Senior Military Chiefs on NATO Reform and First Strike Nuclear Weapons

Five senior military officers and strategists from NATO's heart have called on the Pentagon and current NATO leadership to recognise the "first strike" nuclear option as an "indispensable instrument" and to reform the military alliance in line with this principle. Furthermore they state that there is "simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world."

The authors of the extensive new report, which is due to be discussed in Romania at the NATO summit are General John Shalikashvili, 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.

Some of the most significant proposals of the call for a radical overhaul which would unite NATO, the EU and the U.S. even more are:

*Abandoning consensus decision-taking in Nato factions to majority voting which would result in more prompt action by ending national vetoes

*Using force without permission from the UN security council when "immediate action is needed to protect large numbers of human beings"

More details:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/nato/story/0,,2244782,00.html