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Germany challenges us on nato iraq role

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Posted on Sat, Feb. 07, 2004

Germany Challenges U.S. on NATO Iraq Role
TONY CZUCZKA
Associated Press

MUNICH, Germany - Germany's foreign minister on Saturday challenged a U.S. proposal to give the NATO alliance a role in Iraq peacekeeping, raising the prospect of new trans-Atlantic dispute.

With U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld listening, Joschka Fischer's warning at an annual defense conference recalled some of the sting of their sharp exchange a year ago in the buildup to the war that ousted Saddam Hussein.

"The risk of failure and the potentially very serious, possibly fatal consequences for the alliance absolutely must be taken into consideration," Fischer told the gathering of leading security officials and experts from about 50 countries.

Fischer said such a move poses the danger of overstretching the alliance, still recovering from deep rifts over the war itself.

Rumsfeld did not respond directly to Fischer's challenge. The United States proposed a NATO role in Iraq in December, and Rumsfeld on Friday suggested the alliance could take command of zones now run by Poland and Britain.

NATO's new secretary-general insisted the alliance should not rule out a role in Iraq.

"If a legitimate Iraqi government asks for our assistance, and if we have the support of the United Nations, NATO should not abdicate from its responsibilities," Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told the conference.

Returning to the scene of a dramatic clash with Fischer last year, Rumsfeld earlier Saturday gave a spirited defense of the Iraq war, saying it had made "the world a safer place."

He did not mention the failure to find banned weapons in Iraq. And Fischer reasserted that Germans "were not, and are still not, convinced of the validity of the reasons," using phrasing that angered Rumsfeld at the conference a year ago.

While conceding little ground over the necessity for the war, Rumsfeld and Fischer emphasized that both camps now want to look to the future.

Fischer called for Europe and the United States to join together in a broad effort to bring peace and stability to the Middle East.

A major push to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, fight terrorism and promote economic development in the Middle East would help heal the trans-Atlantic rift, Fischer said.

"Neither the United States nor Europe and the Middle East itself can tolerate the status quo in the Middle East any longer," Fischer told the audience, which included Rumsfeld.

Rumsfeld expressed support for Fischer's proposals, saying the NATO alliance could help Middle Eastern countries beef up their security forces and serve as a catalyst for economic and democratic change like in eastern Europe after the fall of communism.

The Munich conference has for 40 years given top policy-makers and experts an informal forum to discuss and air differences.

It's also attracted anti-war and anti-NATO protests. A few blocks from the heavily secured hotel, at least 5,000 demonstrators marched through central Munich Saturday, carrying banners like "Stop the Warmongers" and "No to global war by NATO countries."

Police tussled with some of the protesters, arresting four for suspected illegal possession of weapons.




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