J.David Galland's...."Disband NATO and Throw Away the Key"

More than ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO
forces, as always led by the Americans, are dancing more
than the "Texas Two-Step" in their role of self definition and sought after justification, on the world stage. NATO's image is that of a crippled man with his rear aflame; in great fearthat his head will follow suite.

Why is my aforementioned reference to the fall of the Berlin
Wall a salient opening line of this article? Some of us may
actually be old enough, or studious enough, to comprehend
and reflect, retrospectively, why NATO was formed. It was to
halt the spread of Communism throughout the world, and
particularly in Europe, following World War II. Berlin, of
course, has always been considered "ground-zero" as to
where the illusive freedom in the West, and the gray
oppression of the East, buttressed each other for so many
years.

Recently, I had the rather, sadly, laughable opportunity to
observe an American television show. The gentlemen who
presented the show was the respected celebrity, Jay Lenno.
One of the features of his show is to canvas the sidewalks of Los Angeles and ask, seemingly intelligent people, questions about history and world issues. In so doing, Mr. Lenno asked seven Americans, ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-eight, one, in fact, being a school teacher, where the Berlin Wall was. Not one of the polled intellectuals had a clue, even when he enunciated ..."Berlin Wall"! Answers ranged from,"somewhere in China", to "The wall they build around some city in Missouri so that river would not flood them out in the Spring" to "that fence they put on the border with Canada".

After being bombarded with a plethora of idiotic answers this tweaked the fertile waves of suspicion in my mind. I was compelled to ponder the terminally anemic intellectual
prowess of the average example of, "America's Future".
Could this rapidly spreading lack of illumination be one of
the factors that seems to have affected NATO, and its
apparent illogical understanding of its role and mission?
Could this abstract thought be with merit? Is NATO
suffering from stupidity that creeps like an incipient computer virus? It appears that it may well be. The cold war is over NATO, it is time to go away, and take your host of "strap-hanger" countries with you!

Ah, alas, even the Russians know the cold war is over. After years of planning and execution, they have extricated scoresof thousands of Russian soldiers from Eastern European
enclaves. This, speaks nothing of all the equipment they took home, sold to the highest bidder, or just left behind. Now, if the Russians know the cold war is over, and took their toys and returned home, why are the Americans, and their lackadaisical buddies, still clinging to the Ground, mostly in Germany, and constantly searching for another reason to remain and believe in their worth to the world?

Even the less powerful Russian satellite states, Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and others,
know that the cold war is over. Country names have changed
and freedom springs eternal. The lustration of Eastern
Europe has been long and costly, however now nearly
complete. Pillars of old resistance; such as Lech Walesa in
Poland, and Vaclav Havel in Czechoslovakia, no longer
wallow in dank jails for being independent thinkers.
Nevermore will these men wonder how much their next
interview will hurt. So, again, why hasn't NATO gotten the
message? It is time for the United States Military, and the
NATO shield, steadfastly allied against the yoke of oppressive Communist expansion, to get a life.

So, this brings us to present day and NATO's adventures, and
misadventures, within the European Community. We, like
NATO, shall not focus on such places so impalpable, for
example, as Rwanda and such. NATO has not expressed
particular interest in intervention in that venue.

NATO prefers to bully its way around continental Europe. As
in the past eight years, it has sought to redefine itself and has determined that it has a key role as a humanitarian protector. This is a catchy, and believable justification, if I do say so myself. However, NATO speaks with a forked tongue,humanitarian actions and material actions are not one-in-the same but material actions make NATO's heart flutter like an adolescent in Spring.

It is curious that NATO has become such a close monitor of
all European countries, just as the risky Euro currency
implementation is about to take place, across Europe. Of
particular interest to NATO are those countries that are on
the fringe of the European Community, or those who have
not yet acquiesced or become NATO members.

Yet, at the same time why are five year old children in Ulster being harassed, pelted with garbage, and receiving threats of bodily injury and death. All this, whilst they make their ways to Kindergarten classes. Does the "stuffy nosed" Lord-God of pulchritude George Robertson, not know about the civil unrest in Ireland? Perhaps, Javier Solana could take his American friend, James Pardew, Chief Threatener to the Macedonian government, and they could both descend on Londonderry or Belfast and show them "what's for"!

If one cannot read between the lines, as to how NATO and
cronies, et. al., are dealing with rogue, or basically
non-compliant states and nations, then I strongly suggest that the observer study the Macedonian capitulation, and its
incestuous marriage under NATO's grip, for the past eight
months. This wedded bliss, that Macedonia has with NATO,
will soon find itself bifurcated and in conflict. The necessary inertia is well ensconced, now, for the overthrow of the sitting Macedonian government.

This writer does not require assisted vision to realize what
nature of underhanded, greedy inspirations, have gripped
NATO. The wherefore and the why, as to NATO's dalliances
in Europe, a full decade after the end of the Cold War, as the "Big Goon Standing Under The Corner Streetlight", are, and ought be, quite obvious. It is not freedom that is ringing the bell this time, rather, it is the ring of the new Euro Currency and its success, at all costs.

These costs to be borne even include the deaths of NATO
soldiers, who in their youthful exuberance do not make light
of NATO's failed pursuits. As in the traditions of Vietnam
and the actions of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. McNamara,
and Lyndon B. Johnson, the old men march the youth of
today to their death.

I am heartsick because as a society, we have learned nothing,we are led about like a horse to water, only to die and die again. Fifty-seven years ago, when he was twenty-two years of age, my father was riddled with German machine gun bullets, in order to bring democracy to Europe. My father survived. As well, thirty-one years after I, and many others,fought valiantly in Vietnam, we have learned nothing. On September 17, 1969, I held my best friend in my arms and watched him die. He bore three holes in his chest, all large enough to put my fist through. Just before he lapsed into a coma, death shortly thereafter, Bobby asked me, "why are we here"? Bobby's question to me remains unanswerable, to this day. I was lucky, I survived.

Now, here comes the young British Paratrooper, Ian Collins,
murdered by those whom he was sent to Macedonia, to
protect. Lest we forget Trooper Collins! Shame on you
NATO leaders, you continue to march young soldiers to their
death, completely without justification. Shame on you
NATO!

"This article is dedicated to the memory of soldier, Ian
Collins". "May you be the last, young Ian, may the grief of your family be assuaged by your innocent dedication and
faith in your fellow troopers"

J. David Galland is the Founder and President of "Bound &
Overwatch - The Military Observer", a 100% Non-Profit
organization which serves as the advocate for soldiers and
their families, as well as for veterans. Bound & Overwatch -
The Military Observer concentrates on military corruption, andun sound defense policies tainted from inception, which do not affect the national interests of the United States and its National Security.

Mr. Galland is a veteran of The United States Army, with over thirty-two years military service. Since 1969, Mr. Galland has been in Military Intelligence and is a distinquished graduate of the U. S. Army Intelligence Center & School, Fort Holabird, Maryland. He is a combat veteran of Vietnam, Grenada, and Panama and of hazardous duty positions in Ulster, Northern Ireland, Zagreb, Sarajevo, in the Former Yugoslavia, as well as various missions in Croatia and Bosnia. Mr. Galland has spent
most of his military career outside the normal command
channels in classified assignments as an Area Intelligence
Technician, Case Officer, and Desk Action Officer. He is a
internationally respected Defense Analyst, Author &
Columnist, and Subject Matter Expert on Intelligence
Tradecraft in the HUMINT discipline.

As well, he is an authority of the former East German
Staatssicherheitsdienst (Stasi). Mr. Galland is a contributing columnist to "The Reagan Information Exchange", Colonel David H. Hackworth's "Defending America", column and website, as well as "PRAVDA" (English Version) The Voice of The West in Russia. Also to his credit he is a contributing columnist to "The Center for Peace in The Balkans" of Toronto, Canada, Antiwar.com, and most recently, throughout the world and major cities in the United States via "The Houston Independent Media Center".

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)