So what changed?
Quote of note:
"Twenty-six nations sat around the table saying, 'You know, let's get the past behind us, and now let's focus on helping the world's newest democracy succeed,' " he said at a news conference here with the NATO secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
The past is behind us...but close enough that everyone can still hear its footsteps.
Asked if he was satisfied with the token contributions, Mr. Bush said, "Every contribution helps."
...especially when you know that's all you're going to get.
Anyway...
NATO Agrees on Modest Plan for Training Iraqi Forces
By ELAINE SCIOLINO
BRUSSELS, Feb. 22 - The North Atlantic Treaty Organization announced agreement on Tuesday over a modest plan to train and equip Iraq's new security forces, a symbolic display of unity but one that is unlikely to translate into a sharp change in Iraq.
Responding to intense lobbying by the Bush administration, all 26 countries of the alliance committed to aid training in some way, even though some of the financial contributions were meager and several nations refused to send trainers to Iraq.
The agreement came after France quietly dropped its refusal to take part under a NATO umbrella on Tuesday. It pledged $660,000 to an alliance fund for military and police training in Iraq and has assigned one French midlevel officer to the training mission at the organization's headquarters near Brussels, French and American officials said.
The United States is eager to get the security forces whipped into fighting form as soon as possible, both to restore stability to Iraq and to allow the eventual withdrawal of the 150,000 American troops.
But the training mission is going much more slowly than expected. In Congressional testimony this month, two senior Pentagon officials acknowledged that less than a third of the Iraqi security forces that the Pentagon says have been trained are capable of tackling the most dangerous missions. Iraqi Army units are suffering severe troop shortages, officials said, and absenteeism and even corruption in the security forces is a problem.
"All 26 allies are contributing to the NATO mission to assist in training Iraqi security forces, to hasten the day when they can take full responsibility for the stability of the country and the security of its citizens," the communiqué said after a summit meeting here brought together President Bush and other leaders of alliance nations.
