Military

DATE=11/22/02

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=GENERAL GEORGE JOULWAN, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER

NUMBER=3-433

BYLINE=TOM CROSBY

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

/// EDITORS: This interview is available in Dalet under SOD/English News Now Interviews in the folder for today or yesterday ///

INTRO: NATO allies have agreed to take what they call "effective action" to back United Nations efforts to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. In a statement adopted Thursday at the alliance summit in Prague, NATO calls on Iraq to comply fully and immediately with U-N weapons inspectors, who arrived in Baghdad earlier this week. The document warns of serious, but unspecified consequences, if Iraq does not. But it stops short of threatening collective military action.

George Joulwan (JOWL-one) was NATO's supreme allied commander from 1993-to-1997. In an interview with V-O-A's Tom Crosby, the retired U-S Army general characterizes this NATO commitment to Iraqi disarmament as a most welcome development.

GEN. JOULWAN: I think, when you read the U-N Resolution 1441, it has decided that -- the U-N Security Council -- that Iraq will provide the inspectors immediate unimpeded, unconditional, unrestricted access to any and all underground areas, facilities, buildings, records, et cetera. I think that NATO is signing up for that. And that's a very strong message to send to Saddam Hussein.

Whether action is taken or not, that will depend on the sovereign nations of the Alliance. But, I think, this is support for the U-N resolution and disarmament of Iraq. And, I think, that's very clear. And the important thing here is that Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction pose a greater danger to NATO alliance members in Europe than they do, in many respects, to our country here in the United States.

MR. CROSBY: So NATO, which originally was conceived as being a self-defense alliance, is now looking well beyond its own borders.

GEN. JOULWAN: Right. Well, because the situation has changed. They were very successful with NATO, the United States and 16 members in the Cold War, in bringing about the defeat of communism and ending the Cold War; and the Iron Curtain and Berlin Wall have fallen. That was 1989. I was there in Europe for that. Now, 13 years later, we have now new missions. And you don't throw the baby out with the bath water here.

NATO has proved very valuable in many respects in the past. It has to adapt itself to the new conditions of the future. The United States should not have to go it alone in this war on terrorism. NATO is a strong alliance. They share our common values and ideals. And, I think, they will adapt to meet this challenge. We need to consult as well as inform with our allies. We need to help them develop, and have them put the money and financing in to buy new capabilities, particularly technological advances. But, I think, we are much better off with the Alliance as our partners and allies than we will be going it alone.

HOST: General George Joulwan (JOWL-one), a former NATO supreme allied commander.

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