Reporting from Strasbourg, France — The leaders of NATO overcame the objections of the alliance's only predominantly Muslim member country and this afternoon named the prime minister of Denmark as its new secretary general-designate.
Turkey had threatened to block the appointment of Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's secretary-general because, as premier, he had defended the right of a Danish newspaper to publish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad. Those cartoons sparked protests and riots across the Muslim world in late 2005 and early 2006.
But after a closed-door session at a summit here on the Franco-German border, the alliance announced that Rasmussen was its unanimous choice to take over as secretary-general on Aug. 1.
"Every head of state and government is fully convinced that Anders Fogh Rasmussen is the man who will take up the transformation of NATO and who will play an extremely important role in guiding NATO and guiding our 28 allies through the coming period of the 21st century," said the outgoing secretary-general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
It was not immediately apparent how Turkey was persuaded to support Rasmussen's appointment after previously being opposed to it.
Earlier this morning, in an act laden with symbolism, President Obama and leaders of other NATO countries walked across a bridge connecting Germany and France, two countries whose history of bloody conflict has been superseded by unity over common security.
The event kicked off a day of talks and celebration of the 60th anniversary of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the world's most powerful military alliance. Obama joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other national leaders in the walk over the Rhine, meeting French President Nicolas Sarkozy halfway across the bridge.
Under sunny skies, it was a moment of amity for the NATO heads of government to savor before settling in to more difficult discussions later in the day. The alliance has been strained both internally and externally by the war in Afghanistan, with Obama pledging thousands more U.S. troops to battle the resurgent Taliban but having trouble persuading other NATO countries to do the same. Today, the alliance agreed to send up to 5,000 more military trainers and police to Afghanistan.
Before their closed-door talks began late this morning, both Sarkozy and Merkel, as the NATO summit's co-hosts, acknowledged the importance of the campaign in Afghanistan and its implications for Western security.
