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Pre-Emptive Nuclear Strike a Key
Option, NATO Told
By Ian Traynor
22/01/08 "The
Guardian" --- - The west must be ready to resort
to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt the “imminent”
spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction,
according to a radical manifesto for a new Nato by five of the
west’s most senior military officers and strategists.
Calling for root-and-branch reform of Nato and a new pact
drawing the US, Nato and the European Union together in a “grand
strategy” to tackle the challenges of an increasingly brutal
world, the former armed forces chiefs from the US, Britain,
Germany, France and the Netherlands insist that a “first strike”
nuclear option remains an “indispensable instrument” since there
is “simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world”.
The manifesto has been written following discussions with active
commanders and policymakers, many of whom are unable or
unwilling to publicly air their views. It has been presented to
the Pentagon in Washington and to Nato’s secretary general, Jaap
de Hoop Scheffer, over the past 10 days. The proposals are
likely to be discussed at a Nato summit in Bucharest in April.
“The risk of further [nuclear] proliferation is imminent and,
with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in
scope, might become possible,” the authors argued in the
150-page blueprint for urgent reform of western military
strategy and structures. “The first use of nuclear weapons must
remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to
prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction.”
The authors - General John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of
the US joint chiefs of staff and Nato’s ex-supreme commander in
Europe, General Klaus Naumann, Germany’s former top soldier and
ex-chairman of Nato’s military committee, General Henk van den
Breemen, a former Dutch chief of staff, Admiral Jacques Lanxade,
a former French chief of staff, and Lord Inge, field marshal and
ex-chief of the general staff and the defence staff in the UK -
paint an alarming picture of the threats and challenges
confronting the west in the post-9/11 world and deliver a
withering verdict on the ability to cope.
The five commanders argue that the west’s values and way of life
are under threat, but the west is struggling to summon the will
to defend them. The key threats are:
· Political fanaticism and religious fundamentalism.
· The “dark side” of globalisation, meaning international
terrorism, organised crime and the spread of weapons of mass
destruction.
· Climate change and energy security, entailing a contest for
resources and potential “environmental” migration on a mass
scale.
· The weakening of the nation state as well as of organisations
such as the UN, Nato and the EU.
To prevail, the generals call for an overhaul of Nato
decision-taking methods, a new “directorate” of US, European and
Nato leaders to respond rapidly to crises, and an end to EU
“obstruction” of and rivalry with Nato. Among the most radical
changes demanded are:
· A shift from consensus decision-taking in Nato bodies to
majority voting, meaning faster action through an end to
national vetoes.
· The abolition of national caveats in Nato operations of the
kind that plague the Afghan campaign.
· No role in decision-taking on Nato operations for alliance
members who are not taking part in the operations.
· The use of force without UN security council authorisation
when “immediate action is needed to protect large numbers of
human beings”.
In the wake of the latest row over military performance in
Afghanistan, touched off when the US defence secretary, Robert
Gates, said some allies could not conduct counter-insurgency,
the five senior figures at the heart of the western military
establishment also declare that Nato’s future is on the line in
Helmand province.
“Nato’s credibility is at stake in Afghanistan,” said Van den
Breemen.
“Nato is at a juncture and runs the risk of failure,” according
to the blueprint.
Naumann delivered a blistering attack on his own country’s
performance in Afghanistan. “The time has come for Germany to
decide if it wants to be a reliable partner.” By insisting on
“special rules” for its forces in Afghanistan, the Merkel
government in Berlin was contributing to “the dissolution of
Nato”.
Ron Asmus, head of the German Marshall Fund thinktank in
Brussels and a former senior US state department official,
described the manifesto as “a wake-up call”. “This report means
that the core of the Nato establishment is saying we’re in
trouble, that the west is adrift and not facing up to the
challenges.”
Naumann conceded that the plan’s retention of the nuclear first
strike option was “controversial” even among the five authors.
Inge argued that “to tie our hands on first use or no first use
removes a huge plank of deterrence”.
Reserving the right to initiate nuclear attack was a central
element of the west’s cold war strategy in defeating the Soviet
Union. Critics argue that what was a productive instrument to
face down a nuclear superpower is no longer appropriate.
Robert Cooper, an influential shaper of European foreign and
security policy in Brussels, said he was “puzzled”.
“Maybe we are going to use nuclear weapons before anyone else,
but I’d be wary of saying it out loud.”
Another senior EU official said Nato needed to “rethink its
nuclear posture because the nuclear non-proliferation regime is
under enormous pressure”.
Naumann suggested the threat of nuclear attack was a counsel of
desperation. “Proliferation is spreading and we have not too
many options to stop it. We don’t know how to deal with this.”
Nato needed to show “there is a big stick that we might have to
use if there is no other option”, he said.
The Authors:
John Shalikashvili
The US’s top soldier under Bill Clinton and former Nato
commander in Europe, Shalikashvili was born in Warsaw of
Georgian parents and emigrated to the US at the height of
Stalinism in 1952. He became the first immigrant to the US to
rise to become a four-star general. He commanded Operation
Provide Comfort in northern Iraq at the end of the first Gulf
war, then became Saceur, Nato’s supreme allied commander in
Europe, before Clinton appointed him chairman of the joint
chiefs in 1993, a position he held until his retirement in 1997.
Klaus Naumann
Viewed as one of Germany’s and Nato’s top military strategists
in the 90s, Naumann served as his country’s armed forces
commander from 1991 to 1996 when he became chairman of Nato’s
military committee. On his watch, Germany overcame its post-WWII
taboo about combat operations, with the Luftwaffe taking to the
skies for the first time since 1945 in the Nato air campaign
against Serbia.
Lord Inge
Field Marshal Peter Inge is one of Britain’s top officers,
serving as chief of the general staff in 1992-94, then chief of
the defence staff in 1994-97. He also served on the Butler
inquiry into Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction and
British intelligence.
Henk van den Breemen
An accomplished organist who has played at Westminster Abbey,
Van den Breemen is the former Dutch chief of staff.
Jacques Lanxade
A French admiral and former navy chief who was also chief of the
French defence staff.
© Guardian News and Media Limited 2008
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