NATO’s Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has stated that certain conditions must be met before NATO would take an active role in Iraq, specifically, “a sovereign, legitimate and credible Iraqi government and a new U.N. Security Council resolution.”
I don’t think that’s the problem. Take a look at how horribly the NATO experiment is failing in Afghanistan.
So I find this bit incredible: “De Hoop Scheffer said troops from 16 NATO nations would be in Iraq after a planned pullout by Spanish forces, although they are not under a NATO mandate. NATO is, however, providing logistical support for a Polish-led division in Iraq.”
This is the fruit of their efforts in Afghanistan, their priority:
“NATO boasts that 36 countries — including 12 non-alliance nations — are contributing troops to ISAF. But 27 of those have sent fewer than 100 soldiers and nine have sent fewer than 10…”
General Rick Hillier, the NATO force commander, has to beg a ride when he wants to leave Kabul.