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By Paul Taylor

BRUSSELS, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The United States formally asked its NATO allies on Wednesday for indirect military assistance in case of a war with Iraq, including the deployment of missiles to protect Turkey, NATO officials said.

Officials said Washington had tabled a proposal for six forms of support, including access to airspace, bases, ports and refuelling facilities, but none of them would entail direct involvement by the 19-nation alliance in an attack on Iraq.

In Washington, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld confirmed the request, saying the U.S. envoy to NATO had recently gone to the North Atlantic Council with a list of ways in which NATO allies could help the United States in the event of war.

"...Obviously we have to begin with the fact that the president has made no decision to use force, but it does take time to plan, and just as we're planning with individual countries it seemed appropriate, to the extent NATO wished to, to begin that planning process," he told a Pentagon briefing.

"There were various things like force protection and...some others, including AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) and a number of things that apparently are under consideration," he added.

"These are prudent contingency proposals so that in the event that we would be called upon to show solidarity with Turkey, we would be positioned militarily to do so," one NATO official said.

NATO sources said the allies were asked to deploy AWACS aircraft and Patriot air defence missiles to protect NATO member Turkey, a likely base for any U.S.-led air strikes on Iraq, from Iraqi missile or air attack.

The request also included using standing naval forces and minesweepers.

NATO officials said consultations were at an early stage and no decision had been taken on the U.S. request. Ambassadors were expected to seek instructions from their governments and discuss the issue again next week.

U.S. Congressman Doug Bereuter, president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, told reporters he did not expect the alliance to participate in any military action in Iraq but it might have a role in post-war peacekeeping and governance.

"I know you have six very explicit requests made by the U.S. to the North Atlantic Council...including the use of bases, overflight operations and a variety of logistical support efforts to move forces," he said.

SENSITIVE TIMING

The timing of the proposals was sensitive, with political leaders and public opinion in many European countries opposed to a war with Iraq, at least in the absence of specific U.N. authorisation, and urging more time for U.N. arms inspections.

NATO officials said the United States was still pursuing the United Nations track in a bid to disarm Iraq without a war and the request to NATO did not signal any change in policy.

Several allies, notably France and Germany, say the United States and Britain would require a fresh U.N. Security Council mandate to use force against Baghdad.

Germany has said it would not participate in any attack on Iraq, even with a U.N. blessing.

The officials said the U.S. request made on Wednesday was very similar to an informal request for assistance made to the allies last month by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

It also closely mirrored the measures NATO took in support of the United States during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.

But U.S. officials said the request was not made under NATO's Article V mutual defence clause, unlike the assistance granted in 2001.

Wolfowitz also suggested NATO could consider taking a role in post-war humanitarian and stabilisation operations in Iraq.

He is due to meet NATO Secretary-General George Robertson briefly on Friday when he attends a change of command ceremony for NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe in Mons, Belgium.

Diplomats said the assistance Washington requested was similar to what NATO gave in indirect support for the U.S. 1991 Gulf War effort.

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