Washington, Mar 30: U.S. President George W. Bush welcomes seven new eastern European members of NATO alliance.
U.S. President George W. Bush ushered seven eastern European allies into NATO on Monday (March 29) as "full and equal partners," and appealed to the alliance for unity in Iraq and the war on terrorism after the Madrid bombings.
The entry of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia increased the number of NATO members to 26, but the expansion could slow deployments and has angered Russia by shifting the 55-year-old trans-Atlantic alliance to its borders.
"Today our alliance faces a new enemy, which has brought death to innocent people from New York to Madrid. Terrorists hate everything this alliance stands for. They despise our freedom, they fear our unity, they seek to divide us. They will fail. We will not be divided," Bush said.
Bush, criticized for paying scant attention to alliance-building, said the seven new NATO entrants were already "allies in action" because they aided the United States in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"When NATO was founded, the people of these seven nations were captives to an empire. They endured bitter tyranny. They struggled for independence. They earned their freedom through courage and perseverance. And today they stand with us as full and equal partners in this great alliance," Bush told the nations` Prime Ministers at a South Lawn ceremony after they formally handed over their accession documents.
In an immediate reflection of the shift eastward of an alliance forged to fight the Cold War, NATO fighter jets headed to the Baltics, Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said.
Despite fears the enlargement could hamper timely deployments because NATO needs consensus on military action, Bush said he supported the ambitions of Albania, Croatia and Macedonia to one day join the alliance, saying the door to NATO would remain open.
Bush`s appeal for unity follows the deadly Madrid train bombings. Spain`s new leader has pledged to pull his country`s 1,300 troops out of Iraq unless the United Nations is given much greater control there by the end of June.
The new members exulted in joining an organization which ensures military protection to the 26 nations.
"The NATO alliance now flies seven new flags and reaches from the Bay of Biscayne to the Black Sea. And Europe, once a source of global conflict, is now a force for stability and peace. Our great trans-Atlantic alliance has met and overcome grave dangers in the past, and our work in NATO is not done. In the past, many assumed that NATO represented a pledge that America would come to the aid of Europe. Today, by our words and by our actions, we know that NATO means much more. It is a solemn commitment that America and Europe are joined together to advance the cause of freedom and peace," Bush said.
Forty percent of NATO will now be former communist states. Russia has bitterly criticized the enlargement, especially into nations that formed part of the Soviet Union until 1991.
On accession day, a Russian parliamentary deputy dismissed the Washington ceremony to formally receive the seven allies` acceptance documents as a "show."
Monday`s expansion has brought NATO nearer to the Balkans, the south Caucasus, the Middle East and Central Asia, all potential breeding grounds for the West`s post-Sept. 11 enemies: terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
But the expansion could hinder NATO`s ability to respond quickly to such threats because of its consensus decision-making.
Last year, a month-long tussle over whether to bolster Turkey`s defenses ahead of the unpopular Iraq war is an example of how action can be blocked by a few nations willing to defy the United States.
Since then tempers have cooled. NATO has taken command of the multinational peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan -- its first operation outside Europe or North America.
But the rifts over the U.S.-led Iraq invasion, which did not win U.N. approval, have not been fully healed.
NATO`s chief told reporters on Monday the alliance could only deploy to Iraq if Washington sought a new resolution at the United Nations -- something the Pentagon may resist.
Bureau Report
