In some ways they were right, but not for the reasons Berlin and Paris had worked out, analysts say. And the thaw is not complete.

While German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder returned to the White House last month beside US President George W. Bush, Franco-US relations will likely take longer to heal.

"The German side tried for political and economic reasons to improve ties with the United States, which was certainly a more deliberate choice than any French desire to do so," said Frank Umbach, of the German Council on Foreign Relations.

"It's also because America treats them differently. In Washington, they're still more irritated about France than about Germany."

Confident of the solidity of their "old Europe" alliance, Paris and Berlin based their opposition to the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein on the lack of a specific UN mandate.

They called for the swiftest possible transfer of authority to a legitimate Iraqi government, rather than leaving the country in US control.

But it was the tide of events -- raging instability, daily attacks against coalition forces, religious and ethnic schisms -- rather than the arguments of France and Germany that pushed Washington to work for a greater UN role and a rapid transition of power.

For their part, Paris and Berlin have doused their criticism of the war to stress the need to "win the peace" and restore calm to a tinderbox region.

They are aiding Iraq's civilian reconstruction in areas from education and hospitals to culture, have pledged to relieve some of the country's huge debt and assured a future Iraqi government of even better cooperation.

Germany is this month beginning to train Iraqi police in Abu Dhabi, while France has promised to do likewise.

Perhaps more importantly for Washington, they have indicated they will not block far greater NATO deployment in Iraq, although hedging that position with conditions -- the alliance must be invited by an Iraqi government -- and, on Germany's side, a refusal to provide troops.

It has all helped to ease the financial and military burden on the US-led coalition in Iraq, not to mention the diplomatic weight.

Thus it was that French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was received warmly by her US opposite number Donald Rumsfeld in January while Bush thanked Schroeder for Germany's role in the war on terror, not least in Afghanistan.

France has proposed an international conference on Iraq under the aegis of the United Nations.

According to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, it would enable the international community "formally to consecrate the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty and the opening of a new phase marking the end of occupation."

His German counterpart Joschka Fischer, meanwhile, has called for a grand transatlantic initiative to foster prosperity in the wider Middle East, a call that partly overlaps with a US push for greater democracy in the region.

Of course, there is also the view put forward by analysts that, ahead of a tough re-election campaign this year, Bush needs to show he can remain on good diplomatic terms with US partners around the world.

"The United States under-estimated the post-war situation in Iraq," Umbach said. Under the new thinking, any help from other countries is welcomed.

That necessity can dictate political reality is shown by the recent example of Haiti. There, US and French soldiers are seeking to restore a semblance of order after president Jean Bertrand Aristide resigned and fled late last month following weeks of mounting unrest.

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