Rumsfeld sees growing NATO support for U.S. regarding Iraq

WARSAW, Poland -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld expressed satisfaction Wednesday with growing behind-the-scenes support within NATO for Washington's tough stand on Iraq, but deep differences remained with some allies on how to deal with Saddam Hussein.

Sparring between Germany and the United States over Iraq prompted NATO Secretary-General George Robertson to warn that hostile forces could profit from divisions among the allies.

"There is a huge premium on alliance unity, especially in these dangerous times," Lord Robertson told reporters after the Iraq crisis overshadowed a meeting of NATO defense ministers. "The enemies of the alliance are watching very closely indeed."

Rumsfeld said the United States did not come to the two-day meeting to lobby for support from the allies for military action. He insisted President George W. Bush has made no decision on an attack and is still working through the United Nations to find a solution.

But Rumsfeld said a number of nations offered their backing after he and CIA deputy director John McLaughlin briefed NATO defense ministers Tuesday on the gravity of the threat.

"I was not there ... soliciting support," Rumsfeld told a news conference. "You ask if it just happened to come in over the transom, without being asked for, and the answer is yes."

High rating

Asked to rate his satisfaction with the NATO meeting on a one-to-10 scale, Rumsfeld said it was "very, very high, in the nine-to-10 level."

British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon also presented the ministers with a dossier of evidence against Iraq that was unveiled Tuesday in London by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Hoon said the British report and the confidential briefing from the Americans had opened the eyes of some allies to the level of menace.

"It's clear there were many elements in the briefing that colleagues were not aware off," Hoon told reporters.

Italy, Spain and Poland, staunch American supporters like the British, seemed to back a firm line. In Rome, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi compared Saddam to Hitler and urged the United Nations to produce a "strongly worded" resolution on Iraq authorizing the use of force if Baghdad doesn't allow inspectors to return.

Not all are convinced by the U.S. and British drive for a new U.N. resolution threatening war against Iraq.

"I still return to my old opinion," said Peter Struck, the German defense minister. "A political solution has priority over a military intervention, and I had the impression that there's growing agreement with our position."

Relations between the United States and Germany have sunk to a postwar low since Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder made Berlin's opposition to any military action in Iraq a main component of his re-election campaign. He was returned to power Sunday by a slim margin.

France also expressed concern about the legality of a pre-emptive attack or the risk of inflaming anti-Western opinion in the Arab world.