Mr Rumsfeld insisted that Turkey would get whatever protection it required, regardless of policies in Paris and Berlin, and he predicted that while Nato “will survive”, the consequences of this increasingly poisonous dispute would “reverberate”.

“They (the three countries) will be judged by their own people and they’ll be judged by other Nato countries,” he said.

“I think it’s a shame because Turkey is an important country. Not to help would tell more about those countries than it would about Europe.”

Emphasising that war was imminent but still avoidable, Mr Rumsfeld said his preferred solution was for President Saddam Hussein and his close associates to flee Iraq and seek safe haven in a friendly country.

“The first choice has to be a solution that allows the international community to get in there and deal with the weapons of mass destruction. The only way that is going to happen is if he is gone, and the preferable way to get him gone is for him to go,” said Mr Rumsfeld, who granted the interview to editors from leading newspapers in ten European countries.

“The country that received him could promise not to extradite him,” he said. “And I am sure there are plenty of countries that would be happy to have him.”

While highlighting the possibility of the Iraqi leader leaving the country, Mr Rumsfeld showed impatience at the suggestion that the crisis could be solved by tougher sanctions.

“The sanctions are not working,” he said. “Things are pouring across that border. They bring in these big dump trucks. You can put trash in them, you can put baby milk in them. They put rockets.”

Mr Rumsfeld dismissed as “utter nonsense” the suggestion that a US-led war against Iraq would be about oil. “The country has a highly educated population. They are intelligent. They are industrious. They have got oil and the oil in that country is the Iraqi people’s oil.”

Edited extracts of the Rumsfeld interview

Q. The reasons for war seem to change. The conflict is being interpreted as a religious war.

A. As for this being a religious war, the reality is that the US assisted Kuwait, a Muslim country — spent a lot of money and a lot of time, a lot of effort, risked lives. The US helped Bosnia, a Muslim country. The US was the biggest giver of food to Afghanistan prior to September 11.

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