The Marshall Plan Helped People, Not an Industry

The Clinton administration’s attempt to portray the NATO expansion as a Marshall Plan for the 21st century both misunderstands and distorts history. The Marshall Plan was a civil program developed by Gen. George C. Marshall to secure the peace in postwar Europe by rebuilding domestic economies. NATO expansion is a military project estimated to cost between $27 billion and $125 billion over the next 15 years. Its only economic assistance packages will be for U.S. defense contractors and the cash-strapped East Europeans who will foot much of the bill.

The administration expects the new NATO members to pay about half the cost of the planned military buildup in Eastern Europe. The Czechs, Hungarians and Poles are working hard to stabilize their societies by building up their economies. They all clearly want to belong to the Western alliance and have been told that to do so they must make their armed forces compatible with NATO. This means buying U.S. equipment at the expense of civil programs. But there is no need to buy more military equipment. There is no Russian threat. According to NATO insiders, the Russian Army no longer can be considered a fighting force and would take decades to rebuild even if work started now. In contrast, in the next war, U.S. planes will be able to hit 1,500 targets in the first hour.

Treasury ministers in Eastern Europe are not keen to see their hard currency reserves diverted from infrastructure projects to fighter jets. But according to Western European military sources, U.S. officials charged by President Clinton to secure arms deals worldwide are telling these states that they must sign up for expensive equipment or jeopardize their chances of membership.

Since the end of the Cold War, defense contractors have been hurt by falling orders from the Pentagon. The NATO candidates look like an attractive market. U.S. taxpayers are already paying the promotional costs as the Air Force helps Lockheed Martin sell the F-16 in competition with the Navy’s support for the McDonnell Douglas F-18. The Eurofighter tags along in third place. Neither U.S. company is hyping fighter-jet assembly plants being proposed in several East European countries.

So it looks like there is a Marshall Plan in NATO expansion, but it will benefit U.S. defense contractors and the Eastern Europeans will foot the bill.