Europe, UKUSA jostle over post-war Iraq
'"The jostling has begun," Jeffrey Gedmin, director of the Aspen Institute in Berlin, said of the rival meetings. "We have developed a cycle that is now hard to break...We have a different alignment of forces and a lack of trust. Will it develop into a full-blown round two or will it be a hiccup after the first fight? It's too early to say."'

'Underlying the differences is the widespread fear that the US will in fact do whatever it wants in Iraq... "We are no longer in an era where one or two countries can control the fate of another country," said French President Jacques Chirac. Many fear the second stage of an interim government will be dominated by US officials and US-groomed Iraqi exiles, giving Washington undue influence.'

Europe, UKUSA jostle over post-war Iraq
'"The jostling has begun," Jeffrey Gedmin, director of the Aspen Institute in Berlin, said of the rival meetings. "We have developed a cycle that is now hard to break...We have a different alignment of forces and a lack of trust. Will it develop into a full-blown round two or will it be a hiccup after the first fight? It's too early to say."'

'Underlying the differences is the widespread fear that the US will in fact do whatever it wants in Iraq... "We are no longer in an era where one or two countries can control the fate of another country," said French President Jacques Chirac. Many fear the second stage of an interim government will be dominated by US officials and US-groomed Iraqi exiles, giving Washington undue influence.'