EU supports Bush on Iraq security plan

With European Union support in hand, President Bush looked to seal an agreement for NATO to help stabilize Iraq as its fledgling government takes over this week. He shrugged off lingering European resentment of the war, saying "We'll just let the chips fall where they may."

NATO announced an initial agreement to help train Iraq's armed forces hours after Bush won support Saturday from the 25-nation European Union. Nineteen of NATO's 26 members overlap in the EU.

As the path for NATO involvement appeared to open up, the EU took a gentle swipe at Bush over abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the hands of American soldiers. The final communique declared, "We stress the need for full respect of the Geneva Conventions," an unstated but obvious reference to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and the U.S. treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere. The conventions refer to international accords setting out guidelines for the humane treatment of prisoners.

With Bush standing beside him, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern told a news conference in Ireland, "These things, unfortunately, happened. We wish they didn't, but they do. And what's important then is how they're dealt with, how things improve for the future."

Protests around Dromoland Castle in western Ireland closed down roads, delaying the arrival of Bush, Ahern and European Commission president Romano Prodi. The protesters were kept away from the castle and its visitors.

The summit was the first of two Bush is attending this weekend in an effort to improve relations with allies, many of whom disagreed with his decision to invade Iraq.

Later aloft Air Force One on his way to the NATO summit in Ankara, Bush said U.S. armed forces are committed to complying with the conventions and that the acts of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq were wrong. Bush issued the statement on a United Nations international day in support of victims of torture.

Bush is widely unpopular in Turkey, and his arrival Saturday in Ankara was preceded by a series of protests and bomb blasts, including one Thursday that injured three people outside the Ankara hotel where he will stay. Another blast that day on an Istanbul bus killed four people and injured 14. On Saturday, Turkish police fired tear gas as more than 150 demonstrators hurled rocks and used sticks to try and break down a police barricade during a protest ahead of Bush's arrival.

Throwing a cloud over Bush's visit, militants loyal to terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi said they have kidnapped three Turkish workers in Iraq and threatened to behead them in 72 hours. The kidnappers demanded the Turks hold demonstrations protesting the visit by the "criminal" Bush and that Turkish companies stop working in Iraq.

In Ireland a few miles from where Bush spoke, thousands demonstrated against Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq.

Bush asserted that the bitter differences with European leaders over the Iraq war are over, declaring "a common interest and a common goal to help the Iraqi people."

Bush bristled at ongoing European criticism of his decision to invade Iraq, saying "we'll just let the chips fall where they may." Asked about his apparent lack of support in Europe, Bush said, "I must confess that the first polls I worry about are those that are going to take place in early November this year." The presidential election is Nov. 2.