US, Europe friends again: Rice

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the US and key European states like France and Germany had agreed to bury their differences over the US-led invasion of Iraq.

"The European leaders I spoke with (during her recent visit to Europe) agree that it is time to close the book on our past differences over Iraq, and time for all of us to help the Iraqi people write a new book--the history of a democratic Iraq," she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday.

To advance the US diplomatic mission of freedom, she spoke with European leaders about how America and Europe can work together to serve freedom's cause worldwide.

Rice also claimed to have received support of several Muslim countries on issues including West Asia peace process.

The path of

democratic reform in the Middle East, said Rice, will be difficult and uneven. The spread of freedom is the work of generations, "but it is also urgent work that cannot be deferred," she said.

Committee chairman Richard Lugar said the US has continuously encouraged the Indo-Pak peace process.

"State Department diplomacy has provided constant encouragement to the promising talks between nuclear weapons states India and Pakistan that represent the best chance in years to reduce tensions on the subcontinent," he said.

Much of the two-and-a-half hour session was devoted to strong criticism of Iran and Syria.

More than one member was critical of the fact that some of the countries that have sent troops to Iraq at the request of the United States are being paid for it by Washington.