European countries block NATO over Iraq, US fumes

News agencies, Sydney Morning Herald, 11 February 2003

France and Belgium have infuriated Washington by blocking a NATO plan to boost Turkish defences in case of a war with Iraq.

The countries are among Europe’s staunchest opponents of a rush to war with Iraq over Baghdad’s alleged weapons of mass destruction.

US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld’s denounced the move as a disgrace and says countries blocking the plan would be condemned by their own people.

Turkey, NATO’s only Muslim member country, could be one of the staging points for an attack on Iraq, which it borders.

France and Belgium have justified their stance saying boosting NATO’s defences would send the signal that war with Iraq has already started.

We have decided to break the procedure of silence this morning, Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel told France’s Europe 1 radio.

He said he had just spoken to French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin. France is a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, along with the United States, Britain, Russia and China.

A NATO official said Turkey could take the unprecedented step of invoking a clause of the NATO treaty to call for mutual assistance for a member country under military threat.

All bets are off—it’s difficult to predict what will happen, he said.

France, Germany and Belgium refused to go along last week with NATO efforts to boost defences in Turkey. Germany had failed to join the objections ahead of the 0900 deadline.

Rumsfeld told eight European newspapers in an interview that certain member countries would be condemned by their own people and other members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Certain member countries have blocked this request. I think this is a disgrace, Rumsfeld said, according to the French text in Le Figaro. These countries will be judged by their own people and the other members of the Alliance.

Rumsfeld said Turkey had asked NATO to give it protective measures such as AWACS surveillance planes and equipment to counter chemical and biological weapons.

Diplomats said the standoff at NATO was a glaring symptom of the malaise in relations between the United States and countries Rumsfeld has labelled old Europe.

Britain, Washington’s main ally in the Iraq crisis, has backed the tough US line on using force to disarm Baghdad if Iraq will not disarm itself. Spain, Italy and east European nations waiting to join the bloc have also rallied behind Washington’s stance, but France, Germany and others have opposed any rush into war.

German Defence Minister Peter Struck said last week that Paris and Berlin wanted to back up inspections with UN troops and would outline the plan to the UN Security Council on Friday when inspectors report on Iraqi compliance on disarming.

Meanwhile, the chief UN weapons inspectors arrived in Cyprus early today after a visit to Baghdad that left them encouraged there had been a possible change of heart by Iraq, previously accused of failing to cooperate fully with them.

Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei had held two days of talks with Iraqi officials ahead of Friday’s crucial report to the Security Council, which could shorten the countdown to a US-led attack on Baghdad.

Well, as I said yesterday, we leave with a sense of cautious optimism as I hope we will have concrete action in the next three days, ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said today before leaving Baghdad.

ElBaradei said earlier that he and chief UN weapons inspector Blix had seen the beginning of a change of heart on the part of Iraq in cooperating with inspectors searching for signs of chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs.

Washington accuses Baghdad of developing weapons of mass destruction in violation of UN resolutions and has threatened to take military action to disarm Iraq. Iraq denies the charge.