U.S., European Roles in NATO

“As Asia Rises, Europe Must Revitalize,” by Roger C. Altman and Charles A. Kupchan (Opinion, March 23), essentially hits the nail on the head in an economic sense and to some degree politically.

The United States, both Democrats and Republicans, are putting NATO ahead of a workable United Europe economically and then politically. The U.S. has had and maintains the dominant and lead role in NATO. The European members will continue to devote a lower percentage of their gross national products to defense than the U.S., as the U.S. must maintain a Pacific presence in a rising Asia. The U.S. will continue to relish the leadership role, as it conveys the power to our presidency and top commands to our military. This has been and is a major deterrent to full participation by France in NATO.

The real answer to our participation in NATO is the rotation of ground and air forces to Europe, rather than the static positions now. It took our static forces six months to get into Saudi Arabia for the Gulf War and weeks to cross a river between Hungary and Yugoslavia. If we rotated ground and air forces their readiness to meet all challenges would be enhanced. Furthermore, they could be moved between the Pacific and the Atlantic as needed. If we are to increase our overall capabilities, we should devolve full command of NATO to Europeans and rotate to Europe.

Fat chance, as the current system makes the bastards feel big.

PAUL C. LOVELACE

Los Angeles