MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN (special edition) NATO ENTERS THE WAR by: John D. Giorgis Perhaps the most shocking development today - the day after -was that today NATO invoked Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty for the first time ever. Based on the simple premise that "an attack on one of us, is an attack on all of us", Article V was originally designed to ensure that the United States remained involved in the defense of Europe. If the Soviet tanks ever started rolling into West Germany, it was the North Atlantic Treaty that insured that the US would not sit idly by behind its Atlantic Wall. After the Cold War ended, we used to try and design simulations for Model U.N. Conferences that might involve NATO invoking Article V. Every time, our ideas centered on Turkey being drawn into a conflict in the Middle East, our occasionally, Greece becoming intangled in an imbroglio in the Balkans. Not once did any of us ever think that the first country to invoke Article V would be the mighty United States. Then again, after the events of yesterday, the occurannce of the once-unthinkable should probably no longer be surprising. Nevertheless, this bodes ominously for the future. After all, the United States is the undisputed leader of NATO. This step was certainly not taken without the U.S.'s full conscious support. Moreover, this morning President Bush called Tuesday's attacks an "Act of War" for the very first time. Given the way Bush and all Senior Administration Officials carefully avoided the "Act of War" terminology yesterday, this was clearly another conscious decision by the Administration. President Bush had it exactly right in his very first reaction to this attack. Freedom itself was attacked, and freedom will be defended. Today the greatest alliance of free nations that the world has ever known agreed - an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. Freedom will be defended. Godspeed.
