- BRUSSELS (Reuters) - France
shot down a compromise Wednesday aimed at breaking NATO's deadlock over
planning protection for Turkey in case of a U.S.-led war on Iraq, dashing
hopes for an early end to the alliance's damaging crisis.
-
- Diplomats said France, Germany and Belgium, which vetoed
broader proposals Monday, were unlikely to budge at least until after chief
U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix reports to the Security Council Friday.
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- In a bid to calm one of the most serious storms in NATO's
54-year history, Robertson presented a slimmed-down "decision sheet,"
stripped of plans to protect U.S. forces in Europe or replace Balkan peacekeepers
sent to fight in Iraq.
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- "The general view now is that we have a sound basis
to continue consultations further," NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur told
a briefing after a night of intense telephone diplomacy.
-
- A NATO official said there would be another session of
the 19-nation North Atlantic Council -- the fifth in three days of wrangling
-- at 8 p.m.
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- But a French Foreign Ministry spokesman, asked about
the Robertson proposal, said Paris's position had not changed.
-
- "In this regard, we cannot, through a NATO decision,
give our support in principle to a military intervention in Iraq and thus
pre-empt the decisions of the Security Council," he said.
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- THREE HANG TOUGH
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- In the first NATO council of the day, France, Germany
and Belgium explained again why they had vetoed proposals to start planning
to deploy Patriot air defense missiles, early warning planes and anti-chemical
and germ warfare units to Turkey.
-
- "The three repeated their position, they are undivided,"
said one. "They have committed themselves to studying the new text
but they are basically repeating their stand."
-
- The European trio argue that starting defense planning
now would lock NATO into a "logic of war," implicitly accepting
that an armed conflict against Iraq is inevitable.
-
- Officials said Robertson canceled a trip to Spain scheduled
for Thursday to handle the crisis at alliance headquarters in Brussels.
In an ironic twist, he had been due to deliver a speech in Madrid on "NATO
and the challenges of the future."
-
- The United States appeared to concede that there was
no end in sight to a face-off which has fueled tension with countries whose
arguments against war prompted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last month
to brand them "old Europe."
-
- "It may take some time for us to get to the end
of the discussion, that wouldn't be surprising," U.S. ambassador to
NATO Nicholas Burns told reporters.
-
- NATO officials said dissenters would probably spin out
negotiations until after Blix reports to the Security Council, hoping that
signs of improved Iraqi cooperation could vindicate their anti-war stance.
-
- "People are starting to realize that there will
be no solution before Friday and that perhaps it is not good for NATO to
continue like this," said a diplomat for one of the trio.
-
- Turkey, which shares a frontier with Iraq and is a likely
launch pad for any U.S. attack, is anxious for NATO to start planning without
delay.
-
- When France, Germany and Belgium formally objected to
the plan Monday, Ankara invoked Article IV of NATO's founding treaty under
which allies seek consultations if they fear they are under threat.
-
- The United States accuses the three countries of importing
political arguments made at the U.N. Security Council against military
action into NATO, an organization which has a duty to make contingency
plans for the defense of one of its members.
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- EUROPE DIVIDED TOO
-
- The Iraq crisis has split the European Union too, pitting
pro-American countries led by Britain, Spain and Italy against critics
of a perceived rush to war, led by France and Germany.
-
- European Commission President Romano Prodi lamented the
divisions in a speech to the European Parliament Wednesday, saying a disunited
Europe would forfeit any global influence.
-
- "Without a common approach, all the member states
will disappear from the world stage," he said.
-
- "Without a single European voice, it will be impossible
to have a strong, permanent and dignified collaboration with the United
States. And without collaboration between Europe and the United States,
it will be impossible to guarantee world peace and stability." Senior
French strategic analyst Francois Heisbourg told Reuters the underlying
trans-Atlantic crisis might be even more serious than it appeared.
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- "These are very high stakes and I don't believe
it will be easy for Belgium, Germany and France to climb down before the
Security Council at the end of the week because it could have an impact
on their position there," Heisbourg, director of the Paris-based Foundation
for Strategic Research, said.
-
- "The Americans are deliberately splitting Europe
into old and new, and ... Germany and France have not been shy either by
not giving high priority to alliance solidarity."
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