ATTACK on AMERICA

Military

ATTACK
on AMERICA

NATO assembly to focus on attacks

10/06/2001

By TOM COHEN
Associated Press Writer

OTTAWA — A four-day meeting of legislators from NATO countries that started Saturday will focus on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the United States while also discussing usual topics such as expanding the alliance.

The NATO parliamentary assembly will debate a draft declaration condemning the attacks on its final day, when Secretary General Lord Robertson and U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert will address the 300 delegates.

Before that, five committees of legislators from 18 of the 19 NATO countries — Portugal couldn't make it, organizers say — and 16 associate countries will discuss resolutions on adding new members, the U.S. missile defense plan and other issues, as well as security in the aftermath of the attacks in New York and Washington.

The draft declaration condemns the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon as ``barbaric'' and pledges full support for a U.S.-led response, including military action.

``We are determined to fight against the sources of hatred, fanaticism and confrontation that lay behind the terrorist attacks on the United States and which cause certain nations, groups or individuals to lend their support or sympathize with terrorists,'' says the declaration by assembly president Rafael Estrella of Spain.

Simon Lunn of Britain, secretary-general of the assembly, emphasized the declaration was only a draft and could be changed during debate on Tuesday. The head of the Canadian delegation, Liberal Party member of Parliament Carolyn Parrish, noted the assembly includes both governing and opposition legislators from the various countries, which likely means differing views on the declaration.

``I can pretty well guarantee it will not go through unchanged,'' Parrish said. ``It will be changed, words will be changed, punctuation will be changed, hopefully the major concept of it will come through intact.''

The assembly serves as a kind of barometer of political climate in NATO countries, with its resolutions and declarations taken into consideration by alliance government officials.

Associate countries represented at the assembly include Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Macedonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine.