Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

DATE=4/2/04

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=NATO / IRAQ (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-314718

BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON

DATELINE=BRUSSELS

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The United States has once again urged the NATO alliance to take on a bigger role in Iraq after a sovereign Iraqi government takes over the country on July 1st. But, as V-O-A's Roger Wilkison reports from Brussels, most NATO nations appear to favor a new United Nations resolution that would give the alliance the political cover it needs to operate in Iraq.

TEXT: Although 17 of the 26 NATO members already have a military presence in Iraq, the alliance's role is limited to providing logistical support to a Polish-led division in the south-central part of the country.

Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters in Brussels that Washington would like the alliance to consider a collective role in stabilizing Iraq once the U-S-led provisional coalition authority transfers power to an Iraqi government on July 1st.

///POWELL ACTUALITY ONE///

I think it is appropriate, if this is a sovereign government that is going to have sovereignty over Iraq beginning on the 1st of July - and that is still our goal - then certainly NATO should be in consultation with that government. But I would think it unlikely that NATO would undertake a formal collective alliance role before full sovereignty of the kind we have described has returned and there are consultations with that government. I also am relatively confident that that government would welcome this kind of assistance from the international community.

///END ACTUALITY///

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told reporters earlier that a request from a sovereign Iraqi government and a new U-N Security Council resolution are necessary for the alliance to consider playing a collective role in Iraq.

NATO was split last year by the U-S-led invasion of Iraq, and such allies as France and Germany have ruled out any NATO role there until there is a new Iraqi government and a new U-N resolution backing an international military role.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer says NATO is nearing what he calls overstretch because of its commitments in the Balkans and Afghanistan. He says Germany will not block a NATO military role in Iraq, although it will not take part in it.

Asked what further role NATO could undertake in Iraq, Mr. Powell says that has not yet been defined. But he says it is premature to consider that NATO would eventually take full control of U-S forces there.

///POWELL ACTUALITY TWO///

The ideas that are out there now include, perhaps, NATO taking over one of the sectors, NATO playing a role in helping Iraqi forces get themselves more capable to provide for their own security. I think, as we look at it now, the large U-S presence there - coalition presence there - will still be there on the 1st of July and will remain under the current command arrangements.

///END ACTUALITY///

Mr. Powell spoke after NATO formally welcomed seven new members, all of them former communist states. Most of them have a military presence in Iraq and expressed their willingness to continue aiding the effort to stabilize the country. But their foreign ministers also spoke of the need for a new U-N resolution to give legitimacy to a NATO presence there. (signed)

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