NATO Cool to Missile Shield

After his debut before the world’s most powerful military alliance Wednesday, President Bush said he made “good progress” in convincing U.S. allies in Europe about the need for a new approach to strategic defense based on his controversial proposal to create a missile shield.

But a majority of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 19 member states still appeared to be resisting the U.S. plan.

At least four countries in the 19-member NATO--Italy, Hungary, Poland and Spain--expressed interest in exploring development of a missile defense system, according to U.S. officials.

Bush said his inaugural meeting here, called to introduce the new administration and its ideas to NATO, proved that the United States remains committed to joint efforts.

“I hope the notion of a unilateral approach died in some people’s minds today here. Unilateralists don’t come around the table to listen to others and to share opinion,” Bush told a news conference after four hours of meetings with his 18 counterparts in the transatlantic alliance.

“People know I’m intent on doing what I think is the right thing,” Bush added.

For all the polite diplomatic exchanges, however, resistance to the plan remains strong among the majority of NATO countries. U.S. allies here want extensive discussions before making any formal decision, according to European envoys.

In blunt language, French President Jacques Chirac told the summit that while France was ready to discuss the proposed shield, it was not prepared to abandon treaties and disarmament efforts that have formed the basis of defense for almost three decades.

One fundamental is “the need to preserve the strategic balances, of which the Antiballistic Missile Treaty is a pillar,” Chirac said.

Prime Minister Wim Kok of the Netherlands also said abrogating the 1972 ABM Treaty, which many see as a necessary consequence of building the missile shield, would be wrong. Germany repeatedly has made clear its reservations about both missile defense and walking away from an effective arms control regime, which could trigger a new global arms race.

Most important, NATO allies still challenge the Bush administration’s justification for missile defense: that the major post-Cold War threat is from missiles fired by “rogue” nations. The gap was evident last month at a NATO conference in Budapest, Hungary, when the allies refused to sign on to a statement affirming the threat, except as a possible danger down the road.

“We’re still in the same position. Bush’s visit didn’t change our doubts about this supposed common threat,” said a senior European official in Brussels who asked to remain anonymous. “We don’t think there should be a common response. And we don’t think the sole method of response is an antimissile defense.”

The only thing Bush clearly gained in Brussels was an audience, and even that was due largely to the well-orchestrated format. Each head of state gave a written five-minute speech, which precluded any serious debate. The luncheon discussion focused on the crisis in the Balkan nation of Macedonia, European envoys said.

The undercurrent of opposition was evident on the streets in and near the Belgian capital as Bush was greeted by small waves of protest. At a military airport where Air Force One landed, about two dozen Greenpeace protesters dressed in white jumpsuits chained themselves together in front of an exit gate.

Demonstrators deployed along the president’s limousine route into town, blocking some roads, chaining themselves to traffic lights and snarling traffic. Banners carried by environmental groups read, “Bush--Wanted for crimes against the planet.” Police estimated that 400 protesters were gathered outside NATO headquarters.

The most imaginative protester was a parachutist propelled by a small motor who waved a banner--”Stop Star Wars”--as he dropped over NATO headquarters. He was arrested after landing. By day’s end, about 30 demonstrators had been arrested, police said.

U.S. officials tried to sound unperturbed about the protests and negative press throughout Europe. “Every president is a caricature until his first trip,” White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. told reporters en route to Brussels from Madrid, the first stop on Bush’s five-nation tour.

The Bush team was generally upbeat Wednesday about the president’s trip. “I think they’ve given the president a good listen,” Card said. “There’s a recognition that the paradigm of the past is something we should move away from.”

The alliance did find common ground Wednesday in pledging to work harder to help end the rapidly deteriorating conflict in Macedonia.

“NATO must play a more visible and active role” in helping Macedonia deal with the escalating challenge from ethnic Albanian militants, Bush said.

Talks in the conference rooms and smoke-filled corridors of NATO headquarters included the possible need for alliance peacekeepers to separate the Slav-dominated government troops from the rebels and prevent a new round of ethnic warfare in the volatile Balkans.

“Our history of engagement in that part of the world has taught us that it is better to make preparations and to stabilize the situation rather than to wait and let the situation deteriorate,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

Chirac warned that failure to take action would jeopardize stability throughout the Balkans--including in Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovina, where altogether NATO has about 56,000 troops. France has been the most active proponent of the idea of a NATO force in Macedonia, but Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic also are calling for a wider alliance role, U.S. and European officials said.

But Bush deferred questions about such a deployment, saying he believes that most countries are troubled at the prospect of sending forces to the former Yugoslav republic.

“Most people believe there’s still a political solution available before troops are committed,” he said.

NATO Secretary-General George Robertson and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana are scheduled to visit Macedonia today for talks with President Boris Trajkovski. As part of Trajkovski’s latest cease-fire proposal, all of Macedonia’s political parties are to meet this week to discuss national reconciliation.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell met Wednesday with Robertson and Solana to discuss steps to shore up the peace process. Powell said the U.S., EU and NATO “want to create momentum for Trajkovski’s peace plan, momentum for the political process and momentum for results in political discussions,” according to State Department spokesman Richard Boucher.