MUNICH, Feb 3: Washington stoked speculation about the next stage of the war against terrorism on Saturday amid warnings that Europe could be sidelined unless it closed a military capability gap with the United States.
US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told a security conference in the German city of Munich that the 19-nation Nato alliance needed a revamp to face the new challenges thrown up by the suicide hijack attacks of September 11.
But he stressed that future missions in the war on terrorism would need “flexible coalitions” and not one single alliance.
Former US Secretary of Defense William Cohen went further, saying Washington would feel less compelled to consult its Nato allies the more they slipped behind in military capability.
“We have to narrow the gap and we have to do it as quickly as possible,” he told the meeting of defence chiefs and experts from 43 nations in a message echoed by many delegates.
Alarm over what Nato Secretary-General George Robertson recently dubbed Europe’s “military pygmy” status was underlined on Saturday as senior US officials said US President George W. Bush would press Congress on Monday to raise defence spending by 120 billion over the next five years.
PROTESTERS DRIVEN BACK: The annual strategic brainstorming in the Bavarian capital was held under strict security, with police and water cannon trucks barring streets several blocks away from the elegant Bayerischer Hof hotel which is hosting the two-day meeting.
More than 4,000 anti-war protesters tried to gather in a central square despite a ban by the city on demonstrations.
They were driven back by a slowly advancing line of police, and when some 800 tried to return later, police detained 160 people. Police said they had arrested 45 demonstrators who tried to enter Munich to join the ad-hoc protests.
Back at the conference, Wolfowitz argued that Sept 11 was a pale shadow of what would happen if terrorists used weapons of mass destruction. He said it was much better to preempt attacks than just react to them.
“The best defence is a good offence,” he said. “Those countries that choose to tolerate terrorism and refuse to take action — or worse, those that continue to support it — will face consequences,” he said, without elaborating.
Wolfowitz did not single out any nation, but referred to this week’s State of the Union address in which President George W. Bush described Iraq, Iran and North Korea as an “axis of evil” that had sought weapons of mass destruction.
Analysts say hawkish US policymakers, notably Wolfowitz, want to exploit the political momentum generated at home by outrage over September 11 to strike a blow against Baghdad.
Asked later if he was concerned Washington’s European partners would not back a new war, Wolfowitz responded: “We’ve made no decisions about where we’re going in the specific but the President has made clear where the problems are.”—Reuter
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