WASHINGTON, April 16: Sharply divided over how to approach France after a bitter dispute about the Iraq war, top aides to President George W. Bush plan to meet this week to debate the future of the relationship, senior US officials said Wednesday.
Despite the first phone call in two months between Bush and French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday that Washington described as “businesslike,” the president’s aides are expected to meet on Thursday, they said.
National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, who is now travelling with Bush, may join the so-called “principals meeting” at the White House by teleconference in an effort to decide whether France should be punished for its anti-war stance, the officials told AFP on condition of anonymity. However, they said it was unlikely any final agreement would be reached and stressed that even if a consensus is forged it would still be up to Bush to decide on the course of future policy.
US officials said the State Department position had been buoyed in recent days by Bush’s telephone conversation with Chirac. The officials also noted that Powell and his French counterpart Dominique de Villepin had spoken twice in the past three days, seeking ways to ease the tension.
“These phone calls ... suggest to us that the French are seeking a useful role and the best way for us to deal with them is to see what it is we can do cooperatively, not divisively,” a State Department official said.—AFP
