President Barack Obama dodged a question on Friday about whether American troops will be part of a new NATO rapid response force in Eastern Europe set up to warn Russia that Western nations could quickly mobilize if an allied country in the region were to come under attack. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the new unit would send a clear message to potential aggressors in a thinly veiled warning to Vladimir Putin. 'Should you even think of attacking one ally, you will be facing the whole alliance,' he declared as a two-day NATO summit in southern Wales drew to a close.
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Quick-reaction force falls short of the permanent NATO bases Poland and other eastern countries wanted
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NATO presence could deter Russia and other aggressors by serving as a trigger to activate American troops
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State Dept said Tuesday that it won't 'rule anything in or out' regarding a US ground-troop component
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But when Obama was asked point-blank if he will send troops, he talked only of financial assistance
said in a press release Friday that @placeholder would set up a command and