NATO Under Fire

...Montgomery has for so long combined brilliance as a fighting general with an arrogant infantilism in other fields that his remarks on NATO might soon have been forgotten, particularly as protests began to erupt all over the world a few days later over the version of history he provided in his memoirs...

...He is in fact the first Supreme Commander to give a rational and intelligible account of NATO's strategy...

...Contrary to general expectation, Norstad has proved himself outstandingly able in public relations at the highest level, even though he does not yet have the political flair at lower levels which made his predecessor, General Alfred Gruenther, so remarkable...

...But consultation must not be expected always to produce agreement...

...This is particularly true of propaganda policies and techniques of economic aid...

...For a sincere belief in such a principle would imply a readiness for federation, and Atlantic federation is as far from Britain's mind as it is from that of the United States...

...The political criticisms of NATO have, of course, no answer, because they are true...

...The dispute between Britain and Iceland over fisheries and the triangular conflict between Britain, Greece and Turkey over Cyprus both present a direct threat to the common interests of all the NATO members in the field of military security which is their primary concern...

...What that common policy should be Montgomery made clear when he attacked the U. S. for sabotaging the Suez operation and for working to destroy the influence of the former colonial powers in Asia and Africa...

...If General de Gaulle is really serious about his proposals for giving a new role to NATO, here is the ideal issue on which to test their validity...

...Unless the Western governments can organize their economies for expansion-and use the product more intelligently-Khrushchev's confidence in Communism's bloodless victory is likely to be justified by the facts before the century is out...

...Preparations for all-out nuclear war, Montgomery said, should be put at the bottom of the priority list, and Europe must be seen as the least likely theater for Communist expansion...

...what it can always do is to prevent disagreement where disagreement is unnecessary...

...But he was wrong in suggesting that the main danger to the economic system of the free world is a Soviet conspiracy to destroy it...

...Consultation between the allies is always in itself desirable, providing it does not prevent urgent action in an emergency...

...The stagnation of the Western economies over the last few years is the main cause of the slump in raw material prices which has robbed Asia and Africa of billions of dollars, and has nearly brought the Indian Five Year Plan down in ruins...

...But unless it is supplemented by something like the British concept of a Free Trade Area its goals are likely to be achieved only at the expense of other members of the Western alliance...

...But when he proposed that, as a means of closing it, Denmark should be put with Germany in NATO's Central European Command the Danish Government rejected the idea with exceptional sharpness...

...It is precisely because the allies do not agree on all the problems of Asia, Africa and the Middle East that it would be disas trous to extend NATO's responsibilities so that they had a formal obligation to agree...

...Disagreement between allies is always undesirable, of course, but where it exists the freedom to act independently may be far less damaging than the sort of commitment to act together which leads to no action at all...

...The biggest danger facing NATO was Soviet penetration of Asia and Africa by economic and political means...

...Indeed, it could lead to the bitterest trade war for many generations...

...If it is desired to give NATO a greater political role, then it should concentrate on political disagreements in the area which is already its concern: Europe...

...Its Defense Minister, Franz-Josef Strauss, has been worrying about the notorious gap in NATO defenses in Northern Germany...

...But the Chief of Staff of the French Army, General Paul Ely, simultaneously published an article in the official French Review of National Defense in which he asked for a "peripheral strategy" of alliances with countries outside the NATO area, including a strong defense line running through French territory from Paris via Algiers to Brazzaville...

...The Common Market in Continental Europe could make a major contribution to economic expansion in the free world...

...The fact is that NATO is a military alliance created by a sense of common military danger in Europe...

...So far as the military criticisms of NATO are concerned, an impressive answer was given by General Norstad himself...

...With all respect to British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, no sovereign government ever acts consistently on the principle he recently enunciated that it is better to be wrong together than right separately...

...Nothing could demonstrate the obstacles to the de Gaulle-Montgomery proposals more clearly...

...The military policy of NATO was no better: strategical thinking was muddled and confused, and the global aspect of defense was totally disregarded...

...But the fault lies with the separate NATO governments, not with NATO itself, and there are no structural changes in the NATO setup which can cure it...

...But, since it is the French Government which supports the idea of a political high command so strongly, it might be worth while seeing whether NATO could usefully intervene in what is now by far the most serious threat to the alliance--the dispute between Britain and France over the Free Trade Area...

...Montgomery was right in emphasizing the primary importance of the economic front...

...It is extraordinary that so far NATO has taken no obvious interest in the Free Trade Area negotiations, which have been deadlocked now for many months...

...If these could agree on a common policy among themselves the other NATO nations would accept it-knowing the grave danger to them all if they refused...

...Criticism by Montgomery and de Gaulle points up conflict over national interests, economic and political issues facing European defense community NATO Under Fire By Denis Healey London Within a few days of ending his nine years' service to NATO as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Field Marshal Lord Montgomery celebrated his retirement by making the most extensive attack ever made by any prominent Western personality on NATO's structure and policy...

...There is an enormous waste of money and effort...

...to hear some of Montgomery's remarks on the subject, one is compelled to doubt whether he understood the strategy he was responsible for implementing...

...But very soon after he gave his lecture on NATO to the Royal United Service Institute in London, General de Gaulle circulated an aide-memoire to the fourteen NATO members in which he made much the same criticisms and the same proposals for meeting them...

...Indeed, in regions where so far no Western country has managed to produce the final answer, there is something to be said for the simultaneous application of different policies so that practical experience may show which is the best...

...Indeed, the reaction in Bonn was openly hostile and angry, while Britain, the United States and Canada have already made it clear that they cannot possibly consider it...

...In particular, he suggested the creation of a three-power political directorate for NATO parallel with the Military Standing Group in Washington, on which again France, America and Britain would be the only members...

...And already Greece and Iceland have made threats that they may leave NATO altogether if they are pushed too far...

...Meanwhile, West Germany itself has made an equally abortive proposal for a change in the NATO structure...

...But the primary instrument of consultation should be the normal diplomatic machine of national foreign offices and embassies-some of the most serious breakdowns in consultation recently have been due to the growing habit of foreign ministries to try to conduct diplomacy by themselves without informing the machine...

...Here in fact NATO has already achieved almost all that could be expected through the regular meetings of its Council...

...The whole organization," he said, "is complicated, cumbersome and grossly overstaffed...

...He did not, however, go so far as to endorse Montgomery's extraordinary suggestion that U. S. Air Force General Lauris Norstad should be replaced by a French Supreme Allied Commander...

...Moreover, even where common interests are now accepted, there may be sincere differences of judgment on how to satisfy those interests...

...the Middle East has provided many examples of this in the last few years...

...It is the domestic and foreign economic policies of the Western governments themselves which threaten to surrender victory to the Communists on the economic front...

...It will triumph over a specific national interest in other fields only on issues where the consequences of a failure to agree are clearly more disastrous than those of failing to satisfy the national interest concerned...

...The French proposals have so far found no support from any other member of the alliance...

...It could be met only by agreement between America, Britain and France to work together all over the world...

...Yet so far the most skillful and assiduous diplomacy by NATO's Secretary General, Paul-Henri Spaak, with the support of all the uncommitted members, has failed even to produce serious negotiation among the parties to the disputes...

...Outside the NATO area, the interests of the various NATO governments diverge far more than they do in Europe...