German chancellor pledges more help in Iraq

BERLIN -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, pressing her effort to improve relations with Europe, drew a promise on Friday from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder of Germany to do more to help with Iraq and a warm endorsement of President Bush's call for democracy in Iran.

Earlier, she sought to assuage fears that the United States intended to attack Iran, a day after she rebuffed a European request to join negotiations over the country's nuclear program.

Schroeder, one of Europe's most implacable opponents of the Iraq invasion two years ago, appeared with Rice at a convivial news conference after an hourlong meeting here on Friday. He said that he, like Bush, was ready to move beyond the debates of the past and work together on several matters, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian peace effort.

Rice said, "Now is the time for our diplomacy to put our alliance to work in the service of great goals and great opportunities that stand before us."

Schroeder said that what Iraq needed was "democracy and stability" and that Germany, which has begun training Iraqi police officers in the United Arab Emirates, was "ready to help" if the Iraqis asked for it. The Germans have ruled out any military mission, training or otherwise, on Iraqi soil, however.

Earlier on Friday, the first full day of her weeklong trip to Europe and the Middle East, Rice conferred with Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Minister Jack Straw of Britain in London. There and in Germany, she sought to ease concerns that the United States had any intention of attacking Iran.

Military action, Rice said in London, "is simply not on the agenda at this point in time." Instead, she listed a series of grievances the United States has against Iran, including a poor record on human rights and its suspected nuclear arms program.

In Tehran on Friday, Rice's remarks were castigated as fresh proof of the Bush administration's enmity and set off suspicion of the Europeans in their negotiations with Iran to halt its uranium enrichment activities in exchange for potential rewards.

In the sermon at Friday prayers at Tehran University, Ayatollah Ahmed Janati, the head of Iran's powerful Guardian Council, declared that Iran was under threat not only from the United States but also from Britain.

He spoke of a conspiracy by the British officials involved in the nuclear talks to make Iran give up its nuclear technology gradually for little reward. "They are masters of deception, cunning and trickery," he said, calling Britain "the father of the Great Satan" - - the term used by Iranian hard-liners for the United States. "If they can, they will just give us a candy as sweetener."

Copyright C 2005 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.