MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Support, but no troops.

The Organisation of American States, OAS, will be holding different meetings this week in Washington to address the delicate issue of how to materialise support to the Bush administration in its war against terrorism in the aftermath of last week's tragic events.

OAS Permanent Council and the Interamerican Reciprocal Assistance Treaty, TIAR, are the main forums where discussions will take place to decide the extent of the region's support. However some positions are quiet clear, Brazilian sources have anticipated full diplomatic and possibly commercial support, but no involvement in military actions.

Argentina wants a unified Mercosur co-ordination preferring to respect multilateral OAS decisions. However the De la Rúa administration rejects the use of the word "war" to describe the possible retaliatory military actions by the Americans. "We're next to our friends and allies", that is, not one step behind, but neither a step ahead, is how Palacio San Martín sources have described the situation.

But President De la Rúa is trapped by past and current circumstances. His predecessor, Mr. Menem's decision to openly support Washington in the Gulf War by sending naval support units, and the latest polls indicating an overwhelming majority are against Argentine troops participating in military retaliation, plus the fact that the grass root of the ruling Alianza is clearly suspicious of American intentions.

Besides Mr. Menem although still under house arrest, has decided to send his wife Cecilia Bolocco to personally express his full and "unconditional" support to president Bush and his antiterrorist policies.

Convening TIAR also has a bad taste for Argentina, because it proved non effective for the country during the Falklands conflict in 1982