[A-List] Rumsfeld Pushes NATO Bailout In Iraq

[Rick Rozoff <r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1106&ncid=1106&e=1&u=/ft/20040206/bs_ft/1075982364912

Financial Times
February 6, 2004


Rumsfeld attempts to draw Nato into Iraq
By Judy Dempsey and Peter Spiegel in Munich


-Although he said there was no timetable for the Iraqi
operation, Nato officials said they hoped to get
agreement by the time the alliance holds its June
summit in Istanbul. US officials hope that the
handover can take place before sovereignty is returned
to the Iraqis on July 1.
-[N]ato's participation...would have political
significance, bringing recalcitrant European allies,
particularly France, back into the fold.
-A move to take the Polish sector could be followed by
a proposal to subsume the British-controlled southern
provinces, based in Basra, creating an all-Nato flank
south of Baghdad.
-A senior French official confirmed Paris would be
ready to send troops "if the conditions were right".
"It depends on how power is transferred back to the
Iraqi people, what role the United Nations  will have,
and under what conditions the Iraqi government would
invite Nato to take over the command," he said.



Donald Rumsfeld, US defence secretary, called on Nato
to take over command of the Polish-led multinational
force in south-central Iraq, the first public attempt
by Washington to draw France and Germany into the
country since the invasion.

Mr Rumsfeld was speaking on Friday after a special
meeting of Nato defence ministers attended by all 19
members and the seven countries that will join the
alliance in April.

Although he said there was no timetable for the Iraqi
operation, Nato officials said they hoped to get
agreement by the time the alliance holds its June
summit in Istanbul. US officials hope that the
handover can take place before sovereignty is returned
to the Iraqis on July 1.

Although Nato's participation would not change the
military balance in Iraq, it would have political
significance, bringing recalcitrant European allies,
particularly France, back into the fold.

Nato's presence would also help secure legitimacy and
support in the region for the US presence in Iraq.

A move to take the Polish sector could be followed by
a proposal to subsume the British-controlled southern
provinces, based in Basra, creating an all-Nato flank
south of Baghdad.

Jerzy Szmajdzinski, Polish defence minister, said he
hoped the handover could happen this year, a view
shared by other Nato members. Nato provides
command-and-control assets to the Polish headquarters,
but is not present on the ground.

Mr Rumsfeld was supported in the meeting by other Nato
members, but declined to say who they were. Nato
diplomats said backing came from several of the
countries already in Iraq, including Poland, Italy and
Spain.

Ministers from Germany and France did not join in the
discussion, diplomats said. One said there was
optimism that France may come on board "once you have
a sovereign Iraqi government, things change. Things
that are not possible now may be possible then".

A senior French official confirmed Paris would be
ready to send troops "if the conditions were right".
"It depends on how power is transferred back to the
Iraqi people, what role the United Nations  will have,
and under what conditions the Iraqi government would
invite Nato to take over the command," he said.

Germany, however, would find it hard to send troops,
since Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor, has
promised his soldiers would not bear arms in Iraq.

Despite Mr Rumsfeld's optimism, Nato's new secretary
general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, was unwilling to
re-open wounds caused by deep and bitter divisions
inside Nato over Iraq.

"Let's take things step by step. Let's see the
political developments inside Iraq. It will depend on
what the Iraqi government would or would not like Nato
to do," he said.





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