The Gazette September 30, 2003
NATO ministers meeting in Colo. are faced with hard tasks
BY TOM ROEDER
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - (KRT) - NATO ministers met in Colorado Springs, Colo. two decades ago with a singular purpose: keeping the Eastern Bloc on its side of Europe.
They arrive Oct. 8 at The Broadmoor hotel facing a far more complex world and must fundamentally change the alliance, which includes a host of former enemies that switched sides when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
"When the Cold War was on, we were pretty set on who our enemy was and what we needed to do to keep him from taking any actions against NATO," said retired Army Col. Victor Fernandez of Colorado Springs, a Vietnam veteran who later helped develop NATO war plans. "Now that's no longer an issue."
Decisions awaiting the ministers include how to change the combined might of the alliance to a quicker, lighter force capable of global action and whether NATO will expand peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The end of the Cold War left the 54-year-old alliance with a new set of enemies, including international terrorists and war criminals in Kosovo.
Ministers of the 19 NATO countries and the seven nations invited to join the alliance are trying to change their military forces to fight terrorism and brushfire wars such as the ones America fought in Somalia and Panama.
"The threats to Europe will come from other places," said J.D. Crouch, assistant secretary for international security policy in the U.S. Department of Defense.
Many predict the Colorado Springs meeting will center on changing NATO from a defensive force to one that can dispatch troops and equipment quickly to any point on the globe.
That means a radical change in tactics and equipment.
"It is certainly an organization whose mission is in a state of flux," said John Pike, director of the defense think tank GlobalSecurity.org
NATO has seen enormous changes in the past year as German-led NATO troops have moved into Afghanistan and a Polish division took over peacekeeping duties in part of Iraq with NATO help, Crouch said.
Some of the more powerful members of the alliance broke with America about the war in Iraq. France and Germany led a group of four of the 19-voting members in opposing the war. Belgium and Luxembourg opposed the Iraq invasion.
The Iraq rift won't be an issue in Colorado Springs, Crouch said. "I would not characterize this as a fence-mending issue," he said.
Not everyone agrees.
Robert Hunter, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO for the Clinton administration who works for RAND, a think tank focusing on government and international policy, said rebuilding friendships will be a key to the Colorado Springs gathering.
"This will be the post-war, let's-make-nice-to-everyone meeting," Hunter said. "The war is over, and now you need everybody, and the allies will want to build those bridges."
Where nations stand since the Iraq invasion will be shown when ministers discuss whether the alliance should expand its peacekeeping duties there.
Now NATO is commanding more than 5,000 troops in Afghanistan, the first time the alliance has stretched its boundaries beyond Europe.
America wants the alliance to get ready for more action outside the alliance's traditional boundaries.
"We're not going to be fighting in Europe," Crouch said. "There's no Warsaw Pact."
NATO's decadelong move to modernize will cost billions and take time.
The alliance's biggest combat capabilities remain based on machines designed for the Cold War, including 62-ton American tanks. Those tanks can take weeks to hit the ground in a combat zone.
To fight in the invasion of Iraq, tanks were shipped by sea, and delivery of the vehicles took weeks.
The U.S. Army this year unveiled lighter units that can get to war in hours instead of weeks.
But experts say NATO allies must spend more money before they can boast similar capabilities.
"There will be pressure from the U.S. for them to spend more money," Hunter said.
Pike described the equipment held by NATO allies who were once part of the Soviet bloc as "basically a snapshot of the world in 1989."
Under discussion will be changing tactics and technology.
Communications abilities and plans must be ironed out for the countries to work together in war.
Some discussions in Colorado Springs will look at specialized combat skills that can be mined from smaller NATO members in time of war, Crouch said.
"Not every member of NATO can have a 360-degree military," Crouch said, explaining the cost of maintaining an American-style army, navy and air force would cripple smaller NATO contributors such as Hungary, Iceland and Luxembourg.
Those smaller alliance players will be asked to hone their best skills, from running field hospitals to disposing explosives, and bring them to NATO missions.
America is examining its commitment to keeping troops in Europe. Defense officials are looking at moving or pulling back troops housed in England, Germany and Italy.
That's an item that won't be up for discussion yet, Crouch said. "We're still in the pre-decision phase on that," he said.
Copyright 2003 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.).
