HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-435476,00.html

[The US's NATO cohorts will do what they're told and
what is viewed by themselves as being in their mutual
interests, as is evidenced by the deployment of troops
and warships and warplanes from every major NATO
nation in South and Central Asia, the Middle East and
the Horn of Africa, the Balkans and the Caucasus
currently.
As long as all members are treaty-bound to the United
States and other great power allies, especially by the
Article Five (so-called) mutual defense clause
activated a year ago, the bogus feint of unilateralism
versus multilateralism is a ploy used for domestic
political purposes in Europe and Canada, where the
popular opposition to war against Iraq - and beyond -
is substantial to overwhelming.
The genuine solution to the problem of increasingly
dangerous military provocation and aggression
worldwide is offered, however disingenuously, by the
Norwegian Defense Minister below: 'She said that small
Nato members may quit the alliance, reducing its
legitimacy.'
Of course NATO has no legitimacy except in the eyes of
militarists, sociopathic 'geostrategists' and defense
contractors, but the sooner small, and larger, members
withdraw from the expansionist alliance the sooner any
real prospect for a peaceful comity of nations can
evolve.]




The Times (London)
October 4, 2002


Nato challenged to back action on Iraq
By Michael Evans, Defence Editor
 
 
 
WASHINGTON put Nato on the spot yesterday by
challenging the alliance to give its full backing to
American military action against Iraq. 
Stephen Hadley, the US deputy national security
adviser, told a Nato conference in Brussels that he
expected the alliance to show solidarity for America�s
approach towards President Saddam Hussein at next
month�s summit in Prague. France and Germany are
opposed to American unilateral action against Iraq and
Nato is excluded from planning for a US-led war, so
the issue of Saddam is not on the agenda for the
Prague summit. 

Mr Hadley told Nato delegates: �Prague will be a place
where Nato must speak about Iraq. The Iraq regime
poses a unique threat to the national security of each
of our countries. This means that it is a challenge
for Nato implicitly, if not explicitly.� He added:
�The summit will be a valuable opportunity to show
allied solidarity in the face of this common threat.� 

However, Nato diplomatic sources said that although
the alliance would not have a role in dealing with
Iraq, the issue of weapons of mass destruction would
be on the agenda. 

The sources said that Iraq would be discussed in the
margins and during bilateral talks with America. 

The last time that Nato was used for a military
operation was in August last year when British and
other alliance troops were deployed to the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to oversee the handover
of arms by the rebel ethnic Albanian National
Liberation Army. 

At yesterday�s conference in Brussels on Nato�s
future, Lord Robertson of Port Ellen, the Nato
Secretary-General, made no reference to Iraq in his
speech. He did give warning, however, that the US
should use Nato to consult European allies if the
alliance was not to become irrelevant. �We must not
shy away from putting even the most controversial
topics on our agenda,� Lord Robertson said. 

Several European delegates spoke of dangerous
consequences if Washington started wars without the
approval of the United Nations. 

�We must all resist the temptation of declaring the
(Nato) alliance irrelevant,� Kristin Krohn Devold, the
Norwegian Defence Minister, said. �What we need is
reassurance that the alliance remains vital to all of
us. The United States carries a special responsibility
when it comes to giving this message.� She said that
small Nato members may quit the alliance, reducing its
legitimacy. 

Javier Solana, the EU�s top foreign policy official,
similarly urged the United States to stick to
multilateralism. �Ad hoc coalitions of docile
followers to be chosen or discarded at will is neither
attractive nor sustainable,� he said.
 
 
 


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