NATO PA members tour military park
Posted on Wednesday, June 28, 2006
PEA RIDGE — Some visiting members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly visited the Pea Ridge site of a Civil War battle Tuesday. And one of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly members, Kurt Bodewig of Germany, reflected on how to avoid war.
Bodewig, a minister of transport under German former Prime Minister Gerhard Schroder, became a member of the Bundestag, the German legislature, in 1998. He joined the NATO PA, a group of legislators from NATO and NATOaffiliated countries, in 2002.
At the invitation of U. S. Rep. John Boozman, R-Ark., a NATO PA member, Bodewig and other members of the Economics and Security Committee of the NATO PA are visiting Benton County and northwest Arkansas. They will wrap up their three-day visit today before traveling to San Francisco, Calif.
Pea Ridge National Military Park is on the site of an 1862 battle that resulted in a Union victory in the Civil War. The victory is credited by historians with keeping Missouri in the Union. Some 1, 400 Union soldiers and 4, 600 Confederate soldiers were killed in the battle. He is very interested in studying the American Civil War, and in learning enough history to apply its lessons to the present, in his country and throughout Europe, Bodewig said.
“ I decided for this tour because I’m very interested in historical situations in United States. History is very necessary to understand the present time. We (Germans ) are in the center of Europe, and we have a high responsibility for it, ” he said.
Even in today’s post-Cold War environment, he believed NATO and it’s promise of collective security represent the best chance to avoid the horror of war, Bodewig said.
“ NATO is one of the best chances to realize peace. That’s the reason why I’m against unilateral military engagements. I think it’s better to have a strong alliance, with common rule, ” he said.
Before going to Pea Ridge, many NATO PA members met at Embassy Suites Hotel in Rogers with 32 top Wal-Mart suppliers, team leaders and several CEOs from manufacturers in northwest Arkansas.
They heard from Don Soderquist, a former Wal-Mart executive and current executive in residence for the Soderquist Center for Leadership and Ethics, and then heard a panel discussion on economics, trading with different countries, and rules and regulations.
While some NATO PA members went to the Pea Ridge park, others went to Fayetteville, Ark., to visit the Fayetteville Square, the library, the United Methodist Church of Fayetteville, and other sites.
Later Tuesday, the visitors had dinner at a Fayetteville restaurant and toured Camp War Eagle.
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