A rchive Date
[ 13-02-2003 ]
Category
[ International Relations ]
sub-Categoy
[ U.S ]
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[http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/World/2003/02/12/25095-ap.html
U.S. scales down NATO request
By KEVIN WARD
Wed, February 12, 2003
LONDON (CP) - France, Germany and Belgium rebuffed the United States for a third straight day Wednesday, rejecting a watered-down U.S. request for military assistance from NATO in preparation for a war with Iraq. The standoff at NATO headquarters, two days before the chief UN weapons inspectors report to the UN Security Council in New York, cast doubt on U.S. chances of gaining support from the world body for any war against Iraq.
In Washington, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told Congress that he would press the French and German foreign ministers to say how much more time they would give the inspectors or whether they were only trying to get Iraq "off the hook." "That is the question I will put to them Friday," Powell said.
A decision by the Security Council to block military action could produce a major break between Washington and most of the world's other big powers.
With the dispute over Iraq already tearing apart NATO, Greece warned on Wednesday of "a deep crisis" within the European Union if European states could not agree on a common front. With European countries lining up for and against Washington, there appeared little chance of avoiding an EU split.
Late Wednesday in Brussels, France, Germany and Belgium rejected a scaled-down U.S. proposal to guarantee Turkey's defence against an Iraqi missile attack. "They haven't changed their mind," NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur said after talks broke up Wednesday night. "They still feel the time is not right for NATO to make a decision."
Emergency consultations that began Monday would resume on Thursday, but it was unclear when. "The strategy is to keep working, essentially," he said, adding that no new proposal was being considered.
Diplomats had tried to persuade the three holdout countries to give Turkey the defensive military support it wants with the understanding that NATO's goals in the region are separate from the United Nations' bid to disarm Saddam Hussein of chemical and biological weapons.
The three countries rejected Turkey's request to start planning for its defence on Monday, plunging the 53-year-old alliance into its worst crisis since the Cold War.
France, Germany and Belgium argued that planning for Turkey's defence now would mean war with Iraq is inevitable. Brodeur said earlier that the new scaled-down proposal was hoped to move the discussion forward because it "now specifically addresses the defensive needs of Turkey."
Belgium described NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson's attempt to break the log-jam as fundamentally different from earlier proposals, while France said its position was unchanged.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder indicated the problem with Turkey's appeal is over timing, but he didn't say after meeting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in the Canary Islands when planning could start. "I hope we can resolve that," he said.
The new proposal, which needed the unanimous support of the alliance, focused on contingency planning in three specific defensive measures to protect Turkey. It would have allowed the 19-member alliance to make plans to deploy AWACS surveillance planes, Patriot anti-missile batteries, and chemical and biological units to deal with potential poison gas or germ warfare attacks.
Turkey went to the extraordinary length of requesting help under Article 4 of NATO's founding treaty, the first time it had been formally invoked by a member state. The article requires the alliance to begin consultations when one country believes its "territorial integrity, political independence or security" are under threat.
Although most Turks are opposed to a war in Iraq, the Turkish government has said it cannot afford to remain neutral and must stand by its strategic ally, the United States.
Turkey's parliament last week authorized the United States to renovate bases that could be used in an attack on Iraq. A vote next week is expected to allow tens of thousands of U.S. combat troops in the country to open a northern front against Iraq.
But Iraq has warned Turkey that supporting U.S. war efforts would amount to being at war with Iraq. Turkey has told its NATO allies that it is already dealing with refugees crossing its border with Iraq.
Robertson worked behind the scenes to try to get the three European countries to come onside, arguing NATO's actions would not prejudge efforts to disarm Hussein peacefully through the United Nations.
It's believed the three could withhold a decision until after the latest report by UN weapons inspectors on Iraq's compliance with resolutions that call on it to disarm. That report is to be presented to the Security Council on Friday.
Canadian Ambassador David Wright said it is up to France, Germany and Belgium to shift their position. "The onus is on the three countries who thus far have refused to join the consensus," he said from Brussels.
Robertson has warned that the longer the dispute runs on, the more difficult it gets for NATO, a view shared by Wright. "There is real concern that a prolonged split of this kind will do damage to the alliance," Wright added.
Earlier, in Britain's House of Commons, Conservative party leader Iain Duncan Smith asked Prime Minister Tony Blair to "join me in condemning the actions" of France, Germany and Belgium. "NATO has been the cornerstone of British security and ensure peace in Europe for decades," he said. "Now France, Germany and Belgium have plunged it into one of its greatest crises."
Blair said he was hopeful that discussions at NATO would find a solution to heal the split, for NATO's sake. "I hope they are successful and I hope we are able to fulfil our obligations to Turkey, since that is important, not just for Turkey, but the NATO alliance," he said.
 World Fact Book (CIA)]
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