VARIOUS: NATO SECRETARY GENERAL LORD ROBERTSON SAYS EUROPEAN ALLIES WOULD WANT TO SEE EVIDENCE THAT IRAQ WAS INVOLVED IN SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS ON USA
Record ID:
222910
VARIOUS: NATO SECRETARY GENERAL LORD ROBERTSON SAYS EUROPEAN ALLIES WOULD WANT TO SEE EVIDENCE THAT IRAQ WAS INVOLVED IN SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS ON USA
- Title: VARIOUS: NATO SECRETARY GENERAL LORD ROBERTSON SAYS EUROPEAN ALLIES WOULD WANT TO SEE EVIDENCE THAT IRAQ WAS INVOLVED IN SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS ON USA
- Date: 18th March 2002
- Summary: (U4) EDINBURGH,SCOTLAND UK (MARCH 18, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) NIGHT SHOTS 1. VARIOUS OF NATO E3-A AIRCRAFT ON GROUND 0.05 2. ZOOM OUT : GROUND CREW INSPECTING E3-A 0.13 3. SV: NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL LORD GEORGE ROBERTSON ARRIVING 0.20 (U4) ABOVE THE NORTH SEA (MARCH 18, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 4. VARIOUS OF ROBERTSON MEETING CREW (3 SHOTS) 0.35 5. CU: DETAIL OF BADGE SHOWING SUPPORT MISSION TO THE U.S.: OPERATION EAGLE ASSIST 0.39 6. SCU: ROBERTSON IN COCKPIT 0.44 7. VARIOUS OF CREW MEMBERS OPERATING RADAR SCREENS WHICH MONITOR AIR TRAFFIC (2 SHOTS) 0.53 8. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROBERTSON SAYING: "So far, the United States have made it publicly clear that they do not have evidence linking the Iraqi regime with the attacks on Washington and New York. But that might change. More information might become available. I know of no plans for attacking Iraq at the moment. But if intelligence were showing that Saddam Hussein was giving support or was hiding al Qaeda network people, then clearly the North Atlantic Council would want to know about it and consider its implications." 1.24 9. VARIOUS OF ROBERTSON WITH CREW (4 SHOTS) 1.40 10. SCU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROBERTSON SAYING: "The Iraqi capacity in weapons of mass destruction is well known. And of course they are in breach of the U.N. security council resolutions by not allowing inspectors to be in there at this stage. So they represent a potential threat to the international community. So far as NATO is concerned as it stands at the moment, it has to be linked to the attacks on Washington and New York and we would wait for any information that the Americans would have that would link these attacks to the Iraqi regime." 2.13 (U4) GEILENKIRCHEN, GERMANY (MARCH 18, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 11. PAN TO ROBERTSON DISEMBARKING 2.20 12. SV'S: ROBERTSON GREETING FAMILY MEMBERS OF NATO FORCES WHO ARE WORKING IN THE AWACS (AIRBORNE WARNING AND CONTROL SYSTEM) IN THE UNITED STATES (2 SHOTS) 2.33 13. VARIOUS NATO AIRMEN DISEMBARKING FROM PLANE THAT HAS RETURNED THEM FROM THE UNITED STATES FOLLOWING THEIR SERVICE THERE/ROBERTSON GREETING RETURNING AIRMEN / SOLDIERS GREETED BY THEIR FAMILIES (7 SHOTS) 3.12 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 2nd April 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: EDINBURGH,SCOTLAND,UNITED KINGDOM / GEILENKIRCHEN, GERMANY / ABOVE THE NORTH SEA
- City:
- Country: Scotland United Kingdom Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA3SP30AJVEC8IUXTMV2JRYXDTN
- Story Text: NATO Secretary-General George Robertson has said that
European allies would want to see any evidence that Iraq was
involved in the September 11 attacks on the United States or
linked to al Qaeda Islamic militants.
Speaking on a flight to an airbase in Germany for a
ceremony welcoming home NATO early warning aircraft that have
been patrolling U.S. skies since the attacks, Robertson was
asked whether allied support for Washington under their mutual
defence clause would extend to an American attack on Iraq.
"Up to now the evidence points to Afghanistan, al Qaeda
and Osama bin Laden. This is why (NATO) support has been given
right down the line," he told reporters.
The allies invoked Article V of their founding North
Atlantic Treaty on September 12, declaring that the attack on
the United States was an attack on all of them.
That clause remains in force but some NATO governments
have voiced misgivings about a possible U.S. strike on Iraq,
which President George W. Bush sees as a potential supplier of
weapons of mass destruction to alleged terrorist groups.
"If there was evidence linking al Qaeda and Bin Laden to
support being given by Iraq, we would obviously have to
consider the evidence and consider it very seriously,"
Robertson said.
However, he made clear U.S. officials had offered no such
information for the moment. If they did, the North Atlantic
Council would want to know about it and consider the
implications, he said.
The NATO chief was speaking on a flight from Edinburgh to
Geilenkirchen, Germany, where NATO's fleet of Airborne Warning
and Control System aircraft (AWACS) are based.
Although NATO has been largely sidelined from the Afghan
war, five allied AWACS were deployed to Tinker Air Force base
in Oklahoma as part of operations to support the United States
while it own AWACS planes are on mission close to Afghanistan.
The NATO planes had flown 289 missions with a duration of
3,387 hours up to the beginning of March.
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