NATO has adapted: An alliance with a new mission

Op-Ed by R. Nicholas Burns, U.S. Ambassador To NATO
published in the International Herald Tribune
on 24 May 2003

BRUSSELS -- NATO's decision Wednesday to provide extensive military support to the Polish division in Iraq represents a giant step forward for the 54-year-old alliance. Together with its decision April 16 to take the lead in the international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, this action places the North Atlantic Treaty Organization squarely on the front lines in the global war on terror. As U.S. ambassador to NATO, I know that the United States enthusiastically endorses NATO's new emphasis on confronting the most virulent security threat of our time - terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.

Presumed dead more often than the hero in a melodrama, the new NATO keeps on defying the pundits' predictions by adapting itself to a rapidly changing world. This doesn't mean that the alliance has not had serious difficulties. NATO had a near-death experience in February, when differences over Iraq caused an unpardonable delay in responding to Turkey's request for assistance to deter a potential attack by Saddam Hussein's forces. Nevertheless, NATO did finally act, living up to its fundamental commitment to defend its members against external threats.

For NATO to heal the rift opened by the crisis in February and revitalize the trans-Atlantic relationship, however, it must transform itself fundamentally, as it was called upon to do by alliance leaders at the Prague summit meeting in November. To complete its pivot from its Cold War focus on Europe to confront the real threats to our security in Southwest Asia, the Middle East and beyond, it is crucial that NATO succeed in Afghanistan, in Iraq and in building military capabilities.

NATO has committed itself to going wherever it is needed to defend its members against the threats of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The down payment on that promise is NATO's historic decision last month to take over the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul in August. NATO's new leading role in Afghanistan - the alliance's first military operation outside Europe - will give it a key mission on the front lines of the global war on terror.

Defying its skeptics, NATO has now also agreed to provide military support for the Polish division in the Iraq stabilization force. With this first step and the possibility of a greater role in Iraq in the future, NATO will position itself as a major force in Middle East peacekeeping.

A NATO in which the United States has more than 200 strategic lift aircraft, Britain has four and the rest of the allies have none is unsustainable. America's European allies must now begin to meet their commitments to address rapidly the alarming imbalances in airlift, precision-guided munitions, air-to-air refueling, and secure communications. Without these capabilities, most European nations will not, in the future, be able to meaningfully contribute to modern military operations, making hollow any plans for a serious European-American security partnership.

Of course, there are unilateralists who don't want NATO to succeed. Some Americans argue that the United States has no need for allies and can afford to go it alone in the world. Their position is a recipe for failure and has been firmly rejected by my government.

Some Europeans, on the other hand, think they can create a unified continental foreign policy with opposition to the United States as its raison d'être. They call for European-only military headquarters that would needlessly duplicate what NATO already offers and have zero real utility, unless the objective is to weaken our ability to work together. Their vision of Europe as a countervailing power to the United States is one that would destroy the cooperative spirit that has held us together in NATO.

These U.S. and Continental unilateralists present us with a false choice, one that would weaken NATO's preeminent role in tying North America to Europe. Fortunately we don't have to play by their zero-sum rules.

As Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Senate recently: "This great alliance, which has kept the peace for more than 50 years, is more than a treaty for collective defense, it is the central organizing force in a great web of relationships that holds North America and Europe together."

It is time to bury our animosities and heal trans-Atlantic ties with a generosity of spirit true to our long, historic friendship in NATO. By working together in the alliance, we can revive the kind of cooperation on issues of international peace and security that helped us win the Cold War, and will be essential to winning the global war on terror. The new NATO remains our greatest bridge to our common European and American vision for a strong and prosperous future.