It's a fig leaf.

Submitted by Pat (United States), Oct 7, 2006 at 18:20

The problem is there is no unity, not even in NATO. Once the Soviet threat was gone, NATO lost its raison d'etre. Despite all efforts to maintain its viability, NATO has devolved into an organization whose members decide whether or not they want to participate. Each member country picks and chooses for itself. For the US, fighting under the NATO flag today is nothing more than a convenient fig leaf against charges of unilateralism. The NATO members who fight with us today (Britain) would have been there in any event. Those NATO members who wouldn't join the coalition of the willing would also refuse to join the US under the cloak of the NATO flag.

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