Gates On NATO

Outgoing SecDef Gates made the news last evening with a blunt speech he delivered in Brussels yesterday about the now-anemic NATO alliance, including remarks about NATO's inability to sustain combat operations in Libya, which he categorized as...

In Libya, Gates said, “the mightiest military alliance in history is only 11 weeks into an operation against a poorly armed regime in a sparsely populated country, yet many allies are beginning to run short of munitions, requiring the US, once more, to make up the difference.’’

But that was only a small part of the speech.  Gates also warned the US may not continue to pick up 75% of NATO's bills and I agree with him: we probably shouldn't.  NATO's raison d'être largely evaporated when the Berlin Wall fell... there is no current existential threat to the European member states, recent Russian sabre-rattling aside (a rather hollow sound, that).  The US could save a considerable amount of money by reducing its military footprint in Europe; I don't see much reason to keep nearly 54,000 American troops in Germany... other than to support a lot of hookers, gasthauses, and breweries.

The PBS Newshour had a good segment on this subject last evening if you're interested.  Here it is...

The take-away line from the discussion?  Gen. Barno's wry observation that American troops in The AF feel ISAF stands for "I Saw Americans Fight."  (The real definition: "International Security Assistance Force," the acronym for NATO's presence in Afghanistan)