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PASTOR'S REPORT, April 30, 1979
Page 9
The defense ministers of Europe's NATO powers have been meeting with U.S.
Defense Secretary Harold Brown and other Pentagon officials in Florida
the past few days in an attempt to get NATO in general and the U.S. in
particular to modernize the aging medium-range nuclear weapons stationed
in Europe, either through deployment of ground-launched cruise missiles
(GLCM's), or an extended-range version of the already deployed Pershing
missile.
'I'he sparring inside NATO is very reminiscent of the debacle fifteen months
ago when President Carter abruptly decided not to build the neutron bomb
for NATO's defensive use, after Europe's NATO partners thouqht the issue
had already been positively resolved.
As in that case, the U.S. does not want to appear that it is acting solely
on NATO's behalf. Yet U.S. leadership is essential because most European
governments can't politically afford to appear that they are pushing the
issue -- when in effect they are. The Netherlands, for instance, was a
hot-bed of resistance to the neutron warhead. Norway and Denmark remain
opposed to having any nuclear weapons stationed there.
West Germany's Helmut Schmidt has to be cautious of his party's influential
left-wing, which actually wants greater accomodation with Moscow. There
fore Schmidt would like to have one other NATO country accept the modern
ized weapons (Germany is the sole host to NATO's present tactical nur.lear
array) .
The solution to the dilemma is a definitive U.S. stand that would attenu
ate European timidity. Yet there is a danger. That danger, in the
words of a Los Angeles Times editorial, is "the alliance may be in for
a replay of the neutron-bomb controversy."
One senior European delegate to the NATO talks at Homestead Air Force
Base in Florida adds his concern: "Suppose we get everythina lined up
with our defensive ministries and our parliaments and our cabinets and
then the Administration suddenly decides that it doesn't want to build
a special medium-range missile for Europe, or it doesn't think that the
Europeans should get the cruise missiles after all. It would be dis
astrous far the alliance both politically and militarily and we can't be
sure yet that it won't happen that way."
If Washington turns down the European NATO members a second time, confi
dence in the United States would plummet to a new low, and the momentum
in some quarters to seek an arrangement with Moscow, with Europe moving
into a more "neutral" stage, would certainly accelerate.
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau