Military

TERRORISM

• According to Der Spiegel, the United States wants to proclaim the worldwide fight against terrorism as NATO’s new main task. U.S. officials reportedly say that whether the Alliance will count in security policy in the future will depend on what attitude it assumes in this matter. They claim that President Bush will declare terrorism to be the most important topic at the Prague NATO summit in November. Until now, NATO considered the defense of its member nations’ territories its core task; risks deriving from terrorism have only casually been mentioned in its 1999 Strategic Concept, stresses the article. It adds that generals and diplomats in Brussels now fear that NATO will be reduced from a military alliance to a "’chatterbox" that should merely ensure the U.S. political support in conflicts. The Sunday Telegraph, Feb. 10, reported that America’s senior military officers are preparing a global campaign plan for the battle against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, including an assault on Iraq, to be handed to President Bush within the month. The joint chiefs of the defense staff are said to be in the "final stages" of drawing up what one Washington official described as "America’s most extensive war plan since the Second World War," said the newspaper. It added that the U.S. European Command, whose area of responsibility includes Israel, Lebanon and Syria, has drawn up an outline for possible intervention in Lebanon, where radical terror groups are reported to be welcoming Al Qaeda fighters in their ranks.

• From Tbilisi, Georgia, AP reports that in an interview published Monday, U.S. charge d’affaires Philip Remler said terrorists linked with the Al Qaeda network are hiding in Georgia’s mountains on the border with Russia’s breakaway republic of Chechnya. According to the dispatch, Remler said several dozen terrorists from Afghanistan are now operating in the Caucasus Mountains region, and some of them are staying in Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge. They maintain contacts with Khattab, a Jordanian warlord who has been fighting in Chechnya. Khattab, in turn, maintains contacts with Bin Laden, Remler said. According to the dispatch, the U.S. Embassy press office confirmed the accuracy of the interview, which was conducted in Georgian. Remler reportedly said that the Pankisi Gorge has become a source of crime that threatens Georgia’s stability. He said the United States was ready to help efforts to combat Al Qaeda. The dispatch observes that the situation in the gorge, which is home to the Chechens’ ethnic kin in Georgia, is a source of tensions in relations between Georgia and Russia. Georgian officials initially dismissed Russia’s accusations, saying there were no rebels among the approximately 7,000 Chechen refugees staying there. But recently, they have acknowledged that some armed rebels were hiding there, and launched security operations last month to uproot them, adds the dispatch.

BALKANS

• Belgrade’s Tanjug, Feb. 10, quoted Lt. Gen. Jovan Milanovic, assistant to Yugoslavia’s defense minister, saying in an interview that as far as international military activities are concerned, one of the most important tasks in 2002 will be a further improvement of cooperation and trust with KFOR. According to the dispatch, he said those tasks could be fulfilled by means of an engagement of the commission for verification of the military and technical agreement, as well as by units’ contacts. He stressed that international military cooperation was an important part of foreign policy and military diplomacy, and added that cooperation enabled the most spontaneous way in which trust could be realized and established. This, he reportedly continued, would "improve the reputation of both our country and its military forces as an important factor of peace and stability in the region."

• ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte Friday accused Yugoslav President Kostunica of protecting wartime Bosnian Serb commander Mladic, who is among the most wanted war crimes suspects, reports AFP. "The case against Mladic is self-evident. We know where he is, in Belgrade, we know his address and we have proof that he is there," Del Ponte reportedly told Italy’s ANSA. "We have indicated several times (to the Yugoslav authorities) that he is there," she added. According to the dispatch, she made clear that Mladic was holed-out in Belgrade and said Kostunica had ordered that Mladic not be arrested because the Yugoslav president was afraid of offending the army upon whose support he relies to stay in power. Moreover, Kostunica had ordered that Mladic be protected by 80 armed guards, she claimed. The dispatch noted that it was the first time that del Ponte had singled out Kostunica as failing to cooperating with the ICTY to arrest war crimes suspect.

• According to AP, a government spokesman said Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia security forces entered 12 villages formerly held by ethnic Albanian rebels Monday, but angry residents stopped the patrols from regaining control of three other villages. The deployment was reportedly monitored by international observers and NATO soldiers.

Several media note that the EU agreed in principle Friday to take over command of the multinational force deployed in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia from NATO.

The Financial Times, Feb. 9-10, stressed that if NATO agrees, the change over could take place by next summer. The article notes, however, that NATO sources said it made no sense for the EU to take over Amber Fox, since all the Alliance’s planning, logistics, and command and control structure were already in place. "The EU does not have any of these capabilities," a NATO diplomat reportedly said.

OTHER NEWS

• THE NETHERLANDS-JSF: AP quotes officials saying in The Hague Friday that the Dutch government has agreed to participate in the development of the newest U.S. jet fighter, the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), and will invest along with Dutch industry roughly $800 million over the next decade. Noting that previously, the government had said its participation would signal a commitment to replace its fleet of 137 F-16s with the JSF, the dispatch quotes a Defense Ministry spokesman stressing that "participation means buying at a certain time." But, adds the dispatch, Prime Minister Kok was more cautious about pledging support. He said the decision brought the purchase of the JSF "closer."