The majority of the United States' NATO allies swung into line yesterday behind President Clinton's threat to use force if Iraq refuses to comply with UN weapons inspections.
While NATO governments still hope for a diplomatic solution, most now say they will back Washington if it comes to military intervention.
The offers of support range from the symbolic, such as Germany's assurance that US forces may use airbases on German soil, to the actual, as in Britain's dispatch of warplanes and ships to the Gulf.
Yesterday, Italy, Spain and Denmark firmed up their tentative support for the US stance, while at least one NATO aspirant, Poland, offered to send troops to the region.
Washington also stepped up its expressions of alarm yesterday at the threat posed by President Saddam Hussein's hidden arsenal of weapons.
Mrs Hillary Rodham Clinton said her husband was deeply concerned about Iraqi efforts to develop chemical and biological weapons and would do whatever it took to block them. "I just cannot stress enough what a serious matter this is for the world. Of course, we all hope diplomatic efforts will be successful . . .
"Something will have to be done. It cannot be permitted to continue," she said.