But, she said, France and others believe that "the alliance should step back, focus on its traditional mission of collective defense and security in the Euro-Atlantic area, and not get ahead of itself and be too ambitious with its vision and in crafting . . . where it's going to go in the next 10 to 20 years."
"This is a debate we've seen inside the alliance for the last couple of years," she added, "but it's really coming to a head over Afghanistan because part of the alliance feels that Afghanistan should be a precedent for future missions and part of the alliance feels like it should be an exception, perhaps never to be repeated again."
The issues have caused friction between Washington and other capitals. Bush says he is too busy juggling current problems to focus on his legacy. However, Smith said, NATO's reaching out to eventually invite Ukraine and Georgia, and others once in the Soviet orbit, to join the alliance fits "his broader agenda of bringing these countries into Western institutions."
For his part, Bush has set only a vague public marker for the NATO summit Thursday and Friday.
"The definition of success is to make sure NATO stays relevant," he told European reporters at the White House last week.
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james.gerstenzang@latimes.com
Times staff writer Tracy Wilkinson in Rome contributed to this report.
