NATO Steps Out of Its Boundaries Hassan Tahsin

Opinion, August 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

NATO Steps Out of Its Boundaries

Hassan Tahsin, Arab News

A few days ago NATO underwent a radical change; from being a political, military and regional alliance with specific, clear and identifiable boundaries and into an international military power — or in other words an “international policeman” — when US forces occupying Afghanistan under the banner of the Allied Forces transferred leadership of the occupation to NATO. This unprecedented step, taken 54 years after the creation of NATO and its work as a regional force protecting Europe against the communist threat, has generated much speculation.

The US invaded Afghanistan under cover of the war on terrorism and took advantage of the racial and sectarian disputes in Afghanistan to bring about the Taleban’s downfall. After the US forces entered the country, Washington tried to lure a number of countries to contribute with “symbolic” forces to give the invasion the appearance of an international alliance. Two years on — not having achieved all of its aims — the US has decided to draw NATO into the Afghan swamp.

However, in reality, there is no difference between the presence of American forces alongside an international alliance and their presence within NATO, because in both cases the leadership and supervision is up to the US administration — other participants are merely there to follow instructions.

At the same time NATO’s participation could serve some of America’s objectives in the coming phase of its foreign policy.

• To reduce the burden on its occupying forces in Iraq and their involvement in a losing war and spare its army the dangers of confronting the resistance to US presence.

• To reduce its military spending, which has begun to drain the US budget.

• To achieve some of their imperialist and economic ambitions.

• To crush Franco-German attempts to liberate Europe’s decision-making from the US and to create a European military force that doesn’t kowtow to US hegemony.

The NATO leadership declared that in taking over in Afghanistan it was carrying out a “humanitarian role” and intervening to rebuild Afghanistan — while NATO’s history of intervention in European conflicts points to the complete opposite. In most interventions it has taken a rather inhumane position for purposes that in themselves are incongruent with the human rights so precious to Western leaders. NATO for example armed the generals in Turkey in order to get rid of the Kurdish refugee problem and was also behind the arming of the separatist militias in Chechnya in order to destroy the Russians’ ability to govern and keep them playing second fiddle to Europe. NATO played a leading role in the racial cleansing that followed the destruction of Yugoslavia — by arming the Croats and Bosnians so as to increase the tension between the two sides. It then stood back and watched while the Serbians massacred the Muslims of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Then it intervened to strike Serbia under the cover of saving Kosovo. However the principal objective was the removal of the last of the Moscow loyalists. NATO planes also carried out strikes on the Chinese Embassy as a direct warning to China.

The Belgian author Michel Collon says: “NATO’s wars were not clean — contrary to what Solana has stated. Belgian doctors who visited Serbia and the statements of Gen. ‘Hertileez’ commander of the Belgian forces attest to that.”

If that is the hidden truth that never reaches the public arena, then we can say that international law is a big lie and that worldwide public

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).