NATO allows Poland to lead peace efforts

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- NATO's 19 nations agreed unanimously Wednesday to start planning to help Poland lead a multinational peacekeeping force in Iraq, a move that begins to heal the alliance's deep divisions over the war.\nAlthough the plans involve only modest technical assistance, the step also marks the possibility of a wider role for NATO in postwar Iraq.\n"This is a big step forward by the NATO alliance," said Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to NATO. "Today's decision puts us squarely in the mix in Iraq."\nThe apparent ease with which allies reached the deal is in stark contrast with the acrimonious dispute before the war in Iraq, when France, Germany and Belgium held up sending defensive units to Turkey for weeks to emphasize their opposition to the U.S.-led war.\nSince the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, France and Germany have sought to repair ties with Washington. Burns said the speedy consensus on Poland's request indicated the alliance had put the Iraq dispute behind it.\n"I think NATO has overcome that crisis," he told reporters.\nFrench diplomats said Paris had no objection to authorizing the help to the Poles, who are expected to assemble at least 7,000 peacekeepers in a force expected to deploy next month to work between a U.S.-run northern zone and the British-controlled south.\nThe assistance is expected to involve setting up a headquarters, intelligence sharing, communications and logistics, but no direct NATO involvement on the ground.\n"We are not talking about a NATO presence in Iraq, we are talking purely and simply about NATO help to Poland," said Lord Robertson, the alliance's secretary general.\nBurns said NATO's military commander, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James L. Jones, would likely present plans for approval next week.\nFirst, alliance military experts will work with the Poles to see what they need and provide a list of available support, and nations considering joining the mission will meet Thursday and Friday in Warsaw. Poland is expected to provide 2,200 troops to lead its force in Iraq. Bulgaria will contribute 450 soldiers, but it was not immediately clear which other countries would join.\nAlthough limited, U.S. officials see NATO's involvement in Iraq as a sign the alliance is making good on pledges to reinvent itself post-Cold War to face global challenges.\n"There is no question that NATO is out on the frontier in the war on terrorism," Burns said.\nDiplomats at NATO headquarters said they would continue discussions on the alliance taking over a more central role in longer-term Iraq peacekeeping perhaps as early as the end of this year.\nThat could follow the model in Afghanistan, where the alliance first provided back up to the German-Dutch peacekeeping force in the capital, Kabul, before agreeing to take command of the mission.\nStarting in August, the Afghan operation will mark NATO's first mission outside its traditional Euro-Atlantic theater.\nThe Iraq mission is a test for Poland, which only joined NATO in 1999 and has struggled to modernize and restructure its military along western lines since the collapse of communism 10 years earlier.