Nato fails to reach accord on Iraq rift: Next round of talks today
BRUSSELS, Feb 11: Nato ambassadors failed for a second day to break a damaging deadlock over measures to protect Turkey in case of a US-led war in Iraq, with France, Germany and Belgium maintaining their veto, a Nato official said.
However, he said efforts to find a solution in the 19-nation alliance would continue on Wednesday.
“Right now, we do not have a conclusion. Consultations will go on throughout the night. There will be a (North Atlantic) Council meeting at 9.45 tomorrow morning,” the official said.
Turkey, backed by the United States, has requested that Nato start planning to send Patriot air defence missiles and early warning aircraft to protect it against a possible Iraqi attack if Washington launches military action from Turkish soil.
France, Germany and Belgium on Monday argued, to US annoyance, that to send Turkey surveillance planes, Patriot missiles and anti-chemical and biological warfare teams would be a premature signal war had begun and diplomatic efforts ended.
Explaining its stance at Nato, France insisted its solidarity with Turkey was total but said Paris had to base its approach to Iraq on UN Security Council resolution 1441.
“We cannot today, through a Nato decision, lend our support in principle to a military intervention in Iraq and thus preempt the decisions of the Security Council,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau told reporters.
In Iraq, President Saddam Hussein was shown on television receiving officials to mark the Muslim Eidul Azha holiday, and telling them Iraqis were ready to face any US-led attack.
“I could not wish for a greater, higher or better state that we are in...of Iraqi men and women and their growing readiness and ability to confront evil” in attacking Iraq, he said.
CIA Director George Tenet repeated a long-held view of the Bush administration that the Al Qaeda network it blames for the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, had a presence in Iraq — a view disputed by some US allies.
He told the US Senate intelligence committee the network also had a presence in Iran and continued to find refuge in the hinterlands of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
EU CALLS SUMMIT: While Nato grappled with its stance over Iraq, the European Union, which includes many Nato member states, announced that heads of state and government would gather for a summit on Iraq in Brussels next Monday.
“Now is the time for everyone to take a stand. Europe needs a common stance at this crucial period,” Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas told reporters in Athens. Greece is current EU president.
Some member states feared, however, the summit may expose the depth of disunity over Iraq within the 15-nation bloc.
Turkey made clear it believed the alliance had a duty to start military preparations to defend it after all Ankara had done to protect its front line through decades of Cold War.
“Turkey defended the whole of Europe during the Cold War period...So there is no doubt that Nato must do what falls to it,” Prime Minister Abdullah Gul told reporters in Ankara.
Separately, France, Russia and Germany on Monday jointly set out their alternative to US war plans: more arms inspections in Iraq, more diplomacy and more time.
ALLIANCE DEADLOCK:The Nato rift is the worst since members argued over the deployment of US cruise missiles in Europe in the 1980s.
Laying bare a split with France, US President George W. Bush called the move “shortsighted”.
“I am disappointed that France would block Nato from helping a country like Turkey prepare. I don’t understand that decision. It affects the alliance in a negative way,” Bush told reporters.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld slammed their stalling action as a “disgrace”. He said, however, it would not delay any attack on Iraq.—Reuters
