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Posted on 09/12/2001 6:12:41 PM PDT by deport
Wednesday September 12 8:04 PM ET
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By David Lawsky
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Invoking a mutual defense clause for the first time in its history, NATO (news - web sites) Wednesday pledged collective assistance to the United States if it responds militarily to Tuesday's devastating attacks.
``The council agreed that if it is determined that this was an attack directed from abroad against the United States, it shall be regarded as an action covered by Article V of the Washington Treaty,'' the 19-nation NATO council said.
That clause in the North Atlantic Treaty, never invoked in its 52-year history, declares an attack on one to be an attack on all. It commits each member to take ``such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.''
``Accordingly, the United States' NATO allies stand ready to provide the assistance that may be required as a consequence of these actions of barbarism,'' the council statement said.
NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said the declaration did not necessarily mean NATO would take joint military action, nor did it tie Washington's hands.
``I haven't talked about any actions,'' he said when asked what the geographical limits of any NATO operation might be.
``In no way does this statement of today bind the United States against taking action on its own or with any other individual friend that it might choose,'' he added.
The statement was issued after the third council meeting in 24 hours to express support for the most powerful NATO ally after the suicide attacks by hijacked planes on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon (news - web sites) in Washington, in which thousands of Americans are feared to have died.
INTELLIGENCE SOURCES POINT AT BIN LADEN
European and Israeli intelligence sources have pointed to exiled Saudi-born guerrilla chieftain Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), based in Afghanistan (news - web sites), as the prime suspect in the worst attack on the United States since the 1941 Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor.
Diplomats said the NATO statement was a potent gesture of political support rather than an operational decision.
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A senior State Department official said: ``It doesn't necessarily mean we're going to send in a NATO invasion force.''
Any decision to launch joint strikes would require further council deliberation, as would a decision to place national forces under NATO command.
``What you do and where and when is still left open,'' a diplomat said.
Allied assistance could involve measures such as opening airspace or bases to U.S. strike forces rather than direct participation in military action.
Some European Union (news - web sites) foreign ministers, attending an emergency EU meeting with Robertson earlier Wednesday, urged caution until the culprits had been identified.
Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer both suggested it was premature to talk of military action while the origins of Tuesday's coordinated attack using four hijacked planes were uncertain.
NATO was not involved collectively in the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) and has only ever taken joint military action in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia under non-Article V mandates.
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