Atlantic divide splits old allies

MUNICH - Deep United States-European divisions over Iraq were laid bare yesterday as US officials said reticence over war was harming transatlantic ties, and France and Germany insisted peace must be given a chance.

US Defence 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 Germany, France and Belgium to stall Nato planning for the protection of Turkey in the event of a war in neighbouring Iraq, saying they were undermining Nato's credibility and exposing a rift within Europe itself.

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 to English.

About 10,000 protesters waving banners displaying anti-war slogans and blowing whistles 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 US public was ready for a long-term occupation after a war against Iraq.

Rumsfeld 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."

US 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.

Unless one of the 19 Nato nations objects before tonight, 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 US officials - and so strongly backed by public opinion in their own countries - that they may stick to their position.

This could force Turkey to invoke a provision in the Nato treaty under which allies would be all but obliged to defend it.

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.

In other events yesterday, the Pope urged the world not to resign itself to war.

"We have to multiply efforts. We can't stop when faced with either terror attacks or the threats that are on the horizon. We should never resign ourselves, almost as if war is inevitable," he said.



The Pope will meet Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister, Tariq Aziz, on Saturday and is due to meet United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan next week.

* In the biggest anti-American protest yet in the world's most populous Muslim country, tens of thousands of Indonesians staged a peaceful protest against a possible attack on Iraq.

Local media estimated the size of the Jakarta crowd at up to 100,000.

* Australian Prime Minister John Howard held out little chance for peace with Iraq when he arrived in Washington for war talks with President George W. Bush.

Howard said a strong and united statement from the Security Council was the best hope of forcing Iraqi compliance and avoiding war.

* The Pentagon says it is activating a rarely used programme that would mobilise scores of US commercial aircraft to meet heightened airlift needs ahead of a possible war.

Twenty-two airlines and their 78 commercial aircraft - 47 passenger aircraft and 31 wide-body cargo carriers - were covered under the "Stage 1" activation.

Stage 1 is the lowest activation level. Stage 2 would involve more aircraft for a major regional conflict and Stage 3 could be declared for a national mobilisation.

* Aircraft of a US and British coalition attacked an Iraqi mobile air defence command facility yesterday after threats to coalition aircraft policing the southern "no-fly" zone, the US military said.

The facility, near Al Kut, 150km southeast of Baghdad, was targeted with precision-guided weapons after Iraqi forces moved it into the zone, said the US Central Command.

Nearly half a million leaflets were also dropped over southern Iraq giving radio frequencies for coalition broadcasts.

- AGENCIES

Herald feature: Iraq