(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
On Monday, seven new member states were welcomed into the NATO defense alliance. The new countries – Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia – contribute to the fact that 40 percent of NATO now consists of former communist states.
Even more reason, however, is to note that the heads of state of the seven new member states did not attend Brussels to be celebrated by NATO and the Alliance Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer.
Instead, the heads of state were flown across the Atlantic to settle in Washington. First, US Secretary of State Colin Powel welcomed the NATO talks:
To the seven heads of state gathered here today, and to their people, I say: Welcome to the largest and most successful alliance in history, Powell said when the seven countries formally presented their accession documents in Washington.
Then it carried on to the lawn outside the White House where a ceremony and reception by President George W. Bush awaited a greeting on the fight against terror:
- Today, our alliance is facing a new enemy, which has brought the death of innocent people from New York to Madrid. Terrorists hate everything this alliance stands for. They despise our freedom. They fear our unity, said Bush, who later in the evening also welcomed the prime ministers of Albania, Macedonia and Croatia, three countries that hope to be the next in line.
If nothing else, the ceremony in Washington symbolically shows that Americans see themselves as NATO's navel and Brussels as a useful henchman for the interests of the United States.
Admittedly, German and French will have stuck some strikes in the military wheels, not least when it comes to the war on Iraq. And the new Spanish prime minister's reprimand of the United States and the promise to withdraw its forces from occupied Iraq unless the UN takes command did not fit in with the Nato plans of the Americans.
But in the fight against terror, Bush still seems to get what he wants. In this way, it was probably a good thing that Foreign Minister Jan Petersen on Tuesday went on a secret surprise visit to the Norwegian forces placed under the occupation forces command in Iraq.
For, after strolling around and talking to the soldiers and putting them to work, he answered the following to the Aftenposten's question whether after the visit he had become more positive in extending the period of the Norwegian force in Iraq:
- Yes, I absolutely am. When we look at the tasks the soldiers perform, the commitment deserves to be continued.
Admittedly, Norway's foreign minister adds that an enlargement is far from clear, that it depends on the situation in Iraq after the Iraqis take over "sovereignty" in their own country after June 30, and that new tens of millions are allocated in the revised national budget.
In addition, Petersen adds that he thinks a larger NATO participation would make sense.
So does the United States, which would like to see NATO take over command in the Polish sector of occupied Iraq, where Norway has placed five officers who are currently under Polish command.
Whether Norway is going to contribute soldiers to such a NATO force in Iraq, Petersen will not say anything at this time. But he is very pleased with what the Norwegian soldiers today do in occupied Iraq.
- These guys do a brilliant job, and perform a very meaningful job. After being with them around, the debate about whether they participate in an occupying force or not seems quite curious to me, Petersen told Aftenposten before leaving the surprise visit.
It will also not be surprising if the Norwegian Foreign Minister for a while – when NATO is in place in an Iraq that is still controlled by forces under US command instead of under the UN flag – will say that it is quite curious that someone thinks that NATO the forces should not participate in international missions that have not been given a clear UN mandate.
Soon it is Jan Petersen's turn to attend a ceremony on the lawn in front of the White House.
