Baker Warns NATO of Iraq ‘Partial Withdrawal Ploy’ : Alliance: Foreign ministers support the U.S. stand on use of force, even if a pullout from Kuwait starts.

NATO foreign ministers agreed Monday to support the use of force in the Persian Gulf even if Saddam Hussein begins to pull his troops out of Kuwait.

The ministers’ statement, issued in a rare first-day communique of a two-day meeting, was in response to a warning by Secretary of State James A. Baker III. Addressing the annual winter meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Baker predicted that the Iraqi strongman will begin a dramatic peace offensive, perhaps a partial withdrawal of his occupation troops, as the United Nations deadline of Jan. 15 approaches.

“We need to anticipate Saddam’s possible moves (and) be prepared for a partial withdrawal ploy,” Baker said.

His fellow NATO foreign ministers responded with a special communique demanding a complete Iraqi pullout from Kuwait and asserting, “There can be no partial solutions.”

The communique also pledged that each of the 16 NATO countries, “to the best of our ability, undertakes to provide further support” for military action under the U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the use of force.

In his address, Baker argued that the world must convince Hussein “that he cannot drive wedges between us and that time is running out.”

The NATO meeting was a “restricted session,” closed to all but the ministers and a handful of high-level aides. However, a text of Baker’s remarks was made public.

“I think we should anticipate that as we draw close to . . . (the) Jan. 15 deadline and as the choices are presented starkly, Saddam Hussein is likely to try to undercut the collective will of the international community to use force,” Baker said. “Just as I believe he chose to release hostages for this purpose, I think he may take a dramatic step on or around Jan. 15. He could withdraw partially.”

It was the first time a Bush Administration policy maker had spoken publicly of such an Iraqi tactic, although officials have worried privately for weeks that it will be difficult to maintain the international consensus behind the use of warfare if Hussein makes even a small conciliatory gesture.

Baker reiterated that he is ready to visit Baghdad any time before Jan. 3. But he told reporters later that U.S. and Iraqi diplomats failed again Monday to break the deadlock over dates. Iraq wants the visit to be held Jan. 12, a date Washington considers too close to the U.N. deadline.

“We are willing to communicate, but not to play Saddam’s games,” Baker said. “And no one else should, either.”

The European Community foreign ministers--11 NATO members plus Ireland--are scheduled to meet in Brussels today to decide whether to withdraw an invitation to Iraqi Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz to confer in Rome later this week with Italian Foreign Minister Gianni De Michelis in his role as EC president. The Aziz-De Michelis talks had been intended as a follow-up to Aziz’s trip to Washington, which has been suspended as part of the dispute over dates for a Baker visit to Baghdad.

De Michelis said he personally favors canceling the invitation because “we want to strengthen, not weaken, international cohesion.” But he said the decision must be made by all 12 foreign ministers. Italy holds the EC presidency for the rest of this month under the community’s six-month rotation policy. In January, it will pass to Luxembourg.

A senior Bush Administration official said later that if the EC-Iraq meeting takes place, “We are confident the message that would be conveyed is the same one we could have conveyed.”

The official said the NATO ministers exhibited “a complete shared view . . . a real unanimity” on the gulf crisis.

British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd and Belgian Foreign Minister Marc Dyskins also told reporters that the EC-Iraq talks should be canceled unless Aziz first visits Washington.

“There should be mounting evidence that there is no point in Iraq staying in Kuwait in the hope that the coalition is about to split,” Hurd told a press conference.

A senior Canadian official said the NATO ministers agreed on a policy of “no partial solutions, no rewards, no linkages, no free-lancing in terms of proposing solutions outside of the Security Council.”

The official also quoted French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas: “If Kuwait is not evacuated, force will be used; if Kuwait is evacuated, force will not be used. That is an important point.”

Although the NATO communique pledged continuing support for the use of force in the gulf crisis, Baker told the foreign ministers that Washington expects its allies to increase their contributions to the “costs and risks” of military action. Most members of the alliance have sent at least token forces to the region, but outside the United States only Britain and France have contributed substantial ground forces.

“Politically, we need to share responsibilities in helping our publics understand this crisis as a test of a new world order and our hopes for a new era of peace,” the secretary of state said.

“Economically, we need to share equitably the responsibility to absorb the massive costs of this crisis for us, for the coalition facing Iraq, and for nations which have suffered the most for supporting the United Nations.

“Militarily, we share responsibility to show Saddam Hussein the choice he really faces and to carry through with the United Nations commitments,” Baker said.

He also signaled impatience with the arguments of some NATO members that the alliance has no responsibility to take military action outside Europe.

“Iraq’s aggression in the tinderbox of the Middle East certainly poses a danger to Western Europe that could be as important as any direct threat to NATO territory,” he said.

“We need to recognize that our member states face real and potential direct threats to their territory from other directions (than the Soviet Union, NATO’s traditional adversary),” Baker said. “This is evident in Turkey. It should be evident in the Mediterranean.”

NATO Forces in the Gulf

North Atlantic Treaty Organization members with ground troops on the scene or committed in the Persian Gulf

United States: 430,000

Britain: 30,000

France: 15,000

Canada: 450

These NATO members have committed naval units or warplanes: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Britain, United States.

These NATO members have not committed forces to the gulf: Germany, Turkey, Iceland, Luxembourg.