US President George W. Bush basked in UN approval for the new Iraq on Tuesday, delivered as he opened a summit of major industrial countries likely to be dominated by the issue.
Unanimous Security Council passage of a resolution endorsing Iraq's interim government and establishing a multinational force for the country gave Bush a boost as he kicked off the G8 summit with a series of meetings with world leaders.
"The vote today ... was a great victory for the Iraqi people," Bush told reporters as he sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a wood-beamed meeting house on Sea Island, a resort cordoned off by security forces for the summit. "It showed we stand side-by-side with the Iraqi people."
Putin praised the resolution's passage but tempered his enthusiasm by noting it would have little immediate impact on the ground, where violence continues unabated.
"Surely it will take quite a long time before the adoption of the document will have any impact on the real change on the ground in Iraq," Putin said.
Bush -- hosting Putin along with the leaders of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada -- heard measured praise for the resolution from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who was among those who opposed going to war in Iraq in the first place.
"We think that this resolution will be a good basis, a good foundation for enhancing stability [and] for also improving the chances for the Iraqi people," Schroeder said.
A senior Bush administration official said Bush raised the idea with Schroeder of NATO forces training Iraqi security forces, whose performance in many cases in Iraq has been questionable.
"They did not seek to come to an agreement about the specifics, but they did agree to discuss a possible NATO role in the future, and agreed that this was something NATO ought to take up," the official said.
The French, who strongly opposed the war in Iraq, reacted cautiously to the resolution. Catherine Colonna, spokeswoman for President Jacques Chirac, told a news conference at the summit:
"The resolution that has been voted for unanimously today is a step. Is it a triumph? It is not for me to judge, I would recommend a certain prudence."
EU President Romano Prodi said he hoped the resolution would lead to a more cooperative spirit between Europe and the US.
"The success of the resolution will be judged on that," he said.
The resolution's approval was a fitting complement, in the US view, for a scheduled visit to the summit yesterday by Iraq's new president Ghazi al-Yawar. He was due to have talks with Bush.
The 15-member Security Council voted unanimously on Tuesday for a US-British resolution that formally ends the occupation of Iraq on June 30 and authorizes a US-led force to keep the peace.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's main ally in the war, said it was time to bury the divisions of the past.
"Let us unite now in a different vision for a modern Iraq capable of being that force for good for Iraqis and also for the wider region and the world," Blair said.
Washington, assailed by allies who accuse it of having stirred more hatred in the region by invading Iraq, believes Iraq could be a catalyst for change and is promoting plans for political and economic reform in the broader Middle East at the Sea Island summit.
The UN resolution had been held up by objections over how much control the Iraqis would have over foreign troops but last-minute changes on military policy met demands by France and Germany.
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