Bush Policy fiasco: War split puts Nato's future in jeopardy

Is one of the U.S.'s most effective foreign policy-national defense organizations in jeopardy as a result of Bush's unilateralism? Or can Imperialistic nations ignore such perils despite history's trash heap of arrogant empires?

February 10, 2003 - London Times

War split puts Nato's future in jeopardy
By Roger Boyes in Munich, Elaine Monaghan in Washington and Melissa Kite

AN EXTRAORDINARY schism opened up in the Western alliance yesterday as Washington flatly rejected a Franco-German plan to avert war by pouring UN weapons inspectors ?- and troops ?- into Iraq.
President Putin of Russia last night backed the plan to turn Iraq into a de facto UN protectorate, due to be published on Friday, but President Bush and his leading officials bluntly declared that the United States would go it alone if the United Nations Security Council refused to approve military action.

Later today the deepening transatlantic rift over Iraq is expected to plunge Nato into one of the deepest crises of its 54-year history when Belgium, France and probably Germany veto a decision to start contingency planning to defend Turkey in the event of a war.

In an interview with The Times Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, said that such a move to deny Patriot missiles and other Nato hardware to an alliance member would be "breathtaking" and "reverberate" through the alliance.

Mr Rumsfeld also said that his preferred solution to the crisis was for President Saddam Hussein to go into exile, and indicated that America would not seek his extradition in those circumstances.

The next key moment in the countdown to war will occur on Friday when Hans Blix, the chief UN weapons inspector, reports back to the Security Council on two days of talks with Iraqi officials in Baghdad that concluded last night.

Dr Blix secured none of the dramatic concessions required to placate Washington, but said he perceived "a beginning" to the much fuller co- operation with weapons inspectors that the UN has demanded.

The Franco-German plan envisages:


A threefold increase in the number of UN inspectors on the ground. At present there are about 100;

The use of French reconnaissance jets, German drones and American U2s in an aerial search for hiding places;

The extension of no-fly zones to all Iraqi airspace;

The setting up of a permanent UN monitoring agency in Iraq;

Smart sanctions applied against every infringement by Saddam including a tightening of export controls and a crackdown on oil smuggling;

A special United Nations court to investigate human rights abuses.

The deployment of UN troops across the country, setting up road blocks and checking suspicious transports.
At a meeting in Berlin last night Mr Putin, who is visiting Berlin and Paris to co-ordinate Russia, Germany and France's opposition to war, said that Russia was "almost completely in agreement" with the Franco-German plan.

That means it is backed by two of the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council plus the country that chairs it.

Vatican officials said that the plan also had the support of the Pope, who is sending a personal envoy to Baghdad today as part of his one-man campaign to avert war.

But the Franco-German initiative elicited only scorn and defiance in Washington.

"I don't think the next step should be let's send in more inspectors to get stiffed," Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, said. "It's not more inspectors that we need. It's more co-operation ?- far more co-operation."

He called the plan a "diversion, not a solution". Referring to the last UN resolution, which gave warning of "serious consequences" if Iraq did not fully comply with UN weapons inspectors, General Powell continued: "More inspectors doesn't answer the question and what France has to do and Germany has to do . . . is read (Resolution) 1441 again."

President Bush made clear that America would act with or without UN support. "The UN gets to decide shortly whether or not it is going to be relevant in terms of keeping the peace ?- whether or not its words mean anything," he said during a visit to West Virginia. "But one thing is certain. For the sake of peace and the sake of security, the United States and our friends and allies, we will disarm Saddam Hussein if he will not disarm himself."

General Powell and Condoleezza Rice, Mr Bush's National Security Adviser, appeared on television chatshows yesterday to stress that time had almost run out. "If (Saddam) is going to comply he can do it today," General Powell asked. "How much longer are we to wait?" The British Government, America's closest ally, also poured cold water on the Franco-German plan. "You can put all the inspectors in the world in but the bottom line remains the same. The bottom line is Resolution 1441," a senior source said.

"Saddam Hussein is either co-operating or he is not. Unless there is full compliance from the regime it really does not matter how many inspectors you put in or whether they are supported by troops. They are still not going to be able to do their job."

The Americans were angered not only by the content of the Franco-German plan, but by the fact that it was hatched in secret. The plan was not mentioned to Mr Rumsfeld during a private session with Peter Struck, the German Defence Minister, at a conference in Munich.

"Everything has been played close to the chest," a chancellery adviser said yesterday. Cautious approval seems to have been gained from China, Greece ?- which holds the six-month European Union presidency ?- and from the Pope, who met Joschka Fischer, the German Foreign Minister, on Friday. The news magazine Der Spiegel said yesterday, however, that the British, Spanish and Italians were not consulted.