NATO, Call Your OfficeAn attack on one is an attack on all. This, in theory, is the guiding provision of the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
And, apparently, that's all it is -- theory.
When Islamist nations dispatched terrorist mercenaries to attack the United States on September 11, 2001, what did America's NATO allies do? Nothing. (There were, however, plenty of European candlelight memorial vigils. Gee, thanks! That's only helpful if one uses the candles to set the terrorists on fire.)
What was NATO's reaction when Islamist nations subsidized a suicide bombing attack on London's subway on July 7, 2005? Other than shock and outrage, nothing.
And last week when British naval forces attached to some half-ass U.N. mission were attacked in Iraqi waters by Iran, NATO, as usual, failed to regard it as "an attack on all." If Iran's attack on the British navy doesn't merit a NATO response, just what does?
"But," you may interrupt, "isn't NATO in charge of operations in Afghanistan today?" And I would answer, "Yes, but the only difference between Operation Enduring Freedom before NATO involvement and now is the name on the letterhead; it's still largely an American operation. Oh, and by the way, don't
ever interrupt me."
Had member nations lived up to their NATO treaty obligations after the Islamist attacks on the Munich Olympics in 1972 and the U.S. Embassy in Teheren in 1979, there's little doubt that Islamist terrorism would be the threat that it is today. These and other NATO failures to cover each other's back in the face of Islamist attacks has led to thousands of American and European deaths. It didn't have to come to this.
The fact is, America and Europe united in commitment to NATO's principles would defeat Islamist terrorist nations as readily as they wore down the Soviet Union.
As it stands now, however, NATO is much like the United Nations -- a largely powerless relic which serves no purpose other than to drain the American taxpayer. Anyone who needs evidence of that need only look to last week when a third-world pigsty of a country defeated the legendary British navy without firing a shot.
