DEFYING critics, Nicolas Sarkozy is about to open a door Charles de Gaulle slammed shut four decades ago, wounding French-US relations for years. The current French president wants to plug this country back into NATO's military command, a body his iconic predecessor rejected four decades ago as too America-centric and a threat to France's independence. The move would fortify nuclear-armed France's clout in Europe and in Washington. It could help bury lingering US-French enmity over Iraq and the aftertaste of freedom fries. Yet it would change little within the alliance itself, at least in military terms. French troops have served in NATO forces in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and beyond – often taking lead roles. It already has officers at NATO's operational headquarters in Belgium. Diplomats there say the only real issue would be slotting a few hundred French military personnel into NATO's commands. The real shift under way is in France's geopolitical view of itself. It could be a seismic one, and explains the vigorous resistance to Sarkozy's plan even within his own party. France helped found NATO in 1949. In 1966, President Charles de Gaulle pulled away, wanting to strike out on a path less dominated by the United States in the heat of the Cold War. He quit the joint military command, kicked the NATO headquarters out of Paris and booted American bases off French soil. As then-French defense chief Gen. Charles Ailleret put it, France opted for a defense doctrine of “all points of the compass,” protecting itself from all sides, nurturing ties with countries outside the US sphere of influence and deploying its strategic bombers and nuclear missiles as it pleased. Now, Sarkozy wants to bring France back into the full NATO fold, sometime before France and Germany host a 60th anniversary summit for the alliance in April. Until now, France has remained outside the alliance's nuclear group and its planning committee. Complete reintegration would allow its officers to help draft NATO contingency plans and see Paris contribute its full share of the common budget. US Vice President Joe Biden says he would welcome the step. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is eagerly awaiting Sarkozy's letter announcing France's return. But at home, many of Sarkozy's compatriots say he is wounding French pride and betraying history. France doesn't want to become “Britain, part two,” Jacques Myard, a Gaullist lawmaker in Sarkozy's conservative party, told NATO's chief Thursday. In France, NATO is often viewed as a club run by Americans and their loyal British brethren. NATO is not quite sure how to fold France back into its military command structure. Paris is negotiating for two important commands: one based in Norfolk, Virginia, that handles NATO reform issues and an operational command in Lisbon, Portugal. “The move to regain full membership will also help Paris shore up the relationship with the new administration in Washington,” said Peter Zeihan, a vice president at STRATFOR, a global intelligence company based in Austin, Texas. Zeihan said France could help NATO by boosting the alliance's intelligence capabilities. One thing that's certain to remain unchanged is the location of NATO's political and military headquarters in Brussels and Mons, both in Belgium. They were moved there from Paris in 1967, and there are no plans to return them to France.
