Enlarged NATO will offer greater security says Bush

Nato’s enlargement to take in seven former communist countries will invigorate the alliance and strengthen its ability to fight “global terrorists who hate freedom,” President George Bush said today.

Speaking after meeting Czech President Vaclav Havel in Prague, Bush urged the Nato allies to join a US-led ”coalition of the willing” to ensure that Iraq disarms.

An enlarged Nato, he said, will offer greater security to a world in turmoil.

“The enemy is not Russia. The enemy is global terrorists who hate freedom, and together we can work to defeat that enemy in the name of freedom,” Bush said.

“I strongly support a Europe which is whole, free and at peace,” he said. “I welcome the idea of countries joining Nato whose history has taught them the need to protect freedom at any cost – countries whose admission into Nato will invigorate our alliance.”

At a summit opening in Czech capital tomorrow, leaders of the 19 nation defence alliance will formally invite seven former Soviet bloc nations to join and will approve a makeover of Nato to create a rapid-reaction force capable of more efficient anti-terrorist operations.

Bush also planned talks with new Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer and Nato Secretary-General Lord Robertson before addressing students at a sequestered hotel later in the day.

Bush’s speech to the students had been set for the Radio Free Europe building, but was moved as a security precaution amid the risk of terrorism and threatened protests by anarchists and anti-war protesters, Czech officials said.

Czech authorities have mobilised 12,000 police and 2,200 heavily armed soldiers and boosted border checks. The United States has deployed up to 250 troops to guard against violence or terrorism, and US F-16 fighter jets have been authorised to patrol the skies over Prague as a precaution.

Railway workers found an explosive device on tracks inside the city of Prague on Tuesday as they checked sections of track that appeared to have been sabotaged, police spokeswoman Eva Brozova said.

“Terrorist attacks can happen wherever and whenever,” Havel said. “Our police and security forces have prepared a wide network of measures and have done the maximum so that nothing like that would happen. But 100 percent certainty cannot be found in the world today.”

The Nato leaders were to attend a glittering black tie dinner tonight in Prague Castle, the medieval site of Czech monarchs dating back to the 9th century.