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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NickSE who wrote (88930)	4/1/2003 7:18:40 PM
From: NickSE	Respond to of 281500

Central Command blames most civilian deaths on Iraq's use of human shields boston.com CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar -- Despite the killing of seven Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops at a checkpoint, a U.S. general said Tuesday that Iraqis were helping coalition forces target Saddam Hussein's army. Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks described several instances in which local residents had helped U.S. forces throughout the country, paving the way for successful attacks against "death squads" loyal to Saddam. In one case north of the south-central Iraqi town of Nasiriyah, 100 local tribesmen joined U.S. soldiers in capturing Iraqi military prisoners and removing explosives from a bridge, he said. In the western desert, Brooks said residents of a town led U.S. troops to a hospital where weapons, munitions and gas masks were found. He said the residents carried the cache into the desert where it was blown up.....

To: NickSE who wrote (88930)	4/1/2003 9:08:03 PM
From: NickSE	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

Small EU nations reject French-German integration ideas story.news.yahoo.com LUXEMBOURG - Seven small EU nations said Tuesday they oppose key proposals of France and Germany aimed at making the European Union a more efficient, more flexible outfit after its membership balloons from 25 from 15 next year. The common front announced by Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Portugal and Belgium against Franco-German EU reform ideas set the stage for a contentious mid-April summit meeting at which all 15 EU leaders will assess progress in the drafting of an EU constitution. France and Germany want the charter to contain internal reforms bound to alter the balance of power within the 15-nation bloc after it has taken in 10 mostly East European newcomers in 2004. Derisively termed "the Seven Dwarfs" in German media, the small EU members reject the appointment of an EU president for five years as eroding the role of the European Commission. The EU executive runs the union's day-to-day affairs and acts as a guardian of sorts over the rights of small EU members. France and German want the EU president to be a well-known figure representing the union on the world stage and end the practice of rotating the EU presidency among all member governments every six months. The seven small EU nations said an EU president will sideline them and argue that the rotating presidency guarantees they will continue to have a say in EU policy making. "We think the proposed EU president carries an eminent risk of duplicating the work of the European Commission," said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. He told a news conference an EU president working alongside the European Commission president will only confuse outsiders and "weaken the European Union." France and Germany have put their reform ideas to the 105-member European Convention that is drafting an EU constitution under the chairmanship of former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing. Giscard d'Estaing is to brief the EU leaders at an April 16-17 summit in Athens on the work of his charter-drafting convention that is starting to run behind schedule. At that summit, 10 candidate nations will sign their EU accession treaties. Small EU states say Giscard d'Estaing is biased to the Franco-German reform ideas. "The views of Giscard d'Estaing are not the same as those of the seven small EU states," said Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende. While the seven agree on key reform ideas, they disagree on a new effort by France, Germany and Belgium to craft a European defense policy. The fear in other capitals is that such a policy — that would also be outlined in an EU constitution — will undermine the U.S.-led NATO alliance. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said any European defense undertaking "should not be a rival to the Euro-Atlantic alliance." Dutch Foreign Minister Jaap de Hoop Scheffer put it more bluntly. "Belgium and France will not guarantee our security," he told reporters. "Germany will not guarantee the security of the Netherlands. I cannot imagine a world order built against the United States." The debate on revamping the EU powers and institutions began in February, 2002, amid great hopes of settling long-standing arguments over how to give the union more teeth and make it more effective all around. EU nations have been at odds for two decades over to forge a common foreign and security policies. The U.S.-led war in Iraq has complicated that debate, sowing European divisions at a moment when convention members are trying to write constitutional articles on an EU foreign policy. Giscard d'Estaing has hinted he would like more time to complete the constitution, which is supposed to be adopted by the governments of all 15 members by the end of the year. In the Iraq crisis, France and Germany have led the anti-war camp, while Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands have generally sided with the United States.