pphilfran
6/10/2011, 09:57 AM
Wow...he blisters their azz...
http://us.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/10/gates.nato/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says NATO has become a "two-tiered" alliance poorly equipped to deal with challenges, and with members either unable or unwilling to carry out agreed missions in Afghanistan and Libya.
"This is no longer a hypothetical worry," he said. "We are there today, and it is unacceptable."
Gates called for urgent action to "avoid the very real possibility of collective military irrelevance."
Ultimately, he said, "nations must be responsible for their fair share of the common defense."
Gates had harsh words for the conduct of the air campaign against the regime of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. He said it had become "painfully clear" that shortcomings could "jeopardize the alliance's ability to conduct an integrated, effective and sustained air-sea campaign."
Gates praised governments that had stepped up in Afghanistan.
"Frankly, four years ago I never would have expected the alliance to sustain this operation at this level for this long, much less add significantly more forces in 2010," he said.
That had "decisively changed the momentum on the ground," but NATO must now guard against a "rush to the exits."
Gates praised some NATO members for punching above their weight in the Libya operation.
"Norway and Denmark have provided 12% of allied strike aircraft yet have struck about one-third of the targets," he said. But such examples were the exceptions.
"The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress ... to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense," he said.
http://us.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/10/gates.nato/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says NATO has become a "two-tiered" alliance poorly equipped to deal with challenges, and with members either unable or unwilling to carry out agreed missions in Afghanistan and Libya.
"This is no longer a hypothetical worry," he said. "We are there today, and it is unacceptable."
Gates called for urgent action to "avoid the very real possibility of collective military irrelevance."
Ultimately, he said, "nations must be responsible for their fair share of the common defense."
Gates had harsh words for the conduct of the air campaign against the regime of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya. He said it had become "painfully clear" that shortcomings could "jeopardize the alliance's ability to conduct an integrated, effective and sustained air-sea campaign."
Gates praised governments that had stepped up in Afghanistan.
"Frankly, four years ago I never would have expected the alliance to sustain this operation at this level for this long, much less add significantly more forces in 2010," he said.
That had "decisively changed the momentum on the ground," but NATO must now guard against a "rush to the exits."
Gates praised some NATO members for punching above their weight in the Libya operation.
"Norway and Denmark have provided 12% of allied strike aircraft yet have struck about one-third of the targets," he said. But such examples were the exceptions.
"The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress ... to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes to be serious and capable partners in their own defense," he said.