NATO: On Terrorism
Briefing | By Irene Warren | September 2, 2008
In
the wake of Sept. 11, 2008, terrorists’ attacks, America was alerted to
a new type of threat: a threat so detrimental to domestic security and
to our civil liberties that it took immediate action, and retaliated
against insurgents in the Middle East.
Today, combating terrorism still remains a high priority in terms of
protecting the liberties and freedoms of democratic countries, Richard Prosen, a ranking official at the U.S. Department of State, explained at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies on August 22.
“We see a growing threat of violent terrorism and youth terrorists with
extremist viewpoints,” Prosen said. “Our victory must come through
offering a democratic path.”
“We are facing an enemy deadlier than we’ve ever faced before, and even deadlier than the one in World War II,” Dr. Peter Huessy, a senior defense consultant at the National Defense University, added.
In light of recent events, and the invasion of Georgia by Russian troops, the North American Treaty Organization (NATO), in an effort to confront insurgents in the south and eastern
countries, has taken drastic measures to put an end to nuclear
terrorism, whether it be foreign or domestic, Huessy explained.
“In April 2008, NATO added to Alliance counterterrorism tasks cyber
defense measures, infrastructure protection, and a comprehensive
weapons of mass destruction counterproliferation policy,” Dr. Yonah Alexander said in the same meeting.
Perhaps NATO’s most recent contribution in fighting the war on terrorism was its dedication in pioneering the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) mission in Afghanistan, Alexander, director of the International Center for Terrorism Studies, explained.
“The first ISAF troops were deployed in January 2002, four months after
the invasion ousted the Taliban and al-Qaeda,” Alexander said. “With
the launch of the ISAF mission, NATO left its originally designated
area of operation and accepted the role as an international security
provider against the background of a new and globalized security
environment.”
Thus, the ISAF was a venture established by the United Nations Security Council on Dec. 20, 2001, as affirmed by the Bonn Agreement, Alexander noted.
Respectively speaking, Ian Lesser commented that despite NATO’s stance on the War on Terrorism, it still
faced ultimate challenges. “I think the key challenge for the U.S. and
Europe is a rising China and Russia,” Lesser said. “Russia is now back
in the Mediterranean for the first time in 20 years.”
In addressing this point, Huessy admitted that China is suspected of
having some involvement in helping to fund terrorism by assisting
countries, such as Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Afghanistan, in
developing nuclear weapons. Therefore, he suggested financial tactics
to counteract countries suspected of funding terrorism that included
strengthening proliferations, prohibiting such countries from investing
in capital markets, develop a new energy plan that includes nuclear
power and domestic drilling, while making a conscious effort to keep
Iran from closing the Persian Gulf.
Concluding, Huessy explained that NATO is expected to re-examine its mission and strategy in Georgia and Iran in 2010.
Irene Warren is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.
4 Comments | Post a Comment
This all sounds like the usual ultra right clap trap to ensure their Military careers ad infinitum. I got a really big kick out of the wentence about ....‘prohibiting such countries from investing in capital markets,’... are you kidding me? They OWN us. We are so addicted to credit and stupid wars that we’re in hock to just about everybody. How about serious disarmament like scrapping our nukes along with the Russians who would be more than willing considering their cost and danger of being stolen by some Strangelove types which abound in this country especially around Colorado Springs near an in the Air Force Academy. once we get down to around what the Israelis have then maybe the rest of the world might take us more seriously. Until then this guy just bows right wing smoke.
NATO will probably not again become the central defense organization it was during the Cold War or even during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. But it remains an essential tool with which the United States and its key allies can coordinate their militaries, promote the unification of Europe, maintain peace in the Balkans, and quite possibly fight major military operations anywhere in the world.
September 3 at 2:48 pm | #1 | Link
Personally, I believe the real problem is extremist politics and “the war between the haves and the have-nots”.