Posted on 03/25/2002 12:24:17 PM PST by kattracks
BUCHAREST, Romania, Mar 25, 2002 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Poland's president urged Europe to mute its criticism of Washington's war on terror, telling a summit of prospective NATO members Monday that American lives were the first ones lost in the fight against "the evil" threatening the world.
Aleksander Kwasniewski's comments reflected a main topic of concern at the opening of the two-day summit - the changing threat facing NATO and its allies more than a decade after the collapse of the Soviet bloc removed the menace of large-scale conventional ground war in Europe.
The meeting brought together leaders from the 10 candidate countries - Romania, Slovakia, Macedonia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Albania, Croatia, Bulgaria and Slovenia - as well as guests from NATO member states, like Kwasniewski, and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
The meeting is one of a series being held before a NATO summit in November in Prague, where the U.S.-led alliance will decide which countries to admit.
Armitage, delivering a message from President Bush, said that while the threats facing NATO have changed, its role should not be diminished in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and solidarity among its members should be strong.
"As all civilized nations seek to address the threats of global terror, the bonds uniting NATO members are more important than ever," he said.
Kwasniewski, alluding to growing European opposition to any major expansion of Washington's war on terror beyond Afghanistan, urged U.S. allies to support the campaign against terrorism while also appealing to the United States to listen to European concerns.
"Let us not forget that it is the American soldiers that were the first to stand up to the evil" exhibited in the Sept. 11 attacks, he said. "They often paid the price of life - they continue to pay."
Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase said the region's countries were ready to join the alliance and were already contributing as full NATO members in the war against terror.
"We have opened our air spaces, airfields and port facilities to Allied forces," Nastase said. "And we're now taking part in the (peacekeeping) mission in Afghanistan."
Bulent Ecevit, the prime minister of NATO-member Turkey, said the alliance was in the process of adapting to post-Cold War realities by focusing on new security threats and collaborating with former foes such as Russia.
"Military threats of a conventional and nuclear nature have diminished," Ecevit said. "But threats such as terrorism, nationalism, organized crime, drug trafficking and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction" are moving across borders.
He added that these new threats will be better tackled by an enlarged alliance and urged NATO to expedite the admission of southeastern European countries. "This dimension of enlargement will contribute to the extension of security and stability to this most sensitive area," Ecevit said.
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Bulgaria, are regarded as candidates that stand a good chance of receiving invitations to join NATO at the November summit.
Albania, Macedonia and Croatia are considered less likely to be admitted because of lagging economic or political reforms or the legacy of Balkan warfare.
By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Any good (or bad) French jokes. They are the scum of the earth.
To continue to protect Western Europe from Communist Russia?
Sounds good to me.
Excellent post. Indeed this is overlooked. Britain and Italy, and even Spain have been far more cooperative with us than the "evil axis" of Europe, France and Germany. The French, pucilanimous masters of appeasement, for whom thousands of Americans were sacrificied for their spinelessness in WWII, is going to tell us how to prosecute the war on terrorism. And the same pair that teamed up to bring you the Holocaust is now dictating to Israel the terms of its own annihilation. How fitting.
I was thinking of that crusty old inspector on the Barny Miller show who told Polock jokes around Polish Sgt. Wojo, but followed them up by explaining how he had great respect for the "Polockish" people.
They have beautiful women too...
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