NATO's unconventional tactics likely
to include role for former foe Russia
By Gregory Piatt,
Stars and Stripes
BRUSSELS, Belgium — NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson called it a new
kind of war.
The recent terrorist attacks force the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to start
thinking the unthinkable, Robertson said at Wednesday’s meeting for alliance defense
ministers in Brussels.
"Some of the threats that remained in the realm of almost unbelievable fiction now
have to be treated as credible threats for which we have to have credible capabilities and
strategies," Robertson said.
"Adaptability, nonconventional thinking, patience and determination are the key
elements of this campaign," he said.
"The military option is one of several aspects of a coordinated response to
terrorism. Political, diplomatic and economic measures are all essential components."
At the meeting, Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz stressed that
unconventional thinking and credible capabilities and strategies by NATO would produce
more results than a joint U.S.-alliance military strike, like the bombing in Kosovo in
1999.
"I think it can’t be stressed enough that everybody who’s waiting for
military action ... needs to rethink this thing," said Wolfowitz, who emphasized
non-military options.
One of the unconventional moves that came out of the meeting was that NATO said it was
seeking more cooperation with its Cold War foe, Russia — something unthinkable two
years ago when Moscow cut ties with the alliance over its bombing of Yugoslavia during the
Kosovo conflict.
"We are united in our determination to work together to fight this scourge of
international terrorism," Robertson said in joint press conference with Russian
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov.
"The Russian response to the terrible attacks on the United States has not only
been befitting of a major partner of this alliance but has also been the reaction of a
real and genuine friend."
When asked if Russia wants to join the 19-member alliance that was formed 52 years ago
to hold off a Soviet-bloc invasion, Ivanov hinted that one day Russia might join NATO.
"I have said before we do not exclude anything," Ivanov said. "All must
understand that the world is changing ten times faster than it was ten or fifteen year
ago."
However, Russian membership in NATO remains a remote possibility because Moscow is
opposed to the alliance’s plans to admit new members from the former Soviet bloc, but
that could change if Russia is added to the list countries that want to join, NATO
diplomats have said.
NATO and Russia agreed to start holding weekly senior-level consultations beginning
next week. Those most likely will begin when Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with
Robertson next week in Brussels.
Russia has offered help to the United States. Moscow said it isn’t going to block
any use of former Soviet bases in central Asia. Russia has also said it will open its
airspace for aid shipments and it will funnel arms to the opposition in northern
Afghanistan. It will also take part in international search-and-rescue operations in
Afghanistan and hasn’t ruled out the use of its troops.
However, at the press conference, Ivanov did not specify what help Russia would provide
to the alliance, but he said that the battle against terrorism cannot be conducted solely
by military means.
Realizing NATO needs to tackle the problem in many ways, the Netherlands proposed that
the allies create a task force on terrorism, a NATO official said.
It would be to send a message to terrorists, the NATO official said on the condition of
anonymity. It is unknown what the task force’s mandate would be or which countries
would form the task force, but it would target terrorism and respond to it, the official
said.
"Terrorism is a changing threat and NATO needs to build coalitions to stop
it," the official said.
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