Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1955-03-29
The Task of Arminq Bonn

There is every reason why the Western
allies should pursue the possibility of stag
ing peace promoting Big Four conference
If there is real ground for the hOpe-aS
Premier Bulganin seems to have suggested
that the Kremlin may now be willing to
participate conStructively in such meeting.
At the same time, however, the Atlantic
community should not allow itself to be
distracted from the supremely important
task of making free Germany an effective
armed partner in keeping with the provi-
sions of the Paris accords.
1t is highly gratifying, of course, that
France has completed parliamentary ap-
prevail of those historic agreements and that
similar action is assured, at an early date,
by the few other Signatory countries that
have not yet finished the ratifying process.
But this prospect though good one, rep
resents only the end of the beginning
rather than the beginning of the end-of
what must be done economically, politically
and militarily to convert the Bonn Republic
into powerful ally participating in the
common defense as sovereign member OF
the Western European Union and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Thus, as emphasized by General Gruen-
Their, NATO'S supreme commander, the arm
ing phase of this task-wholly apart from
the non-military phases-will require three
or four years time for completion. In other
words assuming that there will be no foot
dragging but that everything will go accord
ing to present plans, it will be 1858 or 1859
before West Germany's projected armed
strength "a 5O00O-man light navy, an
86,000-man air force of 1900 bomberS and
fighters, and 50O,000-man army of IL di-
vsions) will be fully in being to make pos
Sible genuinely formidable forward STRAIT
egg" of allied defense against the threat of
Red aggression. Meanwhile. the security
of free Europe against that threat will have
to continue to depend largely on the deter
rent factor of our acknowledgement weapons
Given such time requirement for the
West German build-up, the men of the
Kremlin can be counted upon to resort to
numerous maneuvers and proposals calcu-
lated to make up for their failure to defeat
ratification of the Paris accords And their
purpose in so doing will be to throw the
whole undertaking off schedule or to entice
some of the key Atlantic nations into aban-
doning it entirely in exchange for Soviet
guarantees of general peace settlement,
based perhaps, on the condition that parti-
toned Germany be reunited as virtually
diSarmed "neutraF'-a condition which
might appeal to many but which would
nevertheless leave free Europe gravely weak
vis-a-viS Red Russia.
This is one of the things that must be
guarded against in the search for truly
productive meeting with the Soviet Union
Although no effort should be spared to bring
about such meeting if it actually promises
to promote a good peace, the Western
powers would be making mistake of the
gravest kind If they simultaneously failed
to push forward-as fast as possible-with
the arming of free Germany. Clearly, with
or without a Big Four conference, any
neglect or half-heartedness along that line
would play directly and dangerously into
the Kremlins hands.