Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, May 5, 1990 TAG: 9005050158
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: STILLWATER, OKLA. LENGTH: Medium
In a commencement speech at Oklahoma State University, Bush reaffirmed his commitment to cutting short-range nuclear missiles in Europe, negotiating larger cuts than currently planned in conventional forces, and moving NATO into a more political role.
But Bush insisted American troops, nuclear weapons and political influence must remain on the Continent for the foreseeable future.
He defended the need to maintain a unified military structure for the Atlantic alliance, even as the Warsaw Pact appears to be crumbling, by saying Moscow's intentions remain unclear and the Soviet Union will long remain a formidable military force in Europe.
"President Gorbachev has made profound progress in his country, reforms so fundamental that the clock cannot be turned back," Bush said.
"Yet neither can we turn the clock ahead," he said, "to know for sure what kind of country the Soviet Union will be in years to come."
As he did Thursday when he made his European arms control proposals, Bush said Friday that he wanted to broaden the role of the other, non-economic European group to which the United States belongs: the 35-nation Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, which includes neutral nations and Warsaw Pact members and has focused primarily on human rights.
"The CSCE should offer new guidelines for building free societies," Bush said, "including setting standards for truly free elections, adopting measures to strengthen the rule of law and pointing the way in the needed but painful transition from centralized, command economies to free markets."
Bush said he supported proposals to have "regular consultations among senior representatives of the CSCE countries" and said members of the organization should "consider whether new CSCE mechanisms can help mediate and settle disputes in Europe."
Bush echoed a proposal made by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It seemed intended as a political gesture toward Thatcher when she is suffering politically at home and has lost some battles in the struggle over the future of NATO.
Thatcher had been a strong advocate of plans to modernize the short-range American nuclear missiles in West Germany; Bush canceled that program Thursday.
Bush also praised Thatcher, alone among the allied leaders, as "one of freedom's greatest champions of the last decade."
Bush's comments about the security conference were also a gesture to French President Francois Mitterrand, who has been looking toward the institution as a new forum for political and security dialogue in Europe.
But Bush made it clear he did not want the conference to have a role in military affairs and said the purpose of an expanded security conference would be to "reinforce" NATO politically, not replace it.
"My European colleagues want the United States to be a part of Europe's future," he said. "I believe they are right. The United States should remain a European power in the broadest sense, politically, militarily and economically.
"And as part of our global responsibilities, the foundation for America's engagement in Europe has been, and will continue to be, NATO."
Acknowledging the threat of Soviet aggression has faded as a justification for NATO, Bush said, "Our enemy today is uncertainty and instability. So the alliance will need to maintain a sound, collective military structure with forces in the field backed by larger forces that can be called upon in a crisis."
by CNB