OPINION
Johnny Mercer takes aim at JD Vance (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
NATO Article Five has only been invoked once.
The idea that an attack on one is an attack on all is fundamental to the protection of our way of life.
The one occasion it was used was after 9/11 by the United States when almost 20 countries supported Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
To watch the US abandon it’s international allies in this way is heartbreaking. I am not in public life any more, and decline to comment on almost everything.
But I cannot let Vance’s comments about a ‘real war’ from ‘random countries’ go unchecked.
Because we can all argue one way or the other about who he meant. But the bottom line is it doesn’t matter. If you sacrificed your son on the altar of Operation Enduring Freedom, whether you are from the UAE, the UK or the US – you didn’t love your son any less.
You don’t miss your son any less. His ideals of patriotism, and his courage to be part of something greater than himself, was not any less.
Your sacrifice should never be looked down on in this way.
He won’t – but Vance needs to check his privilege. A lot of what the Americans are saying is fair – European collective Defence has been a joke for thirty years.
But you cannot just torch the whole edifice and expect to be taken seriously.
There have been plenty of brave, strong and importantly – joint – endeavours from European Nations – including our own, in the pursuit of what has largely been US Foreign Policy.
With that comes a responsibility to respect that sacrifice, that the US leadership team have singularly failed to acknowledge in their fast reset of global relations.
I read Vance’s book and found him quite interesting. He should return to thoughtful interventions of which I am sure he remains capable.