Quote:
The Treaty that binds the countries belonging to NATO cautiously avoids reference both to the identification of an enemy and to any concrete measures of common defense, according to Wikipedia.
Thirdly, the Wiki article is incorrect here as well.
Article 5
The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
Article 6 (1)
For the purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack:
- on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France (2), on the territory of or on the Islands under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer;
- on the forces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Parties, when in or over these territories or any other area in Europe in which occupation forces of any of the Parties were stationed on the date when the Treaty entered into force or the Mediterranean Sea or the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer.
Footnotes :
- The definition of the territories to which Article 5 applies was revised by Article 2 of the Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of Greece and Turkey signed on 22 October 1951.
- On January 16, 1963, the North Atlantic Council noted that insofar as the former Algerian Departments of France were concerned, the relevant clauses of this Treaty had become inapplicable as from July 3, 1962.
- The Treaty came into force on 24 August 1949, after the deposition of the ratifications of all signatory states.
The above directly relates to current events and is the specific rationale of why NATO forces are engaged in combat in Afghanistan against a non-state global Islamic insurgency, and why NATO will - at some point in the near future - engage in armed combat with the state-sponsors of global Islamic insurgency.
In my opinion, any discussion about NATO needs to begin with its basic
raison d'etre text charter ... that would be prerequisite step one, with history and current affairs as follow-on necessities.
http://www.nato.int/docu/basictxt/treaty.htm
My reason to post this is simply that I owe NATO these corrections due to this fact alone...
The Northeast Intelligence Network is now listed on the Official NATO STARnet DTIN (NATO Defense Against Terrorism Information Node) webpage. The NATO node is designed to be a single point of access for information pertaining to defense against terrorism interests of NATO elements, NATO member countries, and partner countries. All agencies and organizations are listed in alphabetical order.
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/nato.jpg
The Northeast Intelligence Network is honored to be listed with such intelligence organizations such as the CIA, NSA and a host of government and industry giants. It is a tremendous acknowledgment of which we are very proud.
NATO