¿Quién defenderá Gibraltar en caso de atentado de Al Qaida? Gibfocus estima que España debe defender un Gibraltar inglés, para cumplir el artículo 5 del Tratado fundacional de la Alianza Atlántica.

Gibfocus, 4 julio 2007. Why Spain must protect a British Gibraltar

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After over 300 years of political or physical siege the idea of Spanish military personnel looking after the integrity of Gibraltar in the interest of protecting British interest would be deemed absurd. However, with the growing threat of terrorism, and the latest state of alert in the UK, the position Spain must play in protecting British interests in the region against attacks comes to the forefront as Spain’s role within NATO is considered.

Under Article 5 of the NATO ALLIANCE treaty, member states agreed: “… an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognised by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.” [ .. ] “Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”

Following the 9/11 attacks on New York the call to implement in full such an agreement was seen to take effect. For the first time since the second world war NATO was faced with one of its member states under attack. Today, with the UK under a critical alert level, and an “imminent attack” expected, NATO defence policy would face a similar scenario.

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