NATO welcomes new members, pledges to help disarm Iraq

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Heeding President Bush's call, NATO leaders pledged Thursday to help the United Nations "fully and immediately" disarm Iraq. They also redrew the political map of Europe, reaching behind the former Iron Curtain for seven new members.

Barely a decade after winning independence from Moscow, the Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania joined former communist states Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia as the next wave of NATO states. The seven invitees will join the alliance in May 2004 after their legislatures and those of the 19 current members ratify the expansion.

"Events have moved faster than we could possibly have imagined," said Estonian Prime Minister Siim Kallas.

On the summit sidelines, Bush and his foreign policy team lobbied feverishly for an anti-Iraq NATO statement while urging individual allies to ante up troops and other military assistance for possible war against Saddam Hussein.

The results were mixed: Bush won partial victory on the Iraq statement while the war solicitations received lukewarm responses.

In a statement, the alliance unanimously echoed the U.N. call for "severe consequences" should Iraq insist on retaining weapons of mass destruction.

But the statement did not threaten collective military action, nor did it prevent some allies -- particularly Germany and France -- from distancing themselves from Bush's zero tolerance position and even the document itself.