Bush, Germany call for stop
to Iranian nuclear ambition
Bush and German chancellor find common ground
although disagreements on Iraq, global warming persist
Schroeder noted its role in training
Iraqi security officers in the
United Arab Emirates and its
willingness to help the new Iraqi
government draft a constitution or
establish ministries.
“I fully understand the limita
tions of German contributions,”
Bush said.
The leader of Germany’s main
opposition party, the conservative
Christian Democrats, said after a
15-minute meeting with Bush
that relations appear on the
mend. “I got the impression that
trans-Atlantic relations are really in
a new phase,” Angela Merkel told
ARD television.
But the sticky issue of Iran
dominated the Bush-Schroeder
meeting and news conference.
National Security Advisor Steve
Hadley said the administration
supports the Europeans’ negotia
tions with Iran, but insist they
produce a permanent halt to Iran’s
uranium enrichment.
Hadley said the leaders
discussed whether there should
BY TOM RALIM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MAINZ, Germany — President
Bush and German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder insisted
Wednesday that Iran must not
have nuclear weapons, but
remained divided on how to coax
Tehran into giving up its suspected
ambitions for such an arsenal.
“It’s vital that the Iranians hear
the world speak with one voice
that they shouldn’t have a nuclear
weapon, Busn
said at a news
conference with
the German
leader.
Both sought
to play down
the differences
between the
United States
and Europe.
“The reason we’re having
these discussions is because
they were caught enriching
uranium after they signed a
treaty saying they wouldn’t
enrich uranium. ”
Georce Bush | President
we absolutely agree that Iran
must say ‘no’ to any kind of
nuclear weapon,” Schroeder said.
Bush made his nine-hour stop
during a trip to Belgium, Germany
and Slovakia, where the president
meets today with Russian President
Vladimir Putin.
Schroeder wants Bush to
more actively engage with talks led
by Germany, France and Britain
that offer incentives to Tehran,
such as membership in the
World Trade Organization, in
return for dropping its uranium
enrichment program.
“There needs to be movement
on both sides,” Schroeder said.
Bush, in contrast, backs the
European diplomacy but frowns on
the idea of rewarding Iran for
breaking the nonproliferation treaty
that prohibits it from making nu
clear fuel or sponsoring terrorist
groups in Israel, such as Hezbollah.
“We will work with them to
convince the mullahs that they
need to give up their nuclear ambi
tions,” Bush said of the Europeans.
But he added: “The reason we’re
having these discussions is because
they were caught enriching urani
um after they had signed a treaty
saying they wouldn’t enrich
uranium. ... They’re the party that
needs to be held to account, not
any of us.”
From Tehran, Iranian President
Mohammad Khatami said Iran will
not permanently halt a nuclear pro
gram it insists is designed only for
peaceful purposes.
“Neither my government nor
any other (Iranian) government
can give up the definite right of the
Iranian nation to have peaceful
nuclear technology,” Khatami said.
"We have to give objective
guarantees to the (European)
gentlemen that we won’t divert
from the peaceful path. They must
also ... give objective guarantees
that our rights and security will
be protected.”
Also on Wednesday, Bush
addressed about 3,000 U.S. troops
at Wiesbaden Air Base in Germany,
many of whom had just returned
from Iraq. He also toured a
museum dedicated to Mainz native
Johannes
Gutenberg,
inventor of
the printing
press, with
Schroeder.
At a round
table meeting
with young
Germans,
Bush empha
sizeu me close reiauonsmp ne ana
Schroeder have with the Russian
leader, who is under criticism from
the West for rolling back some
democratic reforms.
“I expressed some concerns at
the European Union yesterday
about some of the decisions, such
as freedom of the press, that
our mutual friend has made,” Bush
said. “I look forward to talking
with him about his decision
making process.”
A senior administration official,
who briefed reporters on Air Force
One during the flight to Germany,
said Bush rejects Putin’s defense
ot tighter
government
controls —
namely that
the Russian
people are
accustomed
to the strong
rule of the
czars and a
large govern
“Neither my government
nor any other (Iranian)
government can give up the
definite right of the Iranian
nation to have peaceful
nuclear technology. ”
Mohammad Khatami | Iranian President
ment role in everyday life. “An ar
gument that ‘My people need a
strong ruler — me’
is an argument that does not
fit with the way the president
talks about democracy,” said the
official, speaking on the condition
of anonymity.
Bush and Schroeder, meanwhile,
seemed resigned to differences
on issues such as global
warming and, especially, the
U.S.-led war in Iraq that Germany
vehemently opposed.
“Now, our joint interest is that
we come to a stable, democratic
Iraq,” Schroeder said.
Even though Germany refuses to
go into the war-torn nation,
“be a mix of carrots and sticks and
who should the carrots come from
and what should they be.” But he
stopped short of saying Bush was
retreating from his belief that
Iran should not be rewarded,
saying Bush “did a lot of listening”
and now will “go back and think
about it.”
Bush also repeated that
Syria must remove its forces
from Lebanon but didn’t threaten
any action against Damascus —
for now.
“The charge is out there
for the Syrian government to
hear loud and clear,” Bush
said. “We will see
how they respond
before there’s any
further discu
sions about going
back to the
United Nations.”
Schroeder
welcomed Bush
during a snowy
arrival rprpmnnu
at a 17th century castle in this city
on the Rhine River. A military band
played the national anthems of
each country as the leaders walked
a red carpet reviewing a military
honor guard. They posed for
photographs with wide smiles,
Bush throwing his arm around
the chancellor.
Security was so tight that nearly
every street in downtown Mainz
was closed to traffic.
About 5,000 people participated
in a peaceful rally and parade
protesting Bush’s visit — though
they were kept far from the palace
meeting site. A recent AP-Ipsos poll
showed overwhelming skepticism
of Bush in Germany.
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Groups in Iraq vie
to win position
of prime minister
Iraq's interim prime minister tries to maintain his
position, competing with the leading Shiite candidate
BY PATRICK QUINN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Ayad Allawi,
the secular interim prime minister,
said Wednesday he’s putting togeth
er a coalition to try to hold onto his
job in the next government and
block the candidate of the dominant
Shiite political alliance. Kurdish par
ties also weighed in with demands
for top posts, setting up a possible
showdown over the role of religion
in a new Iraq.
Allawi’s call for an inclusive
coalition that would attract minority
Sunni Arabs who form the core of
the insurgency came as support for
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the leading Shi
ite candidate, began slipping in his
United Iraq Alliance.
One day after al-Jaafari, 58, was
nominated for the post of prime
minister by the clergy-backed al
liance, a Shiite political group that
supports his one-time challenger,
Ahmad Chalabi, threatened to with
draw its support.
The Shiite Political Council de
manded the alliance make amends
after forcing Chalabi to end his pur
suit of the prime minister’s post by
nominating one of the council’s
members for the largely ceremonial
post of Iraqi president.
But the Kurdish coalition
controlling 75 of the 275 seats in the
National Assembly has long taken
for granted that the alliance,
which has 140 seats, will give
the presidency to one of its leaders
— Jalal Talabani.
“Regarding the nomination for
the presidential post, no names
were presented officially and we are
running nonofficial discussions
with all parties, especially with the
Kurdish officials here in Baghdad,”
al-Jaafari spokesman Abdul Razaq
Al-Kadhimi said.
The Kurds also issued a separate
list of demands that include
reinforcing autonomy in their
northern provinces.
The presidency requires a
two-thirds majority vote from the
assembly, the first step in the
complicated process of filling the
top positions. For al-Jaafari to
become prime minister, he must
win the approval of his own Shiite
alliance, including Chalabi’s
supporters, and an additional
44 legislators.
Much is at stake because the
next prime minister will oversee
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the drafting of a new constitution,
and some fear al-Jaafari could
lead Iraq toward an Islamic
theocracy, or even a strictly
sectarian Shiite one. Allawi, Chalabi
and the Kurds oppose efforts to
codify or legislate religion.
Allawi, whose ticket won
40 seats in the assembly, said he
considered al-Jaafari an “honorable
man.” But when asked if he
feared the alliance could impose
Islamic rule in Iraq, Allawi said he
opposed the creation of any form of
Islamic government.
“We are liberal powers and
we believe in a liberal Iraq and not
an Iraq governed by political
Islamists. But as a person he is an
honorable man, fighter and a good
brother,” Allawi said.
Al-Jaafari is one of the interim
government’s two vice presidents
and heads Dawa, a conservative
Islamic religious party. He fought
Saddam Hussein and took refuge
in Iran for a decade in the 1980s
when Shiite clergy solidified their
rule in Iran.
In torming his new coalition
to unseat al-Jaafari, Allawi asked
the Sunni Arab minority, which
mostly boycotted the Jan. 30
elections, to play a role in the
new government. Such a move
could go a long way toward helping
deflate the insurgency, thought
mostly to be made up of Sunnis
who once belonged to Saddam’s
Baath party.
Allawi, 60, has staunchly
opposed the effort to rid the
government and administration of
former Baathists.
“The missions ahead of us are
very great. Above all is achieving
national unity by deed and not
just by word, and through the
integration of the Iraqi sectors
which didn’t participate in the
elections,” Allawi said.
Much of the violence in Iraq
has been blamed on fighters
from other countries, such as
neighboring Syria.
On Wednesday, a U.S.-funded
Iraqi state television station aired
what it said were the confessions of
an alleged Syrian intelligence officer
and a group of Iraqi insurgents
he purportedly trained to behead
people and carry out attacks against
American and Iraqi troops.
There was no immediate reaction
from Syria.
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