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NATO Fails to Agree on Aid for Turkey, Rebuffing U.S. (Update1)
By Emma Vandore
Brussels, Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization failed to agree on support for Turkey in the event of war with Iraq, rebuffing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's call to do the ``right thing.''
France, Germany and Belgium maintained their opposition to contingency planning to defend Turkey, saying a decision to send Patriot missiles before Friday's report on Iraq by United Nations weapons inspectors would heighten the risk of war.
``If we accepted the American demands, that would put us in a war mentality even before hearing the second report of the weapons inspectors,'' Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said in an interview with Le Soir.
The split risks further undermining an alliance that the U.S. bypassed during the war in Afghanistan. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the U.S. is prepared to team with selected allies to protect Turkey if NATO fails to act.
Earlier in Washington, Powell told the Senate Budget Committee that ``this is the time for the alliance to say to a fellow alliance member, we agree with you, and if you are concerned, we are concerned.''
Ambassadors from NATO's 19 governments will meet again at 9:45 a.m. tomorrow. Asked whether the dispute will be resolved by then, NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur said: ``I don't know about that.''
Contingency Plans
As part of preparations to disarm Iraq, the U.S. had urged NATO to provide Patriot missiles and AWACS reconnaissance planes to protect Turkey, which borders Iraq and is the only majority- Muslim country in the alliance. It takes only one country to block a NATO decision.
Chief inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will present a report Friday to the UN Security Council that some diplomats say may prove decisive in making the case for war or peace.
The U.S. and U.K., which are deploying about 225,000 troops in the Persian Gulf to get ready for a war, are heading for a showdown with the French and German governments, which support continued arms inspections and want more monitors sent to Iraq.
Iraq said it won't accept the presence of UN peacekeepers. It is prepared to ``unconditionally'' allow U-2 surveillance flights and enact laws banning illegal weapons.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rejected plans to boost the inspection teams in Iraq -- a move backed by Russia and China -- while U.S. President George W. Bush dismissed Iraq's offer allowing reconnaissance flights.
``It's more compliance, immediate compliance which is the key, not more inspectors,'' Straw told the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.
EU Summit
Greece, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, is calling an emergency summit on Monday to try and forge a common position among the EU's 15 nations. Britain, Spain and Italy were among eight European countries which appealed last month for Europe to unite behind the U.S.
``If you're going to have countries like France, Germany and Belgium obstructing what I believe is a logical defense of a member country, then perhaps NATO will have to be restructured,'' Peter King, a Republican member of the U.S. House Representatives, said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp.'s Radio 4 Today program.
NATO Secretary General George Robertson, a former U.K. defense minister, said yesterday he's confident that Germany, France and Belgium will eventually fall into line.
Turkey raised the pressure on the allies by invoking its right under Article 4 of NATO's founding treaty for ``consultations'' on how to handle a threat to its security.
The German veto came after Defense Minister Peter Struck said Saturday that Germany and the Netherlands would offer missiles for Turkey, though it was unclear when this would take place and whether it would be under the NATO umbrella.
NATO Fails to Agree on Aid for Turkey, Rebuffing U.S. (Update1)
By Emma Vandore
Brussels, Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization failed to agree on support for Turkey in the event of war with Iraq, rebuffing U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell's call to do the ``right thing.''
France, Germany and Belgium maintained their opposition to contingency planning to defend Turkey, saying a decision to send Patriot missiles before Friday's report on Iraq by United Nations weapons inspectors would heighten the risk of war.
``If we accepted the American demands, that would put us in a war mentality even before hearing the second report of the weapons inspectors,'' Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said in an interview with Le Soir.
The split risks further undermining an alliance that the U.S. bypassed during the war in Afghanistan. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the U.S. is prepared to team with selected allies to protect Turkey if NATO fails to act.
Earlier in Washington, Powell told the Senate Budget Committee that ``this is the time for the alliance to say to a fellow alliance member, we agree with you, and if you are concerned, we are concerned.''
Ambassadors from NATO's 19 governments will meet again at 9:45 a.m. tomorrow. Asked whether the dispute will be resolved by then, NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur said: ``I don't know about that.''
Contingency Plans
As part of preparations to disarm Iraq, the U.S. had urged NATO to provide Patriot missiles and AWACS reconnaissance planes to protect Turkey, which borders Iraq and is the only majority- Muslim country in the alliance. It takes only one country to block a NATO decision.
Chief inspector Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will present a report Friday to the UN Security Council that some diplomats say may prove decisive in making the case for war or peace.
The U.S. and U.K., which are deploying about 225,000 troops in the Persian Gulf to get ready for a war, are heading for a showdown with the French and German governments, which support continued arms inspections and want more monitors sent to Iraq.
Iraq said it won't accept the presence of UN peacekeepers. It is prepared to ``unconditionally'' allow U-2 surveillance flights and enact laws banning illegal weapons.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw rejected plans to boost the inspection teams in Iraq -- a move backed by Russia and China -- while U.S. President George W. Bush dismissed Iraq's offer allowing reconnaissance flights.
``It's more compliance, immediate compliance which is the key, not more inspectors,'' Straw told the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.
EU Summit
Greece, which holds the rotating European Union presidency, is calling an emergency summit on Monday to try and forge a common position among the EU's 15 nations. Britain, Spain and Italy were among eight European countries which appealed last month for Europe to unite behind the U.S.
``If you're going to have countries like France, Germany and Belgium obstructing what I believe is a logical defense of a member country, then perhaps NATO will have to be restructured,'' Peter King, a Republican member of the U.S. House Representatives, said in an interview with British Broadcasting Corp.'s Radio 4 Today program.
NATO Secretary General George Robertson, a former U.K. defense minister, said yesterday he's confident that Germany, France and Belgium will eventually fall into line.
Turkey raised the pressure on the allies by invoking its right under Article 4 of NATO's founding treaty for ``consultations'' on how to handle a threat to its security.
The German veto came after Defense Minister Peter Struck said Saturday that Germany and the Netherlands would offer missiles for Turkey, though it was unclear when this would take place and whether it would be under the NATO umbrella.