U.S. Is Obliged To Cooperate With World Countries As Much As It Is Obliged To Lead The World To Fight Against Global Terrorism

ISTANBUL - The United States is obliged to cooperate with world countries as much as it is obliged to lead the world to solve problems like global terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons, Turkish Deputy Chief of General Staff Ilker Basbug said on Thursday.
General Staff Department of Military History and Strategical Studies held a symposium in Istanbul on Thursday on ''Regions of Crisis from the Perspective of Turkey, NATO and European Union (EU) and Their Impacts on Turkey's Security''.
The United States was an unquestionable power in the world thanks to its military power, technology, operation capability and capability of dispatch of troops to distant places, Basbug said.
Basbug said, ''is full security possible in the global world? To what extent can the society tolerate lack of confidence? To what extent can the freedom of individuals be limited when taking national security measures? Won't this situation create sensitivity for terrorism? Can't the risk of being a target increase this way? Won't efficient use of informatics technologies by terrorist organizations make global fight against terrorism obligatory?''
Basbug stated that power could be defined as the ''ability to change behaviors of others to gain results that are wanted.''
The United States was one of the leading economic powers in the world, Basbug noted.
Basbug said that overall economic power of the European Union (EU) was almost equal to that of the United States.
''Can we come to the solution that the United States is strong enough to solve problems like global terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons on its own? If it isn't such a country, won't it be right to say that the United States is obliged to cooperate with world countries as much as it is obliged to lead the world in these fields,'' Basbug said.
Basbug pointed out that countries should agree on definition of a common threat and the possible time of occurrence of threats.
Those two issues depended on efficient and timely intelligence and share of intelligence among countries, Basbug said.
Basbug added that countries should assume approaches towards cooperation instead of directing policies.
(BRC-AÖ) 27.05.2004