Blair and Chirac Heading to U.S. for Show of Unity
Tuesday September 18 08:57 AM EDT
By JANE PERLEZ The New York Times
WASHINGTON, As some European allies began to express caution about the administration's plans for military action, the leaders of France and Britain were preparing to arrive here this week to show solidarity and discuss with President Bush their contributions to a coalition against terrorism.
In an unusual move, the European Union called a special summit meeting for the end of the week to work on ways of pooling resources to combat terrorists.
With France's president, Jacques Chirac, planning to arrive on Tuesday and Britain's prime minister, Tony Blair, hastily arranging a visit for Thursday, the administration has already defined the different kinds of support, from rhetorical to military, that it needs from members of the coalition it is trying to build.
Senior officials said that one country they expected to contribute troops was Britain, the United States' strongest ally and a country that lost an estimated 300 citizens in last Tuesday's attacks. The administration has also not ruled out participation by troops from other European allies. The administration has also plainly stated, though not stressed, that the United States reserves the right to act unilaterally despite the expressions of support.
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said last week that even with the strong support from NATO and the European Union, the administration would not feel constrained in its military decision.
The 19-member NATO alliance has said it will regard the attack on the United States as an attack on all the allies if the Bush administration determines that the attack was "directed from abroad." While the administration has pointed an accusing finger at Osama bin Laden and his network in Afghanistan, it has not yet made that formal determination.
Mr. Chirac, whose visit was already scheduled, has turned his Washington trip into a two-hour session with President Bush and his senior foreign policy advisers at the White House on Tuesday evening. The French leader has said that if the United States takes military action, "France will be at its side."
But France is at the start of a presidential campaign and despite the outpouring of overwhelming sympathy by the French people it was not clear what troops, if any, France might contribute. The defense minister, Alain Richard, expressed reservations several days ago about what he described as bellicose statements from Washington.
Similarly, the German defense minister, Rudolf Scharping, warned that the United States must be sure of its target before resorting to force.
As reservations began to surface about the administration's emphasis on war, some European officials argued that these were differences over tactics, much like the ones that arose during the cold war, when there were endless squabbles over how to deal with the Soviet Union.
The most unequivocal of the European leaders, Mr. Blair, has acted as a diplomat on behalf of the United States by reaching out to African and Arab nations, and as a spokesman for swift military retaliation.
Mr. Blair, who will visit New York briefly on Thursday to honor the British who died at the World Trade Center, will discuss with Mr. Bush the range of military, intelligence and other assets that Britain might lend to the American-led effort.
As the immediate shock of the terrorist attacks began to wear off, Europe was not the only place where reticence about hasty military action began to surface. In Ottawa today, the Canadian Prime Minister, Jean Chrétien, declared "war on terrorism" but tempered his remarks to Parliament saying that "patience and wisdom are essential."
Among Washington's Arab friends, leaders began to express caution about what the administration's plans. The Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, said on CNN's "Larry King Live" that the United States should think twice before taking military action: "I think the world has a proposal of making a coalition for fighting terrorists, but I could tell you very frankly it's too early to think of this."
Elsewhere in the Middle East, expressions of support were often mixed with reservations.
King Abdullah of Jordan, who was to visit President Bush here this week, canceled his trip, in part because a free trade agreement between the United States and Jordan is still stalled in Congress.
Jordan's intelligence services have been among the most helpful to the United States in the last several years, and Jordanian officials said they would give whatever help Washington needed to track down Mr. bin Laden's Qaeda network.
But the leader of the United Arab Emirates, Sheik Zaid bin Sultan al- Nahayan, said today that the coalition could only work if the United States avoided "double standards."
The sheik said the United States and the coalition should stop the "terrorist Israeli actions in the occupied Palestinian territories."
In Israel itself, the administration's attempt to work with Arab countries, in particular neighboring Syria, has caused a small rift with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Mr. Sharon is irritated, according to Israeli officials, that the terrorist attack has galvanized the Bush administration's interest in peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
The Israeli leader is annoyed that the Bush administration, in order to get Arab support for the nascent coalition, appears to have signaled to Arab nations that it will work hard to persuade Israel to talk to Mr. Arafat.
Brazil Urges Activating Rio Pact
RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 17 Brazil has called on the Organization of American States to activate a regional collective security agreement when its members meet in Washington in a special session on Wednesday. In doing so, it disregarded skepticism throughout Latin America about the wisdom of standing up with the United States in responding to last week's terrorist attacks.
The Inter-American Reciprocal Assistance Treaty, better known as the Rio Pact, contains a clause similar to the one that NATO members invoked last week. The Rio Pact's clause states that an attack on any member nation is to be regarded as an attack against the entire Western Hemisphere and obliges signers to come to one another's aid. |
