The North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO, also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defence whereby its member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia,Portugal joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programs. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defence spending.
In 28 Weeks Later[]
During the original outbreak of the Rage Virus, on Day 15 of the outbreak, NATO and the UN quarantined Great Britain to prevent the infection from spreading beyond the country. (28 Weeks Later, 28 Days Later (comic series))
Eleven weeks after the outbreak, by which time most of the infected in Britain had died of starvation, a NATO force led by the US Army entered London. Seven weeks later, the NATO force declared mainland Britain free of infection, and another six weeks after that, they began the restoration process. The NATO force gradually began to repatriate London on the Isle of Dogs and repopulate it with both old and new residents. However, twenty-eight weeks after the original outbreak, Alice Harris, an asymptomatic carrier of the Rage virus, was found and brought into the safe zone, where she accidentally infected her husband, Don. (28 Weeks Later)
The infection then began spreading throughout the safe zone, and so the US Army in charge of the NATO occupation executed Code Red. They began exterminating both civilians and infected, and eventually firebombed the entire safe zone. They then started venting chemical gas into London and sending out attack choppers and soldiers armed with flamethrowers to exterminate the infected that had escaped the lockdown area. (28 Weeks Later, 28 Days Later (comic series))
It is unknown whether or not NATO and the US Army's attempts to stop the infection from re-spreading throughout Britain succeeded. Though, it can be assumed that, due to the spread of the virus to mainland Europe, they did not.
Trivia[]
- It was made apparent in the 28 Days Later comic series that NATO had declared mainland Great Britain was free of infection, and that while they were aware that the Shetland Islands were infected, they declared that the infected in the mainland had all starved to death five weeks after the original outbreak. Whether NATO truly believed this, or were aware that there were still infected in northern mainland Britain and had simply lied about this to keep the world calm, is unknown.