NATO late last night announced that it had broken its deadlock over planning for the defence of Turkey in the event of a US-led war against Iraq.
"There is an agreement," a NATO official told reporters 13 hours after ambassadors started meeting yesterday. Belgium and Germany had held out for a month, along with France, arguing that it was premature for NATO to take steps that could imply acceptance of military action while UN weapons inspectors were still trying to disarm Iraq peacefully.
But they agreed last night to start planning for the protection of Turkey - a likely launchpad for any strike - after NATO Secretary-General, Lord Robertson, took the issue to the alliance's Defence Planning Committee. France is not included on the Defence Planning Committee because it withdrew from the integrated military structure of the alliance in 1966.
Meanwhile, the Taoiseach will travel to a deeply divided EU summit this evening still refusing to choose publicly between the hawks and doves on Iraq despite Saturday's anti-war protest in Dublin, the biggest demonstration in the capital for over 20 years.
After 100,000 people demonstrated, in the biggest political protest for a generation,a Government spokeswoman said that its position had not changed. She said it was the same as it had been last Friday - one of waiting to see what transpired at the United Nations before having a Dáil debate and deciding whether it will continue to allow the US military use Shannon Airport for refuelling.
In a statement the Government confined itself to noting that the march "shows the people's desire for a peaceful resolution through the United Nations". However, the Labour Party leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, said the Government had "badly misjudged the depth of anti-war sentiment".
The EU leaders meeting in Brussels will struggle to find a common position.
EU hawks such as Britain, Spain and Italy want the summit to send a message that will maintain pressure on President Saddam Hussein, and leave open the prospect of EU support for a new UN resolution that could open the way to war.
However, France says it is too soon to consider a new UN resolution, while the German Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, said yesterday the UN weapons inspectors should now be given unlimited time to complete their work.
US determination remained undiminished yesterday despite the millions who demonstrated in Europe and the US on Saturday and the anti-war sentiment that swept the UN Security Council on Friday. Asked yesterday if President Bush was prepared to "sheath the sword" he had drawn in preparation for war, his National Security Adviser, Ms Condoleeza Rice, said it was hard to imagine the circumstances under which the Iraqis would "carry out their obligations" and "this will have to come to an end".
Additional reporting: Reuters