Another French kiss-off for Blair

[Barrett808]

FRENCH President Jacques Chirac has thwarted Tony Blair's attempt to bridge the differences between Washington and Europe on Iraq, refusing to budge ahead of crucial talks at the United Nations this week.

The British Prime Minister left a Berlin summit with his French and German counterparts with less than he had hoped for, as US President George W. Bush prepared to address the UN on Iraq.

...

After being badly divided over the war, Europe's three largest nations now agreed that the UN needed to play a greater role and power should be handed to the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, Mr Chirac said.

But he added that "on the technicalities and timetable, we are still not fully agreed".

It is precisely the timetable and "technicalities" that are the difficulty, because Washington and London are resisting French demands that power be handed to the Iraqis "within months".

(more)

http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,7335309%255E401,00.html