NATO: New leader, more troops for war

by Henry Chu and Christi Parsons

STRASBOURG, France -- The leaders of NATO overcame the objections of the alliance's only Muslim member nation and this afternoon named the prime minister of Denmark as its new secretary general-designate.

Turkey had threatened to block the appointment of Anders Fogh Rasmussen as NATO's secretary general because, as premier, he had defended the right of a Danish newspaper to publish cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. Those cartoons sparked protests and riots across the Muslim world in 2005.

But after a closed-door session at a summit here on the Franco-German border, the alliance announced that Rasmussen was its unanimous choice to take over as secretary general on Aug. 1.

"Every head of state and government is fully convinced that Anders Fogh Rasmussen is the man who will take up the transformation of NATO and who will play an extremely important role in guiding NATO and guiding our 28 allies through the coming period of the 21st century," the outgoing secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, said.

It was not immediately apparent how Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was persuaded to support Rasmussen's appointment after previously being opposed to it.

Earlier this morning, in an act laden with symbolism, President Barack Obama and leaders of other NATO countries walked across a bridge this morning connecting Germany and France, two countries whose history of bloody conflict has been superseded by unity over common security.

The event kicked off a day of talks and celebration of the 60th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the world's most powerful military alliance. Obama joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other national leaders in the walk over the Rhine, meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy halfway across the bridge.

Under sunny skies, it was a moment of amity for the NATO heads of government to savor before settling in to more difficult discussions later in the day. The alliance has been strained both internally and externally by the war in Afghanistan, with Obama pledging thousands more U.S. troops to battle the resurgent Taliban but having trouble persuading other NATO countries to do the same.

(Photo of President Obama at NATO by Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP)

Before their closed-door talks began late this morning, both Sarkozy and Merkel, as the NATO summit's co-hosts, acknowledged the importance of the campaign in Afghanistan and its implications for Western security.

"We need to understand Afghanistan is a test case for all of us," Merkel said.

The two dozen leaders assembled around the table also welcomed two new nations, Croatia and Albania, into the alliance.

"It's a measure of our vitality that we are still welcoming new members," said Obama, attending his first NATO summit on his maiden official visit to Europe.

On Friday, Obama said the U.S. has at times displayed arrogance, but he appealed to Europeans to set aside their own "insidious" anti-American biases in favor of transatlantic friendship.

But Obama's campaign did not seem to be producing the concrete results that he sought -- in particular, new commitments for help in Afghanistan.

Sarkozy and Merkel expressed support Friday for the Obama administration's new strategy of sending extra American troops and strengthening Afghan forces. But they offered no new troops of their own.

Obama arrived in Strasbourg from the Group of 20 summit in London, which focused on the global economic crisis.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit could be more difficult for Obama, in part because of Afghanistan. Other touchy issues include strains over the alliance's future in the face of growing Russian irritation. And members this week confronted differences over choosing a new NATO leader.

During his European trip, Obama has employed a strategy well honed at home: interspersing high-level meetings with leaders with pep rallies catering directly to their bases of support.

On Friday, the president held a town hall meeting in a sports arena where hundreds of screaming teenagers lavished Obama with a public display of approval. Televised images could easily be viewed by the NATO summit hosts.

In the U.S., Obama told the crowd, there has been a failure to appreciate the "leading role" Europe plays in the world.

"Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive," he said.

Obama did not explicitly refer to former President George W. Bush, frequently accused of a unilateral approach to foreign relations that angered allies. But Obama did not lay all the blame on U.S. attitudes.

"In Europe, there is an anti-Americanism that is at once casual but can also be insidious," he said. "Instead of recognizing the good that America so often does in the world, there have been times where Europeans choose to blame America for much of what's bad."

Such attitudes are unwise and misplaced, he said.

"They fail to acknowledge the fundamental truth that America cannot confront the challenges of this century alone, but that Europe cannot confront them without America," he said.

It was a new twist on the conciliatory approach Obama has taken over the last four days. The Obama strategy is powered in part by the popularity of the United States' new first couple, evident in both the meetings with world leaders and in interactions with the public.

The Obamas were greeted like celebrities when they arrived in this city in the Alsace-Lorraine region. When they went to join Sarkozy and his wife, the singer and model Carla Bruni, at the Palais Rohan, they were thronged by crowds who waved, calling out to them and taking pictures.

At the town hall, several teenagers said they had traveled overnight for the chance to see Obama in person.

Linda Strecker, 16, traveled to attend the forum from her hometown near Heidelberg, Germany, because she wanted to meet the man she calls "the great American president."

Marie Meyer, 16, from Colmar, France, said she had been impatient to see Obama because of the potential for change that he represents.

"He has shown that America can change its image in the world," Meyer said. "It shows that, in our time, people aren't judged by the color of their skin."

The crowd cheered when Obama spoke of closing the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Sarkozy said earlier that France would accept one of the detainees held there to aid the process of shuttering the prison.

Obama last week unveiled his new strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, pledging to use 21,000 additional troops to help stabilize Afghanistan against insurgents and to train the nation's security forces. The plan also called for a threefold increase in nonmilitary aid to Pakistan as part of a new push to get the government in Islamabad to crack down on militants in the country's tribal belt.

NATO has backed the Afghan mission with about 30,000 combat troops and support units.

Despite Obama's popularity, the Afghan war is widely disliked, and thousands of protesters gathered for the summit. Police used tear gas and water cannons to control them, arresting dozens.

Obama's goal of finding extra help from NATO allies for Afghanistan was complicated by news that Afghanistan is in the process of enacting a law on marriage that human rights advocates contend would allow a husband to rape his wife. The law, which has yet to take effect, applies to the country's Shiite Muslim minority.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in a broadcast interview that actions that Europeans find revolting make NATO's involvement more difficult.

"We are there to defend universal values, and when I see, at the moment, a law threatening to come into effect which fundamentally violates women's rights and human rights, that worries me," De Hoop Scheffer said.

"I have a problem to explain to a critical public audience in Europe, be it the U.K. or elsewhere, why I'm sending the guys to the Hindu Kush," De Hoop Scheffer said, referring to the mountainous region believed to shelter Al Qaeda.

After meeting with NATO leaders at today's summit, Obama will leave for yet another gathering of leaders, the U.S.-EU summit Sunday in Prague, the Czech capital. Winding up his trip, Obama is planning a two-day stop in Turkey.