Allies reject Bush's call for NATO role for Ukraine, Georgia
President Bush threw the NATO summit here off-script yesterday by lobbying hard to extend membership to Ukraine and Georgia, but he failed to rally support for the move among key allies. Bush believes Ukraine and Georgia should be welcomed into a Membership Action Plan, or MAP, which prepares nations for NATO membership. The US stance contradicts German and French positions stated earlier this week, and it risked upsetting efforts to persuade Russia to soften its opposition to a missile defense array in Eastern Europe. Bush failed to win over a consensus of NATO members in a debate at a dinner of NATO leaders, a senior German official said last night, with at least seven countries lined up against him.
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