Iraq

Bush sees 'hard work ahead'

ISTANBUL, Turkey - President Bush got the word on a handwritten note.

"Mr. President, Iraq is sovereign," wrote national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, passing the note to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who then handed it to Bush as he met here Monday with his NATO counterparts.

"Letter was passed from Bremer at 10:26 a.m. Iraq time - Condi."

Bush whipped out a black felt-tipped pen and quickly jotted down his response, beginning each word with capital letters.

"Let Freedom Reign!"

At the same time, Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged that the job is far from over.

U.S. officials expect more violence, and U.S. troops will remain in charge of security until Iraqi forces are ready to replace them.

"There's still much hard work ahead," Bush told reporters at a joint appearance with Blair at a NATO summit in Istanbul. "The courage of our military has brought us to this hopeful day, and the continued service of our military assures the success of our cause."

NATO agreed to help train Iraqi security forces, but the commitment fell far short of Bush's initial goal of getting NATO troops into Iraq. The details of the training mission were left vague because of disputes within the alliance over the extent of NATO involvement.

Also in dispute is whether the training will take place in Iraq, as Iraqi officials prefer, or in foreign countries. Hours after the NATO agreement, French President Jacques Chirac told reporters that he opposes any NATO role inside Iraq. France has suggested that individual NATO countries could train Iraqi forces on their own.

"It is not NATO's role to intervene in Iraq," said Chirac.

Two days after Bush declared that "the bitter differences of the war are over," Blair acknowledged on Monday that they aren't.

"There's no point in our standing here and saying, you know, all the previous disagreements have disappeared. They haven't," Blair said.

Nevertheless, Bush and Blair clearly were buoyed by the day's developments. In addition to agreeing to help in Iraq, NATO agreed to send 3,500 more troops to Afghanistan to safeguard September elections amid growing attacks by remnants of the Taliban. That will boost the total NATO force there to 10,000.

Blair said the NATO commitments show that the Cold War alliance is ready to shift focus to a global war on terrorism.

"That security threat is the threat of our times," the British prime minister said. "For NATO, after the end of the Cold War, after all the changes that have happened, I think it has its role today."

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