Reporting from Brussels— In one of his last major addresses before his retirement this month, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Friday that NATO's sometimes shaky air campaign in Libya had "laid bare" the shortcomings of the alliance, which he said was facing "collective military irrelevance" after years of inadequate defense spending by most of its members.
In March, the alliance unanimously backed the decision to go to war in Libya to protect civilians from forces loyal to Moammar Kadafi, but Gates noted that fewer than half of NATO's 28 members were participating in the military operation and fewer than a third are conducting airstrikes against ground targets.
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