NATO is dying due to political weakness

Submitted by OutWest (United States), Oct 4, 2006 at 06:41

NATO is a dying organization. After my military tour in Bosnia and Kosovo in 1999 and 2001 and a trip to Bosnia in 2005.... NATO is an organization incapable of operating without US leadership and financial support. The US pays 80% of the NATO operating budget. The condition of the NATO headquarters in Belgium is run down compared to comparable US facilities in Europe.

Why? because the US pays the operating costs. The Euros lack the strategic lift, deployable forces, logistic and communication capability to operate without a substantial US committment.

What is most shocking is that recently the NATO commander in Afghanistan and the SACEUR requested 2000 combat troops as reinforcements. The NATO troops in the South are catching hell. The UK said they were tapped out with other commitments. Poland provided 900 troops to deploy in February. The rest of NATO only silence... The Germans will only keep their troops in the quiet North. No one else had the political will to commit more troops. To save face US troops already in Afghanistan will be committed to support the NATO contingent.

NATO is dead.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".