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Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lucretius who wrote (228364)	3/16/2003 2:58:06 PM
From: Gut Trader	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Great day for cable TV, got to see Shrub, Kissinger, and the Terminator..viva la difference?

To: Lucretius who wrote (228364)	3/16/2003 3:31:59 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

NATO's Iraq Standoff Goes to Cliffhanger Meeting Sun February 16, 2003 03:13 PM ET By John Chalmers BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO ambassadors wrangled for hours on Sunday over the wording of a possible compromise deal to break their deadlock on planning for the defense of Turkey in the event of a U.S.-led war against Iraq. With France flatly refusing to back a decision it sees as implicit acceptance that war is inevitable, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson called a meeting of the Defense Planning Committee, at which Paris does not have a seat. But as the talks dragged on, Belgium -- which had on Saturday laid the way for talks on a compromise solution in the 18-nation committee -- indicated that all was not well. "They do not want to give us satisfaction, but we won't give in," Foreign Minister Louis Michel told the Belga news agency. As the envoys took their third break of the day since starting talks 8-1/2 hours earlier, diplomats said it was far from clear that an accord could be struck. "I'd put the chances at 51-49, not even 60-40," said one. This raised the prospect of the crisis, which has torn allies across the Atlantic and within Europe, festering on through Monday's emergency European Union summit on Iraq. But circumventing the Alliance row, the Netherlands said it had shipped three of its four Patriot anti-missile batteries to Turkey to help NATO's only Muslim member-state defend itself in the event of a U.S. assault on its Arab neighbor. "The Patriot systems are shipped at Turkey's request. This is a bilateral arrangement," said Dutch defense ministry spokesman Hans van den Heuvel, adding that NATO approval was not necessary. Belgium and Germany stuck by France through the month-long standoff. Diplomats said that by agreeing to bypass Paris and try for a decision in the Defense Planning Committee they were clearly anxious to find a way out of the damaging deadlock. France, meanwhile, stuck to its guns. "Turkey does not face any threats at the moment," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told RTL radio. "We have...bilaterally indicated to Turkey that we will of course offer every guarantee we can. So there is no ambiguity toward Turkey there is no lack of solidarity." SWIPE AT BELGIUM The measures under discussion by the Defense Planning Committee were the same as those which the European trio, arguing that the time was not right, had blocked for a month. These are deployment of AWACS surveillance planes, Patriot air defense missiles and anti-chemical and anti-germ warfare units to NATO ally Turkey, a likely launchpad for war on Iraq. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt opened the door for a possible compromise on Saturday, saying any defense for Turkey must not imply NATO participation in military action. He said it must also be purely defensive and allies must commit themselves to permanent monitoring of the Iraq debate in the U.N. Security Council. "If the three elements are not in the text, then we really have a problem with this decision and we will not support it," Michel told VTM television. His cabinet colleague Budget Minister Johan Vande Lanotte dampened hopes among the majority for a breakthrough, telling VTM: "The first things we are getting from the United States is that they are not so happy with our initiative." France is not included on the Defense Planning Committee because it withdrew from the integrated military structure of the alliance in 1966. The forum was used to get round French objections during the 1991 Gulf War when NATO sent its Allied Command Europe Mobile Force to southeastern Turkey. One senior NATO diplomat took a swipe at Belgium's position, suggesting that it had brought its own political posturing ahead of May 18 elections into the alliance. "What's incomprehensible is that the alliance's obligation, the extent to which we can support each other, somehow becomes subject to the whims of individual politicians parading around Brussels yesterday," he said. "I don't think Turkey's security should be in hoc to local city politics."