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Bush to Chirac: Time to move on
EVIAN, France (CNN) -- U.S. President George W. Bush and his French counterpart Jacques Chirac talked through their differences on Iraq on Monday, with Bush saying it was "time to move on," a senior U.S. official said. Bush held a 25-minute meeting with Chirac discussing the whole of the Middle East, including the Palestinian issue, before departing for Egypt to seek support from Arab leaders for the U.S.-backed "road map" designed to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. After talks in Egypt, Bush is to travel to a landmark summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority PM Mahoud Abbas. At their meeting with Chirac at the G-8 summit in Evian, France, Bush said the U.S. and France maintained "good relations." (Conciliatory tones) In a sign of thawing relations France said it was sending special forces to Afghanistan to work alongside U.S. troops. "This decision reflects both a wish of the United States and our desire to participate in the stabilization of Afghanistan," Reuters quoted Chirac spokeswoman Catherine Colonna as saying. She declined to say when the troops would go or how many would be involved. Later Chirac told a news conference that while Bush had not actually invited him to the U.S., he had told him he would be happy to see him in America when the French president attends a conference in New York on the eve of a U.N. General Assembly meeting in September. "President Bush asked me if I was going to the session, and I said it was possible, and President Bush said 'I'd be happy to meet you on that occasion,' and I said 'naturally'," Chirac said. Chirac was Bush's fiercest adversary in the run-up to the U.S.-led war and threatened to veto a second U.N. resolution authorizing force against former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The American president said Chirac had been "honest" with him over Iraq. The French leader knew a lot about the Middle East and he would be asking his advice, Bush said before his flight to Egypt. The senior U.S. official who reported Bush's comments to Chirac said Chirac offered a number of interesting ideas in dealing with Syria. No details were given. The two leaders also talked about Iran and their shared concern that it be nuclear free. The official said Chirac opened the discussion by talking about Iraq and the need to move forward after the fall of Saddam, an issue that he said was important to Europe and the United States. Bush said: "The Iraq situation was difficult but it is time to move on." CNN's European Political Editor Robin Oakley said relations between the two men seemed to have warmed since they met for the first time since the Iraq war on the first day of the summit Sunday, exchanging little more than a firm handshake. They put on a good show of working together Monday and it was an important signal to the other world leaders at the summit as they gathered for a final photograph with the departing Bush, Oakley said. Earlier Bush, before travelling to the Middle East, said he would "put in as much time as necessary" to achieve peace in the region. With Chirac sitting nearby, Bush told reporters that despite their differences concerning the war in Iraq, the U.S. and France maintained "good relations" because the two leaders had "been very honest with each other." "I know there's a lot of people in both our countries wondering if we can actually sit down and have a comfortable conversation and the answer is absolutely," Bush said. "We can have disagreements but that doesn't mean we have to be disagreeable to each other." "We went through a difficult period," Bush said. "I understand his position. He made it very clear to me in the very beginning. There was no question where Jacques Chirac stood. I made it clear where I stood. That's why I can say we've got good relations because we've been very honest with each other. "But when it came to focus on a free Iraq, a healthy Iraq, a prosperous Iraq, we're in agreement," Bush said. "We'll move together to ensure that the Iraqi people have now got the capacity to run their own country." 'I'll ask his advice on Mideast'Bush said he would seek Chirac's advice on the Middle East. "He's a man who knows a lot about the Middle East," Bush said. "He's got good judgment about the Middle East." Bush said while in the Middle East he would "call all the respective parties to their responsibility to achieve peace and to make it very clear that my country and I will put in as much time as necessary to achieve the vision of two states living side by side in peace." "I fully understand this is going to be a difficult process," he said. "I fully understand we need to work with our friends such as France to achieve the process." Bush and Chirac had met privately as the summit began Sunday in Evian as about 25,000 antiglobalization protesters demonstrated on both sides of the French-Swiss border. (Full story) Bush described Sunday's first talks with Chirac as "very helpful." For his part, Chirac said the two men had a "very positive" meeting. -- CNN White House correspondent Dana Bash contributed to this report.
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