National security expert A. C. Bacevich looks art NATO's sorry performance in Afghanistan and suggests that the US give up attempts to use NATO outside Europe. Europeans, Bacevich writes, are unwilling to fight wars save in defense of their home ground and otherwise cleave to social welfare statism above all else. SecDef Robert Gates bluntly told the Europeans that they need to do more (full Gates text).There are dark spots, but bright spots also....
The center-right Dutch government recently fell, due to discontent over the Dutch military's role in the Afghan War. In stark contrast, Denmark is "punching above its weight" in Afghanistan, as ti did in Kosovo; to garner public support the Danes are stressing the humanitarian aspects of their mission:
Denmark only recently returned to military action following a long stretch of neutrality that followed its 1864 defeat to Prussia, in modern day Germany. With the end of the Cold War, Danish forces, long tasked with home defense, had little to do.
A stint in NATO's military intervention in Kosovo saw a Danish tank force rout a Serbian attack in 1994. Suddenly Danish politicians found it advantageous for the military to punch above its weight internationally and become a point of national pride, Dr. Jakobsen says.
Denmark's participation in Iraq was less popular. But Danish politicians learned lessons they believe the U.S. and U.K. took too long to heed—emphasizing reconstructive work as much as the military conflict, and recognizing the broad-based effort of a U.N. mission with 44 contributors.
Look at the telling casualty chart at the end of the WSJ Denmark article. NATO has 106,000 troops in Afghanistan, of which 78,000 are American and 10,000 British. Of the remaining 18,000, Denmark has 750. Its killed-in-action rate is second to Canada's.
NATO let us do most of the real work in Bosnia & Kosovo, and is letting us do the heavy lifting in Asia.
Bottom Line. Cheers for those who make meaningful sacrifices. But NATO as a whole may be better left to go home & stay home, unless more continental members bulk up their militaries.
Letter from the Capitol, LFTC, 9/11, National Security, Terrorism, Foreign Policy, Conservative Politics
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