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Politics : DON'T START THE WAR -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: BubbaFred who wrote (6634)	2/8/2003 2:00:39 PM
From: BubbaFred	Respond to of 25898

U.S., Europeans trade barbs over Iraq stance in.news.yahoo.com By Carol Giacomo MUNICH, Germany (Reuters) - Deep U.S.-European divisions over Iraq were laid bare on Saturday as U.S. officials said reticence over war was harming transatlantic ties, while France and Germany insisted peace must be given a chance. U.S. Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told an annual security conference in Munich that 12 years of diplomacy, economic sanctions and limited military strikes had failed to disarm Iraq and the world would know in "days or weeks" if war was needed. He branded as "inexcusable" moves by France, Germany and Belgium to stall NATO planning for the protection of Turkey in the event of a war in Iraq, saying they were undermining NATO's credibility and exposing a rift within Europe itself. France replied with a barb of its own, suggesting that Washington preferred "ad hoc coalitions" to the NATO alliance. "To be an ally demands respect of others," Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said. "That means avoiding unfounded accusations, fallacious and untruthful interpretations." "To be an ally means to consult, to find a consensus, it is not saying 'my idea is necessarily the right one and all those who don't agree should be pushed aside or excluded'." German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told the conference Berlin stood by its obligations to its NATO partners but defended not wanting to push forward planning on Turkey, saying he was still not persuaded of the need for war with Iraq. "I am not convinced. That is my problem. I cannot go to the public and say these are the reasons because I don't believe in them," he said, switching briefly from German into English. STREET PROTESTS Waving banners displaying anti-war slogans and blowing whistles, about 10,000 protesters took to the streets of the Bavarian capital in a heavy snowfall to demonstrate against the conference and the threat of military action against Iraq. Fischer said Islamic extremists, not Iraq, posed the main threat and bringing peace to Israel must be the priority in the Middle East. He also questioned whether the U.S. public was ready for a long-term occupation after a war against Iraq. Rumsfeld said many in Europe had failed to see the danger of post-Cold War security threats and described Washington's main concern as states like Iraq acquiring weapons of mass destruction and passing them on to terrorists. He said Washington hoped to avoid military force, but a growing number of nations were serious about eliminating Iraq's alleged nuclear, chemical and biological arms -- and they would only succeed if the world was united and determined to use it. Rumsfeld said within "days or weeks we're going to know whether they are going to cooperate". Baghdad has denied repeatedly that it has such weapons. "War is never a first or an easy choice. But the risks of war need to be balanced against the risks of doing nothing while Iraq pursues weapons of mass destruction," Rumsfeld said. He said that if the three-week deadlock at NATO over starting planning for the protection of Turkey was not broken, Washington and other allies would provide defence for Turkey anyway, and NATO's credibility would suffer a severe blow. "What will be hurt will be NATO, not Turkey," he said. "To prevent defensive capabilities -- just the planning, not even deployment -- I think that is inexcusable." U.S. Senator John McCain was even more forthright, saying Paris and Berlin had dealt a "terrible injury" to NATO and had themselves undermined efforts to disarm Baghdad peacefully. "Recent actions by Paris and Berlin have...raised serious doubts among nations on both sides of the Atlantic about their commitment to multinational diplomacy," he told the conference. NATO DEADLINE Unless one of the 19 NATO nations objects before 0900 GMT on Monday, planning to defend Turkey will begin automatically. But some diplomats say France and Germany have been so angered by disparaging comments by Rumsfeld and other U.S. officials -- and so strongly backed by public opinion in their own countries -- that they may stick to their position. One senior NATO diplomat said he expected Paris to raise an objection at the last minute on Monday. This could force Turkey to invoke an alliance founding treaty article under which allies would be all but obliged to defend it. Alliot-Marie said France would be among the first to come to Turkey's aid if it was threatened, but warned against using NATO as a vehicle for waging war. She said France had never ruled out military action against Iraq but wanted the U.N. arms inspections regime to be stepped up before such a last resort. Rumsfeld sought to play down his recent comment that France and Germany's reticence over war had sidelined them, branding them "old Europe", saying at his age "old" was a term of endearment. But he urged Berlin and Paris to get on board: "As the old saying goes, if you're in a hole, stop digging." NATO Secretary-General George Robertson voiced optimism that the alliance would soon kickstart preparations to send Patriot air defence missiles, early warning aircraft and anti-chemical and biological warfare units to Turkey, which borders Iraq. He also sounded an upbeat note amid the U.S.-Europe tension. Shrugging off Iraq as "this year's cause celebre for the transatlantic doomsayers", he said: "This makes good political theatre but it does not amount to a fundamental transatlantic crisis, nor an alliance breaker, nor a European Union breaker".