WASHINGTON, 28 June 2004 — The Bush administration yesterday hailed NATO’s expected move to train Iraqi security forces as proof it was healing diplomatic rifts over the war and mustering broad world support for its military operation.

After an upbeat meeting Saturday with the European Union, US officials predicted the NATO summit opening today in Turkey would finally bury what President George W. Bush called “bitter differences” over last year’s invasion.

The officials said the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has balked at providing more troops for Iraq, was virtually certain to approve training for Iraqi security forces in a gesture with important diplomatic overtones.

National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told Fox News yesterday that the Istanbul summit would produce “a strong political commitment that the countries of NATO understand that the future of Iraq is important to them.”

Rice also went on ABC News to praise the “very good support” the United States was getting from Europe, where countries such as France and Germany had staunchly opposed the war to topple Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.

“I think you will see more (support) now that there is a Security Council resolution and as the reconstruction phase really kicks in,” she said in a reference to the UN vote early this month endorsing the new interim Iraqi government. An administration official, briefing reporters aboard Air Force One as it flew from Ireland to Turkey, exulted in what the aide called “the most productive US-EU summit” since Bush assumed the presidency in January 2001.

“It’s very clear that you now have a political consensus between the United States and Europe on the way forward — not a political consensus in retrospect about Iraq last year, but a consensus on what we do now,” the official said. Although the EU made no mention of a future military role in Iraq in the joint statement issued after the summit in Ireland, the official said the Europeans still blessed the multinational force on the ground.

“This means that the European Union member states who have troops in Iraq now can no longer be accused by anyone of acting against a general European consensus,” the official said. While France and Germany have refused to send troops, countries such as Britain, Italy and Spain have contributed to the US-led operation, sparking fierce protests at home in each case.

Bush and his main war allies, prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, have worked hard to forge a display of trans-Atlantic unity, but it escaped them at a summit of eight leading powers two weeks ago. If they were able to bask in the unanimous UN Security resolution putting the world body’s stamp on the restoration of Iraqi self-rule this Wednesday, there was no agreement on sending more troops or on how much Iraqi debt to forgive.

Bush, who faces a tough fight for re-election in November, hopes to refurbish his diplomatic image at a time when US support for the war has plunged. New polls show a majority of Americans now consider the invasion a mistake. Secretary of State Colin Powell said yesterday in Turkey that the plummeting poll numbers were a reaction to the recent spate of violence that has plagued Iraq as the date for the handover of power approaches.

“I hope that as the Iraqi government takes over, the American people will see that they are taking over and they now have sovereignty and they are now in charge of their country and moving their country in the right way,” he told CNN.

“I think in due course they will see that we have made the right decision, and what we are doing is noble work. And those (poll) numbers will change,” Powell said.