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--> --> Europe must band together for defense Financial Times, London Aug. 14 Donald Rumsfeld, the U.S. defense secretary, wants to shake up the armed forces. He sees too much bureaucracy, wasteful expenditure on military bases that have outlived their uses, not enough new equipment or modern technology and insufficient relevance to today's missions. But logic in defense spending is often defeated by domestic politics. These difficulties are only too familiar to defense ministers of other NATO countries. They are also attempting to turn militaries, structured for a static Cold War environment, into the versatile forces needed, for example, for the possible NATO operation in Macedonia. European defense spending is not only much smaller than Washington's, it is also in general much less effective in creating military potency. Even if U.S. reforms are not undertaken at the pace Mr. Rumsfeld might like, they will continue. This will make U.S. military power even more formidable. This means other NATO countries risk falling further behind the U.S., especially in terms of the technology they bring to future operations. NATO has succeeded as a military alliance on the basis that everybody contributes something. If hardly anybody were able to go to war alongside the Americans, its usefulness could be undermined - and the travails of the Balkans underline how dangerous that could be. European countries should complement rather than duplicate each other's defense spending, so as to create a more effective balance with U.S. firepower even with smaller budgets. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing