LONDON -- The June 28-29 summit meeting of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Istanbul was a sour affair. The so-called allies within NATO could not agree on how to help with reconstruction in Iraq and ended up merely offering to do some training of Iraqi personnel, but not much more.
Bad feelings intensified when U.S. President George W. Bush chose the occasion to urge the European Union to speed up their admittance of Turkey to the club -- an issue on which the French, in particular, have grave doubts. French President Jacques Chirac promptly told Bush and the Americans to mind their own business.
But the unhappy gathering gave rise to an even more fundamental question, namely, whether NATO itself has a future. With the Cold War long since won, with Russia now considered a security partner and most of the former Communist satellites now on the Western side, and with the main threats to global security arising far outside the European theater, an increasing number of voices -- both sides of the Atlantic -- are asking "Why do we need NATO at all?"