Bush Says Door to NATO Membership "Remains Open"
28 November 2006
Says alliance stands with people of Belarus in their struggle for freedom
Washington -- The United States continues to welcome NATO membership for all European democracies that are willing to share in alliance responsibilities, the most basic of which is to defend their people against the threats of a new century, President Bush said November 28.
Speaking at Latvia University in Riga, where NATO’s 26 heads of state and government have gathered for a summit meeting, the president remarked that it was the first time the alliance has met in a country that had been annexed by the former Soviet Union. Now, 15 years after the Soviet Union’s dissolution, the three Baltic nations of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are NATO members.
After years of struggle, “the Baltic nations have taken their rightful place in the community of free nations” and are becoming a “vital part” of “the most important military alliance in history,” Bush said.
“As NATO allies, you will never again stand alone in defense of your freedom, and you will never be occupied by a foreign power,” he said.
Looking ahead to the 2008 NATO summit, the president said “the door to NATO membership remains open,” and the alliance hopes to offer membership to nations such as Croatia, Macedonia and Albania that are participating in NATO's membership action plan.
He also said the United States will continue to support membership for Georgia and Ukraine as both countries continue to undertake political reform.
Likewise, the alliance is building ties with Russia through the NATO-Russia Council to strengthen common security and cooperation against terrorism and the proliferation of the world's most dangerous weapons.
However, Bush said NATO “must not forget those who still languish in tyranny” in Belarus, where “peaceful protestors are beaten and opposition leaders are ‘disappeared’ by the agents of a cruel regime.”
The president said the collective conscience of Europe and the United States is offended by “[t]he existence of such oppression in our midst,” and said NATO has a message for the Belarusian people: “The vision of a Europe whole, free and at peace includes you, and we stand with you in your struggle for freedom,” he said.
President Bush described Afghanistan as “NATO's most important military operation,” with all 26 members and 11 partner nations contributing personnel and resources to the mission.
Beginning in summer 2006, when NATO took control of security operations in southern Afghanistan from the United States, Taliban forces saw the transfer “as a window of opportunity to test the will of the alliance,” Bush said.
“It was a mistake,” Bush said. “[A]llied forces fought bravely and inflicted great damage on the Taliban.”
However, remaining Taliban, as well as al-Qaida fighters, drug traffickers and others remain “active and committed” to destroying Afghanistan’s new democracy. “Defeating them will require the full commitment of our alliance,” Bush said.
NATO allies also are contributing personnel and resources in Iraq, including training Iraqi security personnel and helping to establish a new military academy near Baghdad.
Bush repeated his refusal to withdraw forces from Iraq “before the mission is complete,” and said operations in Iraq and Afghanistan “are part of a struggle between moderation and extremism that is unfolding across the broader Middle East.”
NATO has a responsibility to “lift up and support” moderates in the region, Bush said.
“We must bring hope to millions by strengthening young democracies from Kabul to Baghdad to Beirut, and we must advance freedom as the great alternative to tyranny and terror.”
Bush said that, ultimately, lasting peace can be found only through the rise of lasting free societies, and that the United States and its NATO allies “refuse to give in to the pessimism that consigns millions across the Middle East to endless oppression.”
A transcript of President Bush’s remarks is available on the White House Web site.
For more information, see The United States and NATO.
More information on the Riga Summit also is available on a NATO Web site.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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