After watching simulated ballistic missiles rain down on the United States, President George W. Bush today vowed to work with NATO allies to confront the threat of nuclear weapons.
At the headquarters of the Allied Command Atlantic, Mr Bush stood before three large video screens displaying views of high-tech war-games conducted jointly by the United States and its NATO allies directed from the command ship, the USS Mount Whitney, 50 miles off the Virginia coast.
Then, at an outside rotunda ringed by the flags of 19 NATO nations, he declared: "I'm here today with a message for America's allies. We will cooperate in the work of peace, we will consult early and candidly with our NATO allies, and we'll expect them to return the same.
"NATO is the reason history records no World War Three, by preserving the stability of Europe and the transatlantic community. NATO has kept the peace and the work goes on," he said to a gathering of Navy personnel and their families.
Mr Bush, who has proposed building a robust National Missile Defense in the face of bitter opposition from Russia and China as well as objections from US allies, added: "In diplomacy and technology in missile defense, in fighting wars and, above all, in preventing wars, we (in NATO) must work as one."
Stressing the need for the same unity with which the United States and its European allies faced the Cold War and which he saw on display in the simulated war game, Mr Bush cautioned against pursuing separate plans with separate technologies. Reuters