Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-09-23
Time Works in Our Favor in Building Europes Defenses

90 not QWell upon their deficiencies.
Their stock in trade is tough fight
ing men-upward of a million.
counting effective reserves - who
are not in the least bit awed by the
power of the Russian Army.
Our investment in Turkey since
1947 has been one of the best we
have ever made. Our ranking mil
itary representative there, Mai.
Gen William H. Arnold, who is do
ing an outstanding job working
with the Turks, believes that for
every dime invested we have gotten
dollars worth of combat power.
Turkey should have been fitted into
the NATO structure long ago. The
sooner it is done now, the better.
Across the Aegean Sea from Tur-
key lies Greece, which has also
received extensive American aid
since the British pulled out in l947.
We have invested about So billion
in Greece, but that investment, in
all probability, has kept Greece,
with its highly important geo.
graphic position, from going behind
the Iron Curtain. That, alone,
would be justification enough for
the money spent
Greece Is Poor
But Greece offers more than that.
The country has been cursed with
weak governments-22 since the
war. The vast majority of the
people are poverty-stricken. One
official has calculated that Greece
is at least five times as poor per
capita as the poorest State in Amer
lea. Greece has been more or less
that way for centuries and it is at
least doubtful that any conceivable
economic aid can put the country
on a permanently self sufficient
basis. But Greece, like Turkey, has
flghting army. It is an army
which, though small and ILL.,
equipped, has proved itself in COM
bat. Surely it is in the interests of
overall Western security to keep
it in fighting condition.
A short visit to Belgrade was less
revealing. Marshal Tito is supposed
to have an army of some. 80 divi-
sions, totaling upward of 100000
men. But our representatives in
Belgrade either know little about
the true nature of the Yugoslav
Army, or they are afraid to talk
about it. One gets the feeling that
American aid to Yugoslavia will be
something like shot in the dark
shot that may or may not produce
the desired result. Still, so far as
any one can see, Tito, II attacked,
would have to fight. There is no
other apparent choice open to him.
So If we can help Tito without cut
ting back on our aid to possibly
more reliable Allies, it would seem
to be to our advantage to do so. In
the case of Yugoslavia, as in the
case OF Spain, there is force to the
argument that we need the help of
any one who can be depended upon
to tight the Russians If the show
down comes.
NATO Moves Forward
All of this adds up to the con-
cluslon that the NATO project is
moving forward. The progress
that is being made is not by any
means wholly satisfactory. If one
wants to dwell upon flaws and
shortcomings, there are plenty of
them. They can be used, and will
be used, to bolster arguments that
the United States should abandon
this undertaking. But those who
make such an argument, or who
listen to such an argument, if they
have any regard for our own Sc
curity, will ask themselves this
question: What acceptable alter
native is there to NATO?
This question was put to Gen.
NorStad, who commands the Allied
Air Forces in Central Europe, and
who is an ardent champion of air
power. He was asked specifically
about the alternative concept of a
Western Hemisphere Gibraltar
concept which holds that we can
withdraw from Europe and find
security in our own hemisphere be-
hind a screen of air and sea power.
Gen. Norstad disagrees, and he
is very emphatic about it. If we
withdraw from Europe, we accept
the risk-or, more accurately, the
high probability = that Western
Europe will go to the Communists.
With Europe and, by logical in
ference, all Of Asia falling under
Communist domination, we would
find ourselves cut off from, or seri-
ously restricted in access to, many
essential raw materials. We would
have to maintain large standing
Army, huge Air Force and a pow
erful Navy. The cost of this would
be tremendous-far greater, Ger
tainly, than the cost of seeing the
NATO project through to a success
full conclusion. We would have to
sacrifice. in very large degree Al