Bush hails NATO additions :: Namibia Internet Gateway cc ::

Bush hails NATO additions

Posted by admin on Tuesday, March 30, 2004 - 12:32 PM

Invoking their nations' fresh memories of 'tyranny' and selling an expanded NATO as a bulwark against terrorism, President Bush welcomes seven nations to the alliance.
WASHINGTON - President Bush welcomed seven Eastern European nations into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Monday, in a White House ceremony marking only the fourth time the alliance has opened its ranks to new members since its founding after World War II. Bush hailed the new members -- Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Slovenia -- as countries that have triumphed over tyranny. Standing with prime ministers in a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, Bush said the seven nations ``earned their freedom through courage and perseverance, and today they stand with us as full and equal partners in this great alliance.'' Three of the new members -- the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia -- are former Soviet republics. They and the other new members join the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland as countries that once were home to Soviet troops but now are allied with the one-time enemies of the Soviet Union. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland have been NATO members since 1999. NATO was established in 1949 by the United States, Canada and 10 European countries to counter the Soviet Union in the Cold War. Now, nearly 40 percent of its 26 members are former Communist countries. ''Welcome to the greatest and most successful alliance in history,'' Secretary of State Colin Powell told the prime ministers. Bush, highlighting how the NATO mission has changed over the decades, emphasized the support the Eastern European countries have given to recent U.S.-led military campaigns and in the battle against terrorism. ''They understand our cause in Afghanistan and Iraq because tyranny for them is still a fresh memory,'' the president said. But at a breakfast with reporters before the ceremony marking the alliance's largest expansion to date, NATO's chief said the organization's involvement in Iraq would be limited until Washington seeks a new resolution from the United Nations. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance might be willing to assume a role in Iraq if the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution authorizing an international security force to serve there. It might even be willing to take command of part of that force, de Hoop Scheffer told reporters. The alliance has been divided by the war in Iraq. France and Germany, two key members, opposed the war. Public opinion in other member counties, including Spain, opposes sending troops. Pentagon officials have said privately they hope the support for the war demonstrated by the seven new members will be a factor in swinging NATO policy on Iraq. De Hoop Scheffer said NATO might get involved if, in addition to passage of a new Security Council resolution, the interim Iraqi government that is expected to take political control of the country on June 30 asked for troops. By formally handing over their accession documents to join the alliance, the new member countries are assured military protection by NATO troops. Powell said Monday he supports the ambitions of three other nations -- Albania, Croatia and Macedonia -- to join.

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