President Bush: NATO Must Remain Open

President Bush has called on NATO leaders to keep the doors of the alliance "open" to other nations seeking to join.
     
The President's comments at the NATO Summit in Romania today come after the body rejected his push to put Ukraine and Georgia on the path to membership. The alliance did invite Albania and Croatia to join but put Macedonia's application on hold.
     
Russia has strongly opposed NATO expansion to include Ukraine and Georgia. France and Germany, in rejecting the idea, argued it would upset the balance of power.
     
The denial of potential membership for the former Soviet republics is a setback for Bush, but the president has made progress in other areas. NATO has agreed to send more troops to the front lines in Afghanistan and has also signed off on a U.S. plan for a missile defense system based in eastern Europe.

The alliance is calling on Russia to drop its objections to the system and to accept U.S. and NATO offers to cooperate on building it.