EU member states could send troops to Iraq to help maintain order in the war-ravaged country, France's European Affairs Minister Noelle Lenoir said Monday. "Nothing has been decided, but nothing has been excluded with respect to a European Union presence in Iraq that would go beyond humanitarian aid," she said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
"What we don't want is for each country to go off on its own, a situation we regretted a short while back," the minister explained. "Each country can make proposals and suggestions, we've done it ourselves. But when it comes to action, the Union must present itself as a political entity, a community of states, all going in the same direction."
| Which direction is that? It's not forward, it's not back, it's not left, it's not right. And it's not up... |
"Once the country is made secure, we hope that the postwar phase will be under UN control, that Iraq's territorial integrity will be maintained and that it will regain its sovereignty," the minister added.
| All correct except for the first one... |
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a staunch supporter of the US-led war, said last week he was ready to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq if parliament approved.
| Which is entirely different from the Eunochs as a whole sending troops. |
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