Bush Committed to Europe "Whole, Free and at Peace"
(Arrives in Prague evening of November 19 for NATO Summit) (790)
By Wendy S. Ross
Washington File White House Correspondent
Prague -- Air Force One carrying President Bush and first lady Laura
Bush touched down the evening of November 19 near the Czech capital,
where Bush will join with the heads of state and government of 18
other NATO countries plus 27 partner countries in the November 21-22
NATO Summit.
It will be the first time that a NATO Summit is held in a nation
formerly a member of the Warsaw Pact.
Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary were admitted as new members of
NATO in 1999, after being invited to join the alliance at the 1997
NATO Summit in Madrid.
Press speculation at the Prague summit focuses on Bulgaria, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia as countries likely
to be invited to become the newest members of the alliance. These are
among the 27 partner countries that, along with the 19 NATO member
countries, make up the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, briefing reporters on Air
Force One en route to Prague, said the summit will focus on NATO
enlargement and transforming the alliance to deal with the needs of
the 21st century, such as countering global terrorism.
He said he expects the question of Iraq to also come up in the
bilateral talks President Bush has with a number of leaders, and said
Bush will also mention Iraq in the speech he gives November 20 at the
Prague Atlantic Students Union, although the focus of that speech will
be on making Europe "whole, free and at peace," a policy objective
Bush first enunciated in his November 2001 Warsaw speech.
Before leaving Washington, Bush held interviews at the White House
with three different groups of European journalists, and stressed that
his administration views NATO as an alliance of nations with whom the
United States shares the common values of freedom, individual rights
and democracy.
The NATO alliance "is an opportunity for us to combine our values with
our deep desire to have a peaceful world. And we will work in concert
with each other, not in opposition to each other," to address the new
threat of global terrorism, Bush told Czech journalists.
In an interview with reporters from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty,
Bush said the new small members of NATO "can contribute something
really important," to the alliance "and that is they can contribute
their love for freedom. These are countries which have lived in
totalitarian states. They haven't been free. And now they've seen
freedom and they love freedom. Just like America loves freedom. And
that's going to be a really important -- it will add some vigor to the
relationship in NATO that's healthy and wholesome."
"I think they will help militarily -- but the key is to change the
military strategy of NATO," Bush said. "It starts with the
understanding that Russia is not our enemy. NATO doesn't need to be
constructed to prevent the Warsaw Pact from invading Europe. After
all, the Warsaw Pact doesn't exist. As a matter of fact, the Warsaw
Pact is becoming NATO, slowly but surely. We don't need that type of
mentality, and we've got to have a military strategy that addresses
the true threats.
"The threats we face are global terrorist attacks. That's the threat.
And the more you love freedom, the more likely it is you'll be
attacked," he said, and NATO is very relevant in the war against
terror.
On September 12, 2001, NATO, for the first time in its history,
invoked Article 5 of the NATO Charter, which declares an attack
against any of its signatories is an attack on the alliance as a
whole.
"The terrorists will not only be defeated militarily, but the
terrorists will be defeated as we share intelligence, and as we cut
off money, and as we deny access, and as we stiffen up border
requirements in order to make sure that people can't go from one spot
to another with plots and/or messages to attack," Bush said.
"And so it's a different kind of war. And it's going to be an
interesting meeting, because not only is the meeting going to expand
(the alliance), but the meeting is going to address how best to
achieve this common objective. I'm absolutely convinced that the
so-called military gap between America and all countries can be
addressed with a good strategy. And that will be interesting for
observers to watch. I think it's going to happen. I know that Lord
Robertson, who runs NATO, is committed to developing a relevant
strategy and one that will work," Bush said.
Hosting the Prague NATO meeting is Czech President Vaclav Havel, who
announced in the same city eleven years ago the dissolution of the
Warsaw Pact.
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
