Former PM calls for NATO role in fight against terror

22 January 2008

MADRID – NATO should cease to be solely an international military alliance and should start to play a role in the domestic security of member countries in order to better combat Islamist terrorism, former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar said yesterday at a security conference in Herzliya, Israel.

The proposal would seek to strengthen the alliance, which Aznar also suggested should be expanded to include Israel, Japan and Australia as full members. Aznar argued that NATO should evolve from its Cold War origins into an alliance to ensure the "preservation of our democracies."

Subject: Spanish news