To
break the deadlock, Robertson on Thursday, February 6, invoked a
so-called "silence rule" that gives the allies until midday
Monday, February to formally disagree with the U.S. request. If no one
breaks the silence, the United States demand will be automatically
adopted.
"The threat is there to see and if the worst were to happen and
if we had done nothing to stop it, not one of us here today could
honestly say that it was a surprise," Rumsfeld said.
He
added that Saddam had crossed "17 lines in the sand" marked
by UN resolutions and had to be stopped from continuing to defy the
international community.
"If
the international community once again shows a lack of resolve there
is no chance that Saddam Hussein will disarm voluntarily or flee his
country and thus little chance of a peaceful outcome," he said.
Term
of ”Endearment”
Rumsfeld
also attempted to mend relations with Germany and France, which were
offended when he labeled them as "old Europe" after their
leaders spoke out against war.
He
shrugged off German indignation of his earlier dismissal of France and
Germany as "old Europe" because of their anti-war stance,
saying he did not know "what the fuss was about."
"These
things happen in an alliance," he told the conference.
"How
does it end? It ends that's all. As the old saying goes, if you're in
a hole stop digging."
Rumsfeld
last month dismissed France and Germany as "old Europe,"
with the centre of gravity in NATO shifting to the new members from
the east.
"Frankly,
I don't understand what the fuss was about -- at my age, I consider
'old' a term of endearment," said the 70 year-old official.
He
pointed to statements of support by some 18 European leaders as
evidence that Washington's problems were not with Europe as a whole.
"There's
no question there are differences between the German government and
the U.S. government," he said, but added: "There are more
differences among Europeans than there are between the United States
and Europe."
Fischer,
too, insisted that relations between Berlin and Washington should not
be reduced to a "yes or no" debate over Iraq, pointing out
that Germany was already heavily committed to peacekeeping missions
from Afghanistan to the Balkans.
Nevertheless,
he criticized the United States for focusing on Iraq and not on other,
more urgent problems such as the Middle East peace process.
"Why
this focus right now? I would have wished for a different
initiative," such as following up a Saudi plan to ease the Middle
East crisis.
No
to War
 |
|
The
“Old Europe” label was a term of endearment, Rumsfeld
|
Meanwhile,
the anti-war demonstrators did not miss the chance of the gathering
and took to the streets in a snow-hit protest to show solidarity with
German government.
Organizers
said up to 10,000 people took part in the city centre rally but police
put the figure closer to 6,000.
Other
demonstrations were being planned for the rest of the weekend until
the conference closes Sunday.
Police
said the situation remained quiet, although they arrested 22 people in
a swoop on a Munich cafe overnight claiming they were planning to
disrupt the conference.
Germany
is strongly opposed to a war on Iraq and has said that it will not
vote in favor of military action at the UN Security Council.
Its
anti-war position and its refusal to take any part has angered
Washington, to the extent that Rumsfeld earlier this week lumped
Germany with Cuba and Libya as among countries flatly opposed to U.S.
military action against Iraq under any circumstances.
