U.S. presses for allied help against Iraq

STUTTGART, Germany -- NATO should agree to help with a possible war against Iraq to present a united front against the threat of Iraq's weapons, the second-in-command at the Pentagon said Thursday.

The threat of military action is the only way to persuade Iraq to disarm peacefully, and the more countries that back the United States, the more credible the threat is, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said.

His comments, made during a trip to install a new head of the U.S. European Command, were aimed at some of America's NATO allies. Germany, for example, has ruled out participating in any war with Iraq, though it has offered to help provide security at the many U.S. bases in Germany should war break out.

Other NATO allies such as Canada have indicated they would only participate in a war if one were explicitly authorized by the U.N. Security Council.

U.S. officials say they do not need another U.N. resolution to attack Iraq, which they say is a direct threat because of its stocks of chemical and biological weapons. Iraq denies it has any such banned weapons, though U.N. inspectors on Thursday found at least 11 empty chemical warheads that Iraq had not declared.

The United States has asked NATO to provide alliance military help in the event of a war. Such aid could include using naval forces to patrol the eastern Mediterranean, and sending AWACS surveillance planes and Patriot missile batteries to help defend NATO ally Turkey, which borders Iraq's northern tip.

"There are a number of ways in which NATO could contribute, both during and after a conflict, if there has to be one," Wolfowitz said.

A NATO commitment would encourage Turkey, which has been wavering on whether and how much it would help in a war, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.

U.S. teams on Monday began surveying Turkish bases and ports to see which could be used in a war to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The official, who spoke to reporters in Stuttgart on condition of anonymity, said Turkey's cooperation has been slower than U.S. officials would like.

Other NATO help could mean providing security at U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf, which are under threat of terrorist attack, the official said. NATO also could offer forces to replace U.S. troops sent to the Persian Gulf from other missions, such as peacekeeping in the former Yugoslavia, the official said.

The Bush administration believes it does not need any further U.N. backing for war against Iraq. A main worry in Washington is that Saddam could pass chemical or biological weapons to terrorist groups, which could use them for attacks on American soil.

The United States has given U.N. inspectors names of Iraqi scientists whom the Americans believe should be interviewed outside Iraq, as well as specific activities and sites to inspect, the official said. President Bush would offer more evidence of Saddam's weapons programs only after deciding that inspections have failed, the official said.

Some reluctant countries have gathered information on their own about Iraq's weapons, the official said, including Germany, which provided helpful information to the United States about Iraq's biological weapons programs.