NATO leaders name new secretary-general

Obama charmed the audience at a town-hall-style meeting Friday in Strasbourg, during which he took the opportunity to emphasize the importance of the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda. Yet on Saturday, antiwar and anti-NATO protesters thronged parts of the city, at one point setting fire to a hotel and causing police to resort to tear gas to beat them back. Several arrests were reported.

Nevertheless, the NATO meeting and an economic summit in London preceding it offered chances for Obama to talk up his willingness to listen and learn from Europe, which analysts say is especially receptive to the U.S. at the moment, right after the Bush era.

"The mood is so different, and the desire of Europeans to do things together with America is so much stronger," Ronald D. Asmus, an analyst based in Brussels, said before Obama's trip.

Observers had widely expected only modest new pledges of NATO troops in Afghanistan, which are what Obama ultimately won, but even then, "he's getting a lot more than Bush could have gotten," Asmus said.

There was another minor diplomatic victory for the White House in the unanimous appointment of Rasmussen as the new NATO secretary-general, a post that by tradition has gone to a European while the U.S. takes NATO's lead military position.

Turkey had objected strongly to Rasmussen's candidacy, citing his defense of the right of a Danish newspaper to publish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad. The cartoons touched off violent protests in the Muslim world in late 2005 and early 2006.

Rasmussen was also seen as hostile to Turkey's hoped-for membership in the European Union.

The Danish prime minister's candidacy was in doubt all the way through Friday night, Turkish President Abdullah Gul told reporters. But a private meeting with Rasmussen and Obama helped win over Gul. There were also reports that Turkey had been promised some high-level positions in NATO as a deal sweetener.

The summit kicked off Saturday with an act laden with symbolism. Under sunny skies, Obama and other NATO leaders walked together across a bridge connecting Germany and France, two countries whose history of bloody conflict has been superseded by unity over common European security.

Obama joined Merkel and others in the walk over the Rhine, starting on the German side and meeting Sarkozy halfway across.

Later, the alliance welcomed two nations, Croatia and Albania, into the fold.

"It's a measure of our vitality," Obama said, "that we are still welcoming new members."

--

henry.chu@latimes.com

Tribune staff writer Christi Parsons contributed to this report.