[ti:Gates Says NATO Could Face 'Irrelevance' in the Future] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:IN THE NEWS] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS [00:05.67]in VOA Special English. [00:08.52]American Defense Secretary [00:11.01]Robert Gates has told NATO members [00:14.31]that they need to do more [00:16.32]-- and spend more [00:18.21]-- to support the alliance. [00:20.61]ROBERT GATES: "The blunt reality [00:21.61]is that there will be dwindling [00:22.95]appetite and patience [00:24.24]in the US Congress [00:26.18]-- and in the American [00:27.24]body politic writ large [00:29.08]-- to expend increasingly [00:31.02]precious funds [00:32.07]on behalf of nations [00:33.36]that are apparently unwilling [00:34.60]to devote the necessary resources [00:36.95]or make the necessary changes [00:38.69]to be serious and capable partners [00:41.13]in their own defense." [00:41.99]On Friday, Mr. Gates gave [00:44.63]his last policy speech [00:46.82]before he retires [00:48.11]as defense secretary [00:49.95]on June thirtieth. [00:51.64]He spoke in Brussels, Belgium, [00:54.44]at the headquarters of the North [00:56.44]Atlantic Treaty Organization. [00:58.48]NATO was created in nineteen forty-nine [01:02.91]to defend western Europe [01:05.25]against the Soviet Union. [01:07.34]Mr. Gates spoke about [01:09.88]one current NATO operation [01:12.17]-- the bombing campaign in Libya. [01:14.85]He noted that all twenty-eight members [01:18.05]voted for the mission. [01:19.79]But less than half have [01:22.23]taken part at all, he said, [01:24.27]and fewer than a third [01:26.42]have been willing to participate [01:28.56]in the campaign. [01:30.11]He said many allies want to [01:33.45]take part but lack the resources. [01:36.03]Last week NATO decided to extend [01:40.13]its activities in Libya [01:42.22]until the end of September. [01:44.45]Mr. Gates said that by one estimate, [01:48.64]European defense spending has fallen [01:51.77]by nearly fifteen percent [01:54.26]in the past ten years. [01:56.70]He said this has affected [01:59.29]what he called the first [02:01.23]"hot" ground war in NATO history [02:04.41]-- the war in Afghanistan. [02:06.96]ROBERT GATES: "Despite more than [02:08.15]two million troops in uniform [02:09.45]- not counting the US military [02:11.84]- NATO has struggled, [02:13.53]at times desperately, [02:14.92]to sustain a deployment [02:16.86]of twenty-five thousand [02:19.07]to forty-five thousand troops, [02:20.76]not just in boots on the ground, [02:22.46]but in crucial support assets." [02:24.41]Mr. Gates said the American [02:26.95]share of NATO defense spending [02:29.70]has now risen to more than [02:32.14]seventy-five percent. [02:33.63]This is happening at a time [02:35.87]when budget cuts are being considered [02:38.91]in the United States. [02:40.46]President Obama has called [02:42.95]for an additional four hundred [02:45.29]billion dollars [02:46.48]in defense reductions. [02:48.58]Mr. Gates said nations [02:51.62]must be responsible [02:53.36]for their fair share of the common defense. [02:56.95]He warned about the future of NATO [03:00.39]unless Europe stops cutting back [03:03.42]on defense spending. [03:05.36]He said there is "the very real [03:08.71]possibility of collective [03:10.90]military irrelevance" for the alliance. [03:14.02]He said future American leaders [03:17.47]may not consider the return [03:19.91]on America's investment [03:22.25]in NATO worth the cost. [03:24.80]President Obama's choice [03:27.35]to become the next defense secretary [03:29.84]is Leon Panetta. [03:32.13]Mr. Panetta is currently the director [03:35.26]of the Central Intelligence Agency. [03:38.12]The CIA job would go to David Petraeus, [03:43.00]currently the top American general [03:45.93]in Afghanistan, if the Senate [03:48.77]approves the nominations. [03:51.21]President Obama wants to begin [03:53.95]withdrawing American troops [03:56.19]from Afghanistan next month. [03:58.79]The goal is to end United States [04:02.82]military operations in that country [04:05.76]by the end of twenty-fourteen. [04:07.95]On Thursday, the Senate [04:10.34]Armed Services Committee [04:12.19]held a confirmation hearing [04:14.23]for Mr. Panetta. [04:16.07]Several senators gave him credit [04:19.06]for being the person President Obama [04:21.49]named to head the effort that led [04:24.43]to the killing of Osama bin Laden. [04:27.86]Mr. Panetta said he believed [04:30.75]the killing gave the United States [04:33.39]the best chance to defeat al-Qaida [04:36.32]since the attacks [04:37.95]of September eleventh, [04:39.74]two thousand one. [04:41.18]And that's IN THE NEWS [04:43.53]in VOA Special English. [04:46.26]I'm Steve Ember.