NATO Fails to Agree on Iraq War Role

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, January 23, 2003

NATO Fails to Agree on Iraq War Role

NATO has postponed its planning for a possible war in Iraq under pressure from Germany and France, who have said they want to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

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NATO has postponed its planning for a possible war in Iraq under pressure from Germany and France, who have said they want to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Diplomats stressed the 19 allies agreed Wednesday in principle that NATO should provide a support role should war break out, but allies led by France and Germany thought the timing was not right to start the military planning.

The United States last week requested limited help from the alliance should war break out with Iraq, notably to protect Turkey, the only NATO member that borders Iraq, as well to provide planning facilities, cover for U.S. troops sent to the Persian Gulf and perhaps to take on a peacekeeping role in a postwar Iraq.

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld downplayed France and Germany's reluctance Wednesday, saying he was confident that other NATO members would come together behind the United States.

"Germany has been a problem and France has been a problem ... but you look at vast numbers of other countries in Europe, they're not with France and Germany on this. They're with the United States," he said at a Pentagon briefing.

Diplomats at NATO headquarters said there was broad agreement on the tasks and insisted the disagreements were related to the timing of the decision to start planning rather than any fundamental political feud over the proposals.

NATO officials said a decision to start the military planning could come next week, depending on the content of a report to the Security Council by the U.N. weapons inspectors scheduled for Monday.

Source: Agencies

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