Brussels — Washington's effort to build a coalition for war against Iraq hit more resistance Tuesday from NATO and beyond, with allies balking and China adding its voice to calls for bolstered UN arms inspections.

A second day of heated negotiations failed to end one of the worst crises in NATO's 53-year history: a split triggered when France, Germany and Belgium blocked U.S. plans to defend Turkey in a possible new Persian Gulf war. (http://sympatico.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/front/RTGAM/20030211/wnato0211a/Front/frontBN/sympatico-front)

Cheney-Rove must be having a hissy fit that NATO won't fall in line. Interestingly, the fence sitter - Canada, seems to be on board

France is a joke , protecting their multi million dollar Iraq oil deal. They are more concerned about taking control of the European security issues.
They don't even militarily contribute to NATO.
I guess they could teach the Iraqi military how to surrender , France has a good history of that :lol:
The French "hate those Americans" until somebody is threatening them, like the Nazi's :roll:

Germany is a surprise but meanwhile they have committed Patriot missiles to Turkey in the event of a war while publicly saying NO.

16 other countries agree to protect their NATO ally.

France/Germany are just making themselves irrelvant on world issues.

Apparently, at least privately, American officials admit that they are gracious that Chretien has not decided to grandstand his reservations over going to war in Iraq and thus damaged the US position like Germany and France. By committing significant resources to Afghanistan today, they are dodging the question of sending troops to Iraq since they don't have the resources even if they want to.

By doing this, they avoid ticking off the Americans and also appease the public, the majority of which opposes a war. As much as I can't stand Chretien, I have to admit that its a very savvy political move.