NATO Searches For Path Out Of Crisis

NATO diplomats worked feverishly on Tuesday to find a way to close a serious breach created by a dispute over military aid that Turkey might need if the United States launched a war on Iraq.

The alliance's ambassadors were scheduled to meet in the morning to discuss the veto that Germany, France and Belgium imposed Monday on a U.S. request to begin planning for the support of Turkey, a neighbor of Iraq. But NATO Secretary General George Robertson canceled the session at the last minute to clear the way for informal discussions, according to the Reuters news agency. "That is not a bad sign," one source told Associated Press.

Nonetheless, sources in Brussels did not expect the dispute to be solved immediately. Instead, they said France, in particular, wanted to wait until U.N. weapons inspectors made their second report to the Security Council on Friday.

The veto is one of several steps that Germany, France and other European countries have taken to block a U.S. war on Iraq. Hours after the vetoes were filed, French President Jacques Chirac and Russian President Vladimir Putin said their countries and Germany would launch an effort in the U.N. Security Council called "alternative to war." Their key demand is to increase the number of weapons inspectors in Iraq and their technical capabilities.

U.S. expresses dismay

The conflict has left an ugly bruise on the alliance, which operates on the principle of all-for-one, one-for-all. The United States, which steered NATO through four decades of Cold War against the Soviet Union, was particularly upset by the veto.

"NATO is facing a serious crisis," said Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to NATO. "The core fabric of our alliance is that when one ally is in trouble we all come to its assistance. ... All NATO allies must meet that commitment."

And President Bush said in Washington: "It affects the alliance in a negative way when you are not able to make a statement of mutual defense."

Members of Germany's opposition parties also attacked Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer for the decision. "They have to go, no matter in what fashion, as long as it is democratic," said Michael Glos, of the Christian Social Union, the sister party to Germany's biggest opposition group, the Christian Democratic Union.

Germans question U.S. motives

But Germany, a long-time beneficiary of U.S. support and the most outspoken critic of America's potential war on Iraq, raised doubts about the Americans' reasons for wanting NATO to begin the planning phase. The request boils down to being a signal "that NATO stands behind a mission that we don't think is justified at the moment," a source in Berlin told Associated Press.

Schröder also picked up the support of his Social Democratic parliamentary group. The group's leader, Franz Müntefering, said: "I think it is proper for a sovereign country to take a position in such a situation and then seek support for it."

The United States made the request in mid-January. Bush asked the alliance to begin planning to provide Turkey with three forms of help: Airborne warning and control system (AWACS) aircraft to provide surveillance, Patriot missiles to provide air defense, and special forces to combat biological and chemical weapons.

Robertson was unable to achieve consensus on the matter in informal talks last week. And the resistance culminated Monday in the vetoes by the three nations, which said the planning request would send the crisis into a "logic of war" when diplomatic alternatives still stood a chance of success.

Deepening the dispute, Turkey called on NATO to reconsider the matter based on a key article in the North Atlantic Treaty, which established the alliance in 1949. "The parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of any of them, the territorial integrity, political independence or security of any of the Parties is threatened," the article says.

Turkey issues appeal for support

In the wake of the vetoes, Turkey's prime minister said the alliance had a moral obligation to its ally. "Turkey defended the whole of Europe during the Cold War," Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said. "We were the protective shield of Europe."

Turkey is worried that if the United States launched a war on Iraq it would become the target for Iraqi counterstrikes.

The issue is difficult for German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. He has said Germany would not fight any war against Iraq and would vote against any resolution that is presented in the U.N. Security Council to authorize such a war. But Germans serve in the surveillance planes, and if the alliance provided the planes to Turkey, Schröder would have to decide whether they remain on board. If they were pulled out, the alliance would have a difficult time carrying out the mission.

A spokesman for the German Defense Ministry also said on Monday that Germany would be sending Patriot missiles to the Netherlands and that the Dutch would ship the missiles to Turkey.

Schröder, Arnar to meet

In opposing any war on Iraq, Schröder has put himself at odds with many of his European allies. On Tuesday, he was to meet with one of those men, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who is a staunch supporter of U.S. policy against Iraq. Iraq "has shown itself to be aggressive and unscrupulous because it possesses weapons of mass destruction in violation of international law," Aznar said.

In another expression of support for Bush, Aznar joined seven other European leaders late last month who issued a declaration of support to the United States.

But at home, the Spanish prime minister represents a minority. A recent poll showed that more than 90 percent of the country's population opposed a war against Iraq.

The disagreement also prompted Greece, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, to call a special summit of the union's leaders on Monday.