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Bush asks NATO to fight terrorism
 U.S. President George W. Bush speaks to young Europeans attending the Prague Atlantic Student Summit at the Hilton Hotel, Wednesday, in Prague, Czech Republic. President Bush is in Prague to take part in the NATO Summit which begins today.
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Diego Ibarguen
Knight Ridder Newspapers
PRAGUE, Czech Republic — President Bush laid out his strategic vision for NATO on Wednesday, calling on the alliance to “write a different story for our time” by working together to defend against terrorism, “rogue” states and weapons of mass destruction.
Bush also urged the NATO allies to unite against Iraq, a dictatorship that has developed chemical and biological weapons over recent decades and is trying to acquire nuclear ones. The Bush administration says Iraq is an example of the kinds of threats that are emerging in the 21st century. But the president also said he thought a peaceful solution in Iraq was still possible if that nation cooperated with new United Nations weapons inspections.
“For terrorists and terrorist states, every free nation — every nation — is a potential target, including the free nations of Europe,” Bush said in an address to international students in Prague. “Great evil is stirring in the world. ... We face perils we’ve never thought about, perils we’ve never seen before.”
Bush warned that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein poses a “unique and urgent threat.” Under a new U.N. disarmament resolution that is tougher than those Saddam has skirted in the past, Iraq must give U.N. inspectors broad access to search for weapons of mass destruction programs. By Dec. 8, Iraq must issue a full declaration of its weapons programs.
“We now call an end to that game of deception and deceit and denial. Saddam Hussein has been given a very short time to declare completely and truthfully his arsenal of terror,” Bush said. “Should he again deny that this arsenal exists, he will have entered his final stage with a lie. And deception this time will not be tolerated. Delay and defiance will invite the severest of consequences.”
After meeting with Czech President Vaclav Havel, Bush said, “War is my last choice, my last option” in disarming Iraq. While a peaceful solution was possible, the president said, “if the decision is made to use military force, we will consult with our friends, and we hope that our friends will join us.”
Bush spoke before a two-day meeting of NATO’s 19 member nations, the first such meeting in a land that once was behind the Iron Curtain. NATO, which formed 53 years ago to protect Western Europe from Soviet aggression, is now on friendly terms with Moscow.
Bush also said NATO should develop new military capabilities to deal with new threats, and should continue its expansion to include all European democracies that want to join.
On Thursday, NATO is expected to offer membership to seven countries from the former communist bloc — Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. The historic move will be NATO’s largest single expansion.
The alliance also will consider a U.S. proposal to create a 21,000-soldier rapid response force that could deploy on short notice anywhere in the world.
The United States has urged its European allies in NATO to spend more to build up their militaries. Bush said this increase should be focused on developing specialties. He cited the Czech Republic’s chemical and biological-disaster preparedness as an example.
The United States and the other members of NATO guarantee one another’s security, viewing an attack on one as an attack on all.
The United States and Europe are bound together, Bush said, “by the wars of liberty we have fought and won together.”
“The commitment of my nation to Europe is found in the carefully tended graves of young Americans who died for this continent’s freedom,” he added.
The president directed much of his speech at Eastern Europe, where democracy is young after decades of communism.
“Those with fresh memories of tyranny know the value of freedom. Those who have lived through a struggle of good against evil are never neutral between them,” he said.
Before attending a dinner formally opening the summit, Bush met Wednesday morning with NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezers and Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla.
In his speech to the students, Bush took an apparent slap at Germany and other countries that have hesitated to support U.S. efforts against Iraq: “The world needs the nations of this continent to be active in the defense of freedom, not inward-looking or isolated by indifference.”
Bush has no meetings planned with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who was re-elected recently in a campaign that was marked by criticism of the United States.
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