[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 56 (Thursday, April 2, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4301-S4302]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President. I wish today to recognize the 60th 
anniversary of the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
  Sixty years ago this April, NATO was created to ensure the freedom 
and security of western nations in the aftermath of the Second World 
War. Since

[[Page S4302]]

then, it has evolved into the most comprehensive international security 
organization the world has ever known and has become a reliable 
cornerstone of America's national security.
  As many of my Senate colleagues know, I was an active proponent of 
NATO expansion in 1999 and again in 2004. For me, the debate over 
whether to expand NATO had deep personal resonance. For many of the 
countries aspiring to join NATO at that time, freedom did not come to 
every nation in Europe at the end of the Second World War. For those 
countries caught behind the Iron Curtain, the end of the Second World 
War marked the beginning of a long struggle for freedom and democracy. 
Even after the Iron Curtain fell, their freedom and security was not 
ensured. For many of those countries, joining NATO in the expansion 
rounds in 1999 and 2004 provided true security for the first time.
  For me, growing up as a Polish American in east Baltimore, I learned 
about the burning of Warsaw. I knew about the occupation of Poland by 
the Nazis. I learned about the burning of Warsaw at the end of World 
War II, when the Germans burned it because of the Warsaw uprising, 
Soviet troops stood on the other side of the Vistula River and watched 
it burn. I learned about the Katyn massacre, where Russians murdered 
more than 4,000 military officers and intellectuals in the Katyn Forest 
at the start of the Second World War, so there would not be an 
intellectual force in Poland, ever, to lead it to democracy. I learned 
that these terrible events must never be permitted again. When the 
Senate voted to ratify the accession of Poland, the Czech Republic, and 
Hungary into NATO, I knew that Poland could finally emerge from the 
shadow of the Cold War to join the family of Western nations.
  In the 60 years since it was created, NATO has been an unprecedented 
success in deterring conflict and promoting peace and stability. To 
remain relevant and successful in the future, NATO must keep its doors 
open to those European democracies ready to bear the responsibilities, 
as well as the burdens, of membership. We must all remember that for 
many nations that have been occupied and oppressed over the last 100 
years, NATO represents an institution that will guard against a repeat 
of the despicable and inhumane practices of the old century.

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