NewsMax.com
Thursday March 27, 2003
4:15 p.m. EST
Kissinger: NATO Is No More; We Need Something New
NATO has ceased functioning and can only be revived by creating
a new framework, Dr. Henry Kissinger says.
Dr. Kissinger told Sean Hannity on the Hannity and Colmes show
last night that when the Iraqi war is over "...there has to be a re-examination
of where we are in this respect. You cannot say that we have a NATO alliance
when two key allies [France and Germany] not only vote against us but work
against us all over the world. And send their foreign ministers around.
"So they have to make up their minds: A) what is the meaning of
the alliance; what are we together for? And, B) What are the limits of our
disagreements?"
Asked by Alan Colmes if NATO is obsolete, the former Nixon
secretary of state said "It's not functioning now. And one shouldn't pretend
that one can just go back to the way it was and say we do a little more
consultation.
"This has been a fundamental breach, and I would be open-minded
to try to restore it, but it has to be put into a new framework."
As for the reconstruction of Iraq, Dr. Kissinger made clear he
thinks France and Germany should be left out in the cold.
"I would invite very quickly the coalition of the willing to set
up a reconstruction effort. And that automatically takes care of the question of
those who were unwilling."
But Kissinger isn't anxious for the U.S. military to play the
major role in postwar Iraq either.
"I don't think it's a good idea to have an American military
occupation of Iraq as an American effort. And for us getting involved ... it
isn't similar to [our WW II occupations of] Germany or Japan. We may be facing
an intifada-like situation.
"And for an outside country to run a major Muslim country for an
extended period of time I think is unwise," he advised.
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