The Senate is scheduled to vote this week on the centerpiece of Clinton’s global plans, the NATO Expansion Treaty. Because this treaty would control our foreign policy for decades into the future, we are entitled to have the answers to these twenty questions before the vote.
Why are you committing America to go to war to defend the borders of faraway countries that were Communist until a few years ago? Under NATO’s Article V, we must “forthwith” go to war to defend any NATO member against attack.
Why are you giving a foreign organization (NATO) the power to commit America to war? The U.S. Constitution gives the power “to declare war” to Congress, not to NATO, or to the United Nations to which NATO is tied by eight references in its charter.
Why are you trying to perpetuate a Cold War alliance that successfully finished its mission? The threat that NATO was designed to protect us from is no more; the Cold War is over.
Why are you repudiating the Reagan policy of Peace Through Strength? Ronald Reagan built up our military power so we didn’t have to use it, but the Clinton-Albright policy is to involve us in every conflict in order to show “world leadership.”
Why did you pass a law in 1996 to force U.S. taxpayers to guarantee payment for the weapons that the new NATO countries are obligated to buy to upgrade their military forces? Let’s have full disclosure of the PAC donations every member of the Senate has received from U.S. corporations that will profit from this law.
Is NATO Expansion a mechanism to institutionalize the Bosnian model? It’s now obvious that Clinton lied about dates and plans to exit Bosnia, and that Bosnia was always a plan to use American troops as global cops and social workers on a permanent basis.
What is NATO’s plan for dealing with the impending conflict in Vojvodina? Which side will NATO take? Is there any reason to use NATO troops to defend one side rather than the other?
Does “collective security” mean that the U.S. does the securing and all other countries do the collecting? If Eastern Europe needs “collective security,” why isn’t wealthy Western Europe handling the challenge instead of bleeding Uncle Sap?
Can you assure us that the NATO Expansion Treaty is not like the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that put America on the track to the Vietnam War? Or that NATO Expansion is not a slippery slope to perpetual conflicts, falsely disguised as “peacekeeping” and with a huge potential for warmaking?
Please list the additional countries that you anticipate will join NATO Expansion. Clinton has already promised Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and, in his Letter of Transmittal to the Senate, he promised that “no qualified European democracy is ruled out as a future member” of NATO.
Is there any rationale for admitting some countries and excluding others? Why not admit Kosovo, Bosnia, Ukraine, and all the former Captive Nations of the former Soviet Union?
What is the definition of “out-of-area” NATO interests that Madeleine Albright has already testified will include the Middle East and Central Africa? Isn’t NATO Expansion just a new mini-United Nations to get around the fact that the only people still enthusiastic about the UN are Ted Turner and Jane Fonda?
Why are you letting our fair-weather friends in Western Europe off the hook for their refusal to admit Eastern European countries into the European Union (EU)? That’s what Albright ought to be demanding that they do, instead of putting the burden on America to admit them into the NATO military alliance.
Why are we alienating Russia (with its awesome store of nuclear weapons) at a time when we should be encouraging cooperation and stability? Russia considers NATO Expansion an unfriendly act because it will put NATO troops directly on Russia’s borders.
How much will NATO cost the American taxpayers? In direct costs? In maintenance of our troops in Europe? In large-scale “Marshall-Plan”-style foreign economic aid (which is Albright’s announced goal)? In guarantees to cover the costs of arms shipments to upgrade the military forces of the new NATO countries? In buying Russia’s acquiescence?
Who is the enemy that the Expanded NATO is designed to protect us from? Since NATO is a military alliance, we need to know.
Is there any provision in the NATO Expansion Treaty to prevent Communists from being elected as NATO officials or commanders with authority over U.S. troops? Former Communists (who may or may not be trustworthy) persist in trying to regain power; they are experienced in working the system.
Will the NATO Expansion Treaty institutionalize Clinton’s Presidential Decision Directive 25, in which he asserted his authority to assign American troops to serve under foreign commanders? Will you vote to nullify PDD 25?
Will the NATO Expansion Treaty institutionalize forcing U.S. troops to wear United Nations uniforms, as was required of Army Specialist Michael New? Can you assure us that NATO won’t do this?
For future world peace, why aren’t you working to reduce Russia’s arsenal of nuclear weapons and to build the Strategic Defense Initiative to defend American lives against sneak attacks by rogue dictators?
