Invoking Article 5

Since the NATO treaty was signed over 60 years ago, the central point of the treaty has been used once.  Article 5 of the treaty provides that if any member of the alliance is attacked, all member states will treat that attack as if it had been on them.  In other words, an attack on one country brings a response from all.  In all these years, the only time Article 5 was used came in the aftermath of 9-11 when the Europeans and Canada came to help the USA respond to the attack by al Qaeda.

It is now time to use the treaty again.  The attack by ISIS on France was correctly diagnosed by president Hollande as an act of war.  All members of NATO need to respond to it together.  France should call for a collective response and put the other members of NATO to the test.  Remember, if each NATO country were to contribute 5000 troops to an effort to defeat ISIS, there would be an army of over 100,000 soldiers that could come from bases in NATO member Turkey and hit ISIS just across the Turkish border in Syria and Iraq.  That force could erase the "caliphate" established by ISIS in a week or two of fighting.  It would be no contest.

For all that to happen, however, there would need to be strong American support for the attack on ISIS.  Right now, president Obama sees no need for such an attempt.  Let's hope that we do not have to wait for a massive attack in the USA before our "leader" decides to take action.