BERLIN (Reuters) - NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson believes NATO's mutual defense clause, invoked after the September 11 attacks on the United States, will not be lifted immediately and could be used to cover action elsewhere, such as in Iraq, German newspaper Die Welt said on Friday.
``Should evidence be put forward that Iraq is involved, Article V could take hold,'' Robertson was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
Robertson told Die Welt, in a release ahead of its publication on Saturday, that Article V of the Washington Treaty would continue to be effective ``for some time.''
The clause in the North Atlantic Treaty, never before invoked in its 52-year history, declares an attack on one to be an attack on all.
Robertson also said a possible expansion of the U.S. war on terrorism could lead NATO to call on all 19 NATO members.
A number of U.S. lawmakers have urged President Bush to make Iraq the next military target after Afghanistan. But most Middle East nations and others such as France and Germany have cautioned against expanding the conflict.
The NATO secretary general said Article V could not be canceled by one or two nations.
``The duty to support one another was invoked unanimously. It can only be revoked unanimously,'' Robertson said.
He denied that NATO was playing a subordinate role after the September 11 attacks, saying invoking the mutual defense clause had had ``an electrifying political effect.''