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To: LindyBill who wrote (101510)	2/21/2005 6:27:10 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793801

EU Offers Training for Iraqi Police, Judges Mon Feb 21, 2005 11:26 AM ET By Mark John BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union offered to provide training for Iraqi police and judges on Monday in a move aimed at ending a transatlantic rift over Iraq on the eve of a summit with President Bush. EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels approved a plan to train 770 senior Iraqi police officers and judges in the EU and in countries near Iraq. The mission, due to start mid-2005, could be extended to Iraq if security allowed. "It will consist of integrated training ... to be given to a representative group of senior officials, mainly in the judiciary, police and penitentiary sectors," according to a communique translated from French. Ties between Europe and the United States suffered their worst crisis since World War II in 2003 in a dispute over the U.S.-led war in Iraq, prosecuted despite resistance led by France in the U.N. Security Council. The split deepened subsequently over what Washington saw as the reluctance of anti-war countries to help it quell a violent insurgency. Paris and Berlin have pledged to help reconstruction through debt relief and training but will not set foot in Iraq. The EU communique hailed the Jan. 30 elections in Iraq as a step forward for democracy in the country and noted the EU had already agreed aid totaling over half a billion euros ($650 million) to Iraq. "The (EU) Council reaffirms its goal of an Iraq which is secure, stable, unified, prosperous, democratic, respecting of human rights and ready to cooperate constructively with its neighbors and the international community," it said. EU diplomats estimate the Iraq training mission would draw on around 10 million euros of EU funding, with member states coming up with an additional 15-18 million euros. The EU also declared itself ready to support the political process in Iraq, notably by helping in the drafting of a new constitution if invited, and to explore broadening commercial ties with the country.