The opposition in the two organizations prompted US President George W. Bush and his senior officials to angrily lash out at France.

"I am disappointed that France would block NATO from helping a country like Turkey prepare," Bush said.

He was speaking ahead of the NATO meeting called after France, Germany and Belgium used their vetoes to stop NATO military defence hardware being sent to Turkey. Turkey invoked a special clause of the NATO treaty to secure support, but two emergency sessions on Monday did not produce a deal.

In the UN, France, Germany and Russia were to distribute to the 12 other Security Council members -- including the US -- a proposal which called for stepped-up arms inspections in Iraq as an alternative to an early conflict.

Eleven of the 15 UN Security Council members support extending arms inspections in Iraq, a German Government source said yesterday. The source said the countries on the Security Council that did not support extending the arms inspections included the US, Britain "in part," Spain and Bulgaria.

Presidents Jacques Chirac of France and Vladimir Putin of Russia announced the joint initiative on Monday. "There is still an alternative to war. We are sure of it. The use of force could only be a last resort. Russia, Germany and France are determined to give every chance to the disarmament of Iraq through peaceful means," Chirac said.

France is ready to deploy four Mirage IV spy planes for use in reconnaissance and observation missions over Iraq as part of the UN weapons inspections process, the French armed forces said yesterday.

On Monday, Iraq told UN arms inspectors that it would unconditionally accept flights over its territory by surveillance planes, including U2 planes, French Mirage jets and Russian-made Antonov aircraft.

(China Daily February 12, 2003)