Evening star., 1949-12-04
To Protect the West

Pact has been further strengthened as
result of the talks just completed IN Paris
by the defense committee representing the
twelve signatory nations. Although spec
tacular decisions have not been reached,
additional groundwork has been laid for
cooperative action calculated to speed
up the preparedness Of the West against
the continuing threat Of direct and in
direct Soviet aggression.
Thus, as set forth In q communique
outlining the substance Of the talks, the
defense committee has arrived at unani-
nous agreement on matters having to do
with active planning for the mutual pro-
lection of all the treaty countries; with
co-ordinating the programs OF regional
groups within the alliance; with providing
for the production and supply OF arnla-
ments; and with the formulation OF stra-
tegic concepts for the integrated defense
of Western Europe as whole.
In other words, the Paris meeting has
taken the preliminary steps essential to
setting in motion the machinery required
to effectuate Article 3 of the Atlantic Pact.
Under that article, all the signatories, in
cluding the United States, have pledged
themselves to work together, "by means OF
continuous and effective self-help and
mutual aid" to maintain and develop
their individual and collective capacity to
resist armed attack" With the compile
tion of the Paris talks the way is now open
for concrete action to that end-action
Western Europe under our Military Assist
ance Program and also measures to I'M
prove and coordinate the armaments pro-
duction of our friends abroad.
As the defense committee has stated In
its communique, all these joint efforts are
designed merely to strengthen the common
defense of the West. Their intent is wholly
peaceful; they are not aimed against any
nation or people; the whole enterprise is
meant solely and simply to insure that the
countries allied in it will be able to right
the European balance Of power in such
way as to enable them to safeguard their
civilization and free way Of life. The
Soviet Union, Of course, has branded the
undertaking as a gigantic conspiracy to
unleash new war against the world be-
hind the Iron Curtain, but that accusation
is the crudest sort Of propaganda, deliber-
ately cooked up to becleud the fact that
the Atlantic Pact would never have been
organized If Kremlin policy had not made
1t imperative.
That policy has Systematically blocked
every effort to establish q decent peace.
1t is policy backed by the biggest land
army in the history Of the world, an army
whose continued mobilization stands as
constant menace to the West, where
troops under arms, besides being made
quately equipped up to now, have been
relatively puny in numbers. It Is because
Of this power imbalance, and because re-
peated aggressions have demonstrated a
Soviet resolve to dominate the whole of
Europe, that the Atlantic Pact nations
have been impelled to move together to-
ward common system of security.
They cannot move too fast in that d.
rection. Though difficult in the extreme,
the problem Of working out strong, in
tegrated defensive position is one that
must be tackled with the greatest vigor
and speed by both the Western Europeans
and ourselves. Neither time nor the Krem-
lin is standing still. II the free world is to
protect itself against being engulfed by
the Red tide, it must act without delay
to make the machinery Of the Atlantic
Pact truly effective. To daily, to yacil-
late, could be fatal. -..