Romania: U.S. Can't Go It Alone in Iraq

February 3, 2004

By BARRY SCHWEID, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON - The United States cannot build democracy alone; it needs the help of Europeans, the foreign minister of Romania said Tuesday.

Mircea Geoana, whose country joined the U.N. Security Council last month for a two-year term, discussed postwar Iraq (news - web sites) at the Nixon Center, a private research group, before meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites).

Romania has 768 troops in Iraq and more than 400 in Afghanistan (news - web sites). "There is no other option than to be successful in Iraq," Geoana said.

"However, it cannot be done alone," he said. "The European Union (news - web sites) is an indispensable partner."

Likening Iraq under deposed President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) to his own country, the minister said Romania was under a vicious version of repression during the Cold War.

As a result, Geoana said, "we feel a need to assist in a fundamental way."

At the United Nations (news - web sites) in New York on Monday, the minister said the United Nations must return and help build a stable democratic Iraq that can serve as an example to developing countries and the greater Middle East — but that quick elections were unrealistic.

He said he thought Secretary-General Kofi Annan (news - web sites) would send a team of experts to Iraq in the next day or so. The main assignment is to find a way to smooth transition to civilian rule by July 1.