Free Republic

Rice Says France, Germany Took NATO 'Hostage' Wed May 7, 2003 07:47 AM ET MADRID (Reuters) - U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice disparaged France for taking NATO "hostage" over Iraq and for threatening smaller countries with reprisals if they backed Washington's war to oust Saddam Hussein. "Nobody should take NATO hostage," Rice said in an interview with four Spanish newspapers published on Wednesday. "It was very unsettling that Germany and France tried to prevent NATO from reinforcing the security of Turkey. There were many unsettling things in that process," she told Spanish national newspapers El Pais, El Mundo, ABC...

Wither Nato? http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20030224&s=editorial022403 by the Editors Post date: 02.13.03 Issue date: 02.24.03 Tout se complique. The strident obstructionism of France and Germany, and their attempt to lead an insurrection within NATO against the use of Western force against Saddam Hussein, even to the point of violating the treaty commitments of the alliance to the security of its own members (in this case, Turkey)--this is a genuinely momentous turn of events that should not be understood merely as a comedy of national character. The petulance of these European states seems farcical, but in fact it is the expression of a profound...