IRAQ: NATO on the rocks

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Att.Editors: The following item is by the United Arab Emirates news agency (WAM)

ABU DHABI, Feb 13 2003 (IPS) - The 54-year-old military NATO alliance "is under enormous strain" as divergence of opinion among its members on the issue of disarming Iraq is boiling over, a United Arab Emirates (UAE) English daily believes.

The ‘Khaleej Times’ of Dubai wrote in its editorial today that, never before in recent memory has a section of NATO adopted such a defiant posture in the face of Washington’s demands. – What the Bush administration does next remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: NATO, the bedrock of the transatlantic relationship since the defeat of Nazi Germany and the liberation of Western Europe, is facing its moment of truth."

Europeans, the paper said, can argue with some justification that the alliance is supposed to function on the basis of consensus, not diktat, hence they have every right to disagree with the US.

ôThe trouble is, Europeans are hardly speaking in one voice no matter how overwhelming the continent’s antiwar sentiment. Indeed, for all the evidence of a cross-Atlantic split, if there is anything more obvious than that, it is the disarray in European ranks."

The paper noted that the chasm between the European countries had left Britain, Italy and Spain at the helm and have put Paris and Berlin on notice by standing four-square behind Washington.

"There is also a good chance of the European holdouts coming on board at the eleventh hour for fear of losing out on the peace dividend, which is expected to be substantial given Iraq’s proven oil reserves. Nevertheless, what cannot be reversed is the damage already inflicted on NATO’s credibility by the deadlock at the North Atlantic Council, with behind-the-scenes negotiations going nowhere fast," ‘Khaleej Times’ commented.

ôWhether or not Saddam rides out the coming storm, he has already earned his place in the annals of modern history as the dictator who almost tore the mighty Western alliance apart without having to fire a single missile," the paper wrote.