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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Hawkmoon who wrote (3375)	2/5/2003 8:14:14 AM
From: lorne	Respond to of 15987

East Europeans to Declare Support for Bush on Iraq Tue Feb 4, 3:47 PM ET Add Politics - Reuters to My Yahoo! BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Up to 10 east European countries are preparing a declaration of support for President Bush (news - web sites)'s drive to disarm Iraq, government officials said on Tuesday. Officials in Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltics said NATO (news - web sites) candidate countries were working on the wording of the document. It is to be issued in the United States on Wednesday after Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) delivers a speech to the U.N. Security Council laying out Washington's case against Iraq. The latest show of support comes on the heels of a similar statement by eight European leaders last week and in the face of grave misgivings by traditional U.S. allies France and Germany. Eastern Europe remains grateful for American patronage during its fight against communism and Washington's strong support for expanding NATO. The declaration underlines east Europeans' belief that Washington remains the main guarantor of their security. A Romanian Foreign Ministry official told Reuters the declaration of the so-called Vilnius 10 would be announced in the United States. A Bulgarian Foreign Ministry official added: "It is expected that it will be announced tomorrow at the end of the U.N. Security Council session." EAST OFFERS WAR AID The Vilnius 10, a group of nations set up in 2000 to seek NATO membership, includes the seven new alliance members Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as hopefuls Albania, Croatia and Macedonia. Many countries in the region have already offered the United States assistance for a possible military strike on Iraq. Bulgaria said on Tuesday it had received an official U.S. request to provide its airspace and troops in case of war. Government spokesman Dimitar Tsonev said Washington had asked Sofia to allow the transit and temporary stay of its aircraft on Bulgarian territory and for specialized troops to be deployed close to the conflict zone, but not on Iraqi territory. In Lithuania, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the idea of a joint statement had been discussed for some time but said the final go-ahead hinged on Powell. "Everything depends on Powell's speech," she said. Powell is to address the Security Council at 1530 GMT on Wednesday, and has said he will show Iraq is concealing banned weapons programs from U.N. arms inspectors. The United States has threatened war if Iraq fails to disarm of weapons of mass destruction and is massing military forces in the Gulf. Iraq denies having such weapons. France and Germany insist Iraq must be disarmed peacefully, a position further underlined on Tuesday when British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) failed to win the backing of French President Jacques Chirac for an early war. But eight European countries, including several European Union (news - web sites) members, issued a statement last week supporting U.S. policy. The leaders of the Czech Republic, Britain, Denmark, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain published a joint article backing Bush and appealing for unity. Andrejs Pildegovis, a foreign policy advisor to Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, told Reuters: "We think the link between Europe and the United States should not be weakened by the Iraq crisis." (Additional reporting by Anna Mudeva in Sofia and Erik Brynhildsbakken in Riga) story.news.yahoo.com