Deputy Secretary of Defense John J. Hamre (right) meets with NATO Secretary General Javier Solana (back to camera) at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Dec. 17, 1998. Other members of the U.S. delegation include Edward (Ted) Warner (left), assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction; Bob Hall (center), defense advisor to the U.S. Mission to NATO, and Franklin Kramer (right), assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs. Hamre replaced Secretary of Defense William Cohen at the December NATO Defense Ministerial because of the start of a joint U.S.--British bombing campaign against Iraq. The military action was taken in response to Iraq's refusal to cooperate with United Nations weapons inspectors.