BAGHDAD, Dec 9 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell pressed Europe to overcome its differences on the 2003 US-led invasion and rebuild Iraq, as the country's majority Shiites unveiled a major alliance ahead of next month's key elections.
Meanwhile, Japan bucked the trend of other US allies by extending its troop deployment in the country by 12 months.
Ahead of Thursday meetings at NATO headquarters in Brussels and talks Friday with the Dutch presidency of the European Union, Powell said Washington and Europe must work together to respond to new threats and challenges.
"I know that some of (President George W. Bush's) key decisions these last four years have been controversial in Europe, especially decisions that were made about Iraq," he said in a Brussels speech Wednesday night.
"Whatever our differences about the past, about Iraq, we are now looking forward. We are reaching out to Europe and we hope that Europe will reach out to us."
For his part, NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer called on members to contribute to expanding missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, saying there should be a "fair burden sharing" among allies.
"We all know that consensus does not come by magic and requires both a healthy culture of debate and each ally's sense of responsibility," he said in an address to NATO foreign ministers.
NATO is seeking contributions for a new military training operation in Iraq, which the alliance wants to comprise some 300 instructors in time for the elections.
Planning has been bedevilled by discord over the details, with a group of countries who opposed the Iraq war refusing to send any of their forces to Iraq.
As the debate continues over whether it will be safe enough to hold elections as planned on January 30, the country's Shiite majority announced a broadly based alliance in the run-up to the polls.
The United Iraqi Alliance, backed by highly revered Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, includes the Dawa party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) and Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, Dawa's Ali Adib said.
But Moqtada al-Sadr, whose militia battled US-led forces in Baghdad and Najaf before calling a truce, "is not on the list" after not registering his movement for the elections, said Hussein Shahrastani, a member of the coalition's organising committee.
"It contains parties and political currents as well as independent figures of different confessions and ethnic groups and takes into consideration the demographic and geographic balance in Iraq," said Adib.
The list, which has 228 candidates, also contained Sunnis, Yazidis, and Faili (Shiite) Kurds, he added.
Iraqis are to elect 275 members of a national assembly in country's first free and multi-party polls in half a century.
Shiite leaders have vehemently opposed calls by some parties for the vote to be postponed over security concerns.
Sistani is one of the most powerful and popular figures in Iraq and commentators say any list he endorses should stand a good chance in the polls.
Although persistent violence and political opposition have seen a number of European countries indicate plans to withdraw or reduce their troops in Iraq, Japan announced that it will keep its troops in the country.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi extended the deployment to December 14, 2005 saying it was his country's "responsibility to help Iraqis rebuild their nation" after years of war.
About 550 Japanese troops are on a non-combat reconstruction mission in the southern town of Samawa -- Japan's first post-1945 mission to a combat zone.
On an official visit to Washington, interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawar accused Syria of sheltering insurgents who are formenting unrest in Iraq.
"I think we're having insurgents coming from Syria," Yawar told CNN television.
He said Iraqi officials suspect that Syria is "offering them a safe haven and a shelter and they are operating from there."
And an Iraqi insurgent leader who battled US forces in Fallujah, Sheikh Abdullah al-Janabi, has vowed to continue his resistance until Americans leave Iraq, in a statement obtained by AFP on Thursday.
The authenticity of the document, addressed to Muslims across the world and dated December 5, could not be independently verified.
"Your brothers on the Fallujah Council of the Mujahedeen and those from other factions stand committed before God and before you to continue the Jihad (holy war) against the occupiers and their agents until they leave Iraq."
They "would continue whatever the sacrifices," Janabi said.
On the ground, the situation was relatively quiet, though a coalition soldier was wounded in Baghdad.
Also, several mortar rounds exploded near the Italian embassy in Baghdad, Defense Minister Antonio Martino said in Rome. There were no Italian casualties, but it was unclear if any Iraqi were hit.
In Washington, the Pentagon revealed that four US special forces soldiers have been punished for unauthorised use of Taser electric stun guns on prisoners, after further allegations of US prisoner abuse were investigated.
Original revelations of humiliation and degradation meted out to Iraqi prisoners in US custody, which surfaced earlier this year, caused outrage across the world, not least among European opponents of the invasion.
12/09/2004 14:20 GMT - AFP