• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Bush, Chirac Discuss Iraq, Syria, Middle East "Road Map"

(White House Report, April 15: Chirac, North Korea) (380)
President Jacques Chirac of France phoned President Bush April 15 and
the two leaders discussed Iraq, Syria, and the "road map" to peace in
the Middle East, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said at his daily
briefing.
Fleischer said Bush expressed confidence that, as a result of
coalition efforts, conditions in Iraq will be better than they were
before the war. He said Chirac agreed with Bush that Syria should not
harbor former leaders of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Bush told Chirac that he hoped to be able to release the road map for
a Mideast peace settlement soon, according to Fleischer, who said the
two also discussed the upcoming summit meeting of G-8 nation leaders
that is to be held in France in early June.
Fleischer said he thought Bush would characterize the phone
conversation as "business-like."
The spokesman said Chirac told Bush that he wanted France to play a
"pragmatic role" in reconstruction events in Iraq, which Fleischer
called "an interesting choice of words." He suggested that it
indicated France "may be seeking to find what role they may be able to
play."
While not denying that the U.S. and France "disagreed strenuously" on
the appropriate way to handle Iraq, Fleischer said that will not stop
Bush from working professionally with "an ally like France." He said
"the president knows that despite what was a very overt difference
with France about how to deal with military issues in Iraq, that we
are still allies, we share common values."
PYONGYANG'S MULTILATERAL DIPLOMACY COMMENTS "NOTED WITH INTEREST"
Fleischer acknowledged reports on comments April 12 by a North Korean
foreign ministry spokesman expressing apparent willingness to engage
in multilateral diplomacy, saying the White House "noted those reports
with interest."
The Bush administration's policy on North Korea has been to involve
regional partners such as China, South Korea and Japan in attempts to
halt North Korea's purported nuclear weapons program.
"We are," Fleischer said, "making good progress working in a
multilateral fashion with our friends and allies. We believe this is a
regional issue, not a bilateral issue, and we will continue to treat
it as such."
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)