LONDON, DECEMBER 2–It was quite a sight: Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, Assistant Secretary of State Marc Grossman, and several others, burrowed away in a pod-like enclosure in the middle of an Air Force C-17, speeding across the Atlantic, preparing for a busy three days. Hours later, these members of a U.S. delegation en route to England, Turkey, and Belgium, would be at a London think tank on the banks of the Thames, dressed impeccably–civilians in dark business suits with starched white shirts, the military brass in crisply-pressed uniforms, medals shining.
This small delegation has a big job: solidify support for the coming war in Iraq. To do this, the group will huddle with representatives of the office of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and of NATO allies including the newly elected government in Turkey. Amid intensifying negotiations concerning Turkey’s bid to obtain membership in the European Union, this is a crucial moment in the history of that strategically important nation that sits astride the canyon between the East and the West. In addition, this is the first in a series of trips to assemble what President Bush calls “a coalition of the willing” to disarm, and eventually remove, Saddam Hussein.
