Dissolve NATO and bring spending home

Bob Gates, the outgoing Secretary of Defense, gave members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization a stern warning to step up their military and political support, otherwise it will fall into dissolution. The United States, with its 75 percent financial backing, faces dire budget deficits, and waning worldwide effectiveness with its overextended military presence can no longer be the “cash cow” for NATO it once was.

And then, maybe it’s time for NATO to dissolve. It basically no longer serves the purpose for which it was created — to counter the USSR in its attempt to globalize Communism 60 years ago.

It has always been just another sinkhole for American taxpayers under the guise of protecting the Western Hemisphere from supposed Red encroachment and surreptitious hegemony. It laid the foundation for the military budget, now approaching $1 trillion, a political minefield in Washington if challenged.

So let us speed NATO into dissipation. We might then clog the economic drain of wasteful military spending that has helped to deluge this country with an unsustainable national debt these last 30 years.

James D. Cook

Streamwood