THERE is an irony that the first casualty of an international crisis which was engineered to force "regime change" in Iraq has not been the Iraqi leader but Western unity.

Indeed, an alliance as cherished as Nato, which has played a major role in keeping Europe war-free these last 50 years, is in danger of disintegrating.

The French, Belgians and Germans are clearly in breach of Nato's founding principles. It is a defensive organisation, and if it can no longer defend one of its members, its days are clearly numbered. And if you are Turkey, living next door to Saddam, you are understandably worried and understandably seeking a little protection.

However, the French, the Belgians and the Germans do have a defence - and a good one at that.

They are aboard a runaway tank that appears to be beyond democratic control. The tank is bulldosing its way towards war. Any sane suggestions about an alternative way are churned without regard into the mud beneath its rampaging tracks. Yet, like a nightmare, there is no way of getting off the tank as it charges blindly into military conflict.

Its progress can be measured in the deadlines that are set so that no one has time to think. On Friday Dr Hans Blix will report. His words about Iraqi co-operation will probably be slightly positive, but the tank will bulldose on. It will bulldose a second resolution through the Security Council within days; within hours it will start firing upon innocent Iraqi civilians.

But the French, Belgians and Germans see that if they can effectively pull the plug on Nato, they can at least slow the tank.

We hope they have, even though US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld immediately refused to listen to genuine, democratic concerns. Straightaway he stuck up two fingers at "old Europe" and said that the US was already arming Turkey.

But there are other options to be considered beyond, and before, war. With all of America's finest kit arranged against him, Saddam is not an immediate threat. He is buckling under the pressure; he is co-operating more and more; he is being embarrassed within his own country.

Surely this route should be given time to work, backed up by extra inspectors supported by armed UN troops. How embarrassing for Saddam will that be having an army of occupation within his own country?

Another casualty of yesterday's events is the idea that the European Union can have a common defence policy. The irony here for the majority of British people, who by and large are Euro-sceptic, is that on this occasion they find themselves in agreement with European governments and not their own.