European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 5, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine what we be left in Europe Thitu a Tom Loki Millry t a a Olhol nato int we a  conventional Forcest tout military manpower tank artillery attach Helle opera combat aircraft in hum . My Sorim idiom la a uhf  300mm n Mokdh in non in spin i Temh e than Tanil if Pflum Tor any Vovk Timi nato s age of edgy reassurance by James  new York times the Atlantic Alliance is about to enter a period in which single word reassurance looks like a currency gaining in a they contemplate he removal of american medium Range missiles irom Western Europe weapons that were once though to link the military destinies of the United slates and its allies european politicians and strategists Are seeking reassurance of America s commitment to their defense. At the same time there Are modest signs that the allies themselves Are taking seriously the need to strengthen nato s european  Alart to the jitters that attended the announcement that Moscow and Washington had agreed to scrap their Shorter and medium Range missiles the Reagan administration is proposing a nato Summit conference this fall. Such a meeting could be a highly visible arum for president Reagan to reaffirm America s commitment to nuclear deterrence through Long Range strategic weapons and to nato s doctrine of flexible response the doctrine seems to have been eroded by the president s enthusiasm for anti missile Star wars defences and now by the likelihood of the destruction of american Pershing ii and cruise missiles in the Deal announced last month with the soviet Union. Hardly coincidentally a nato Summit which was part of the same announcement would permit Reagan in the troubled autumn of his presidency to enjoy the afterglow of a rare major foreign policy accomplishment. At nato headquarter in Brussels Gen. John Galvin the new american supreme Allied commander has been talking about buttressing measures including the modernization of aging Battlefield missiles to compensate Lor the eventual withdrawal of american ground touched cruise missiles and particularly the 108 Pershing us in West Germany which Are capable of striking soviet territory in retaliation Tor a Warsaw pact ground attack. Others have suggested assigning american submarines armed wih nuclear missiles to Calvin s command even Atter the cruise and Pershing ii missiles Are destroyed. Nato will have some 4,000 nuclear systems in Europe ranging from artillery rounds to Gravity bombs carried by aircraft. What it will have lost is. As one senior Alliance official put it the deterrent option of puking soviet territory at risk from weapons fired irom  yet even More than hardware the Alliance is in need of a Road map a conceptual sense of where logo from Here. In France where misgivings about the current state of a lairs lend to be voiced most bluntly officials warn that the logic of Zero Zero the idea of endlessly stripping away one category of nuclear weaponry alter another is far More perilous than the military balance that will emerge in the four to six years in will Lake to implement the new Accord on medium Range weapons. Gorbachev wants to change the status quo in Europe by eliminating the american nuclear presence said one top French defense expert. The false idea in America is that the american nuclear presence is simply a compensation for the conventional imbalance in favor of the Warsaw pact but we must say the american nuclear presence is legitimate because it couples the United states and  the French tear that the United slates would not want to keep As 326.000 troops in a truly Dencle Aried Europe. In nato calculations the american gis Are the ultimate american Security guarantee the Tup wire thai could set off an american Long Range nuclear attack on Tho soviet Union should the russians Start a conventional War in Europe. No european conceptual consensus has yet emerged except that in May be Lime for a pause. The French would like to Lake the focus altogether olt disarmament in Europe partly to avoid any consideration of Thair Independent nuclear Lorce de Frappe. Which is in tha midst of a major buildup. They Welcome the commitment by Washington and Moscow to tackle the much weightier dossier of their respective strategic arsenals which Are far larger than the ones they have just agreed to eliminate. The British share this View. We would Ike to Settle Down and digest the implications of the medium Range  said one British official. Above All we Don t want any unwelcome  in Bonn a senior aide to Chancellor Helmut Kohl told journalists that no ambitious nato Agenda should be sol until alter the american and French presidential elections in 1988. The Kohl aide said the electoral considerations might opportunistically color american and French proposals. The Chancellor would probably also like to postpone discussion about Lance modernization since most new balt Field systems would be stationed in the Federal Republic. Given this cautious mood the american proposal Lor a nato Summit has generated Little enthusiasm the reaction in Paris and London has been openly sceptical a Summit it is argued should come at the end of a period of reflection not at its outset. But the Western europeans have been quietly making Progress of their own. The French and the British have just held a major round of talks on joint weapons procurement. The dutch and the Spanish have expressed interest in participating in an experimental Franco German brigade that is being discussed in Paris and London. And in their biggest joint Maneu vers 20,000 French and 55,000 West German troops conducted exercises deep in Bavaria. Attending the Maneu vers. President Francois Mitterrand disclosed that Bonn end Paris intend to form a joint defense Council that would be open to other West european slates. These events were additional milestones on France s Long March Way from its gaullist Maginot line mentality on defense matters. The american reaction to this piecemeal construction of the european pillar has always been ambivalent we be always told them to get their act together but when they do we Tell them they re undermining nato consultation a senior american Diplomat acknowledged. Still the europeans Are far from forging a coherent approach among themselves. Despite their joint  French and the West germans Are profoundly divided Over what approach to take on Battlefield nuclear systems which have ranges up to 30 Miles Paris fears that Mikhail 5. Gorbachev will not wait Tang before proposing a Zero Zero solution for these so called tactical weapons and that Bonn might be Temple to banish them from the German German Frontier. The potential rifts among the europeans Are As great As with the americans reassurance is needed All around monday october 1987 the stars and stripes Page 13