NATO holding off on Iraq for now

Robertson: The U.S. does "not have evidence linking the Iraqi regime to the attacks. ... But that could change."

GEILKIRCHEN AIR BASE, Germany (CNN) -- NATO Secretary-General George Robertson has ruled out automatic support from the alliance for a U.S. attack on Iraq.

In an interview with CNN, Lord Robertson said NATO member states had agreed only to military action against those linked with the September 11 attacks.

CNN has been accompanying Robertson on board a NATO surveillance aircraft deployed to assist Washington on its war on terror. The plane is one of five pledged to the United States after the September 11 attacks.

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The secretary-general, wearing the jacket of the multinational flight crew, said the deployment of the AWACS radar-fitted surveillance planes -- being used to monitor the U.S. eastern seaboard for rogue aircraft -- was more than just symbolic.

"These AWACS are the eyes and ears of homeland defense for the United States. They're there because they are needed, because the American AWACS have got to go to the other side of the world," Robertson said.

Robertson says NATO commitment to the war on terror is wholehearted. But that does not include support for an extension of the war to Iraq -- at least not yet.

"So far the United States have publicly made it clear they do not have evidence linking the Iraqi regime to the attacks on Washington and New York," Robertson said. "But that could change. More information might become available.

"I know of no plans for attacking Iraq at the moment. But if intelligence were showing that Saddam Hussein was giving support or hiding al Qaida people, then clearly the North Atlantic Council would want to know about it to consider the implications."

When asked whether evidence that Iraq was constructing weapons of mass destruction would be enough, Robertson said:

NATO is sending five AWACS surveillance planes to patrol U.S. skies

"The Iraqi capacity in weapons of mass destruction is well known, and of course they are in breach of the U.N. Security Council resolutions by not allowing inspectors to be in there at this stage. So they represent a potential threat to the international community. But as far as NATO is concerned, as it stands at the moment, it has to be linked to the attacks on Washington and New York."

So the word from NATO is that diplomatic and material support such as the AWACS aircraft will continue to flow to the United States, so long as its war on terror is limited to reprisals for the September 11 attacks.

But on the sensitive issue of Iraq, there's still much debate and division in the NATO ranks.