ACCESSION NUMBER:232333
FILE ID:EU-104
DATE:06/22/92
TITLE:SCOWCROFT DISCUSSES NEW NATO PEACEKEEPING ROLE (06/22/92)
TEXT:*92062204.EUR
*EUR104   06/22/92 *

SCOWCROFT DISCUSSES NEW NATO PEACEKEEPING ROLE
(NATO can "take pride" in record)  (370)
By David Pitts
USIA Staff Writer
Washington -- Brent Scowcroft, President Bush's national security
advisor, said June 22 that NATO "can take great pride" concerning the
changes that have happened in Europe "over the last few years."  But he
warned that "other divisions are now emerging in Europe" based on ethnic
rivalries.

Speaking at a conference sponsored by the Atlantic Council of the United
States and The Eurogroup, Scowcroft referred to the decision taken earlier
this month that would allow NATO to perform a peacekeeping function.  NATO
begins this new task "with powerful military assets" -- more than 40 years
of experience in confronting a wide range of challenges, he remarked.

President Bush "believes in a strong united Europe," and a Europe that
"should shoulder more responsibility" for its own defenses.  "It is
welcome," Scowcroft explained.  It would be a tragedy "if we engage in
debates over architecture," he added.  The United States sees no
contradiction between a stronger European role in defense and a continued
U.S. presence in Europe, he remarked.  Asked if there is a floor below
which the U.S. troop presence in Europe should not go, he responded, "We
shouldn't be too captivated by numbers.  The most important thing is the
visible participation of the U.S. in the European security system."

Scowcroft said President Bush believes not just in "a Western Europe at
peace, but in a Europe at peace."  If this "dreadful century" has taught us
anything, it is that American and European security "is indivisible," he
noted.

Most of the questions that were asked concerned Yugoslavia.  Scowcroft said
that the violence in that area is a "painful case study" in the kind of
problems that have emerged in the post Cold War era.  Asked whether there
should be a full-scale peacekeeping operation at some point, he said, "I
won't forecast that."  He added:  "Not every problem in the world has to be
taken on by multilateral institutions."

However, Scowcroft warned that the conflict there could widen.  "It's
already out of control," he noted.  "It could involve us all in a perilous
adventure."

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