispute, and in the end allies resorted to the Defense Planning Committee -- on which France has no seat because it is not part of NATO's integrated military structure -- to authorize the plan.
The most contentious issue in the current spat is whether the commander of the training mission should be "double-hatted," reporting to both NATO and the U.S.-led multinational force.
Washington argues that since trainers will need protection in Iraq there should be a formal link to stabilization forces there. France is suspicious that this would amount to pushing NATO onto the Iraqi battlefield through a back door.