U.S. response to attacks expected to
dominate agenda for NATO leaders
By Gregory Piatt,
Belgium bureau
BRUSSELS, Belgium — NATO expects to hear from the United States about its plans to
strike terrorist targets when the alliance meets Wednesday in Brussels, North Atlantic
Treaty Organization officials said Monday.
The informal meeting, which had been planned for months, is taking on a crisis feel
since alliance officials decided on Friday to move the meeting from Naples, Italy, to NATO
headquarters in Brussels.
NATO’s Secretary-General Lord George Robertson told reporters on Monday that he
expects much of the one-day meeting to focus on the terrorist attacks in the United
States.
"I would expect we would get more details from the United States as to what they
plan," said Robertson, after a meeting with the European Union’s foreign policy
chief and former NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana on Monday.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld will not be attending the meeting, but
will be replaced most likely by his deputy Paul Wolfowitz, Robertson said.
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the Bush administration would
release evidence linking Osama bin Laden to the terrorist attacks.
Wolfowitz won’t present allies with that evidence on Wednesday, said a Western
diplomat serving with NATO. Wolfowitz is expected to give an updated briefing on what the
United States is doing.
"It’s not in the cards," the diplomat said on the condition of anonymity
about presenting evidence on bin Laden. "Obviously, the agenda of the meeting has
changed, but there will be no formal brief or paper to be given on bin Laden or a call for
formal alliance action."
A day after the attacks, NATO allies invoked Article 5 of the alliance charter that
says an attack on one of its members is an attack on all of them. By invoking the article,
the allies are bound to assist the United States in whatever way they can. But any NATO
action hinges on the United States confirming that the attacks originated from abroad,
something U.S. officials have yet to do officially.
Robertson said he expects the meeting to result in strong statements of support for the
U.S.
"I also expect that the ministers will want to review what elements, both
collective and individual, might be put in place by individual states to fulfill the
Article 5 commitment and to assist the United States with whatever policy it embarks
upon," Robertson said.
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