Kay Bailey Hutchison: “I support the entrance of these new countries, but I think we need to take a step back and make sure NATO is going to…”

“I support the entrance of these new countries, but I think we need to take a step back and make sure NATO is going to remain the greatest defense alliance that the world has ever known. In 1999, when the Senate voted to ratify the addition of Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, I said at the time that we needed to reassess the mutual threat to NATO nations to assure the strength of our alliance in that agreement. Four years later, as we prepared for what became Operation Iraqi Freedom, we were disappointed, to say the least, to watch three NATO countries refuse to support the defense of our ally, Turkey. That was an initial signal that we have reached the point of stretching the alliance. That Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia are candidates for NATO is both a miracle and a testament to the effectiveness of NATO itself. They survived brutal totalitarian regimes during the cold war. Now they are free to fully join the world community as valued members of NATO. But what is the state of the alliance they seek to join?”