Repeated calls for caution over overseas deployment were made during the National Assembly's questioning of the government. Members of the governing party as well as the opposition urged that the pace be slowed.

Legislators who took the floor made the common point that the purpose, duration and conditions for withdrawal of any deployment should be settled clearly in advance, citing experience that scale and duration are hard to adjust once a deployment begins.

The government replied that no concrete decision had been taken, referring to consultations with the countries concerned and to the procedure for parliamentary consent. Under the constitution, dispatching forces abroad requires the Assembly's approval.

With the international situation unsettled, deployment is at once a foreign and security question and one tied to the domestic political calendar. Some read the caution voiced within the governing party as a reading of public opinion.

The opposition said the government had not explained its deliberations sufficiently to the Assembly and demanded documents. The government maintained that the nature of ongoing consultations limits what can be disclosed.

The shape of any deployment is expected to become clear when the consent procedure begins. Until then, argument is likely to continue over the assessment of the situation on which the debate rests.