Military

BALKANS

¨         AFP quotes a NATO spokesman saying in Sarajevo Wednesday that NATO-led peacekeepers in Bosnia have launched a massive operation in southeastern Bosnia to pursue information on a network of supporters protecting Radovan Karadzic.  "Today SFOR soldiers . began ground and helicopter patrols in southern Republika Srpska to pursue information SFOR has received concerning Karadzic's support network," the dispatch quotes the spokesman saying.  According to the dispatch, he said the network includes Karadzic's bodyguards and family members and added:  "We are trying to get more information related to them, because it would help us in our further effort." Although the focus of the operation is not an attempt to apprehend Karadzic, the spokesman reportedly continued, SFOR remain capable of apprehending him should the opportunity present itself.  The dispatch further reports that COMSFOR, Gen. Sylvester, on Wednesday morning informed RS President Sarovic on the operation.  "(SFOR) troops have blocked all routes leading to and from the village of Celibici in Republika Srpska, prompting reports of a renewed search for . Radovan Karadzic," says Sarajevo's ONASA.  Bijeljina's SRNA reports that all roads to and from Celebici are blocked by SFOR.  The dispatch quotes the Srbinje Center for Information saying Celebici was "literally under siege of the armed soldiers and SFFOR vehicles and the place is constantly overflown by helicopters."  AP carries related information, stressing that SFOR troops are blocking the area in which Karadzic is presumed to be hiding.

NATO

¨         Under the title, "Crack NATO unit disbanded as Britain pulls out," The Daily Telegraph writes that "NATO has had to scrap its prestigious rapid reaction unit, the so-called ACE Mobile Force, after Britain withdrew its contribution to ensure troops were available to join a U.S. attack on Iraq."  Britain's contribution to the force included key support troops, without which the 6,000-strong force could not operate, claims the article, adding that with no other NATO member prepared to contribute more soldiers, the Alliance had no choice but to disband it.  The newspaper appears to be basing the allegations on reports that British defense chiefs decided in May that the 1,500-strong British contingent in the force would have to be pulled out because of the increasing commitments of the war against terrorism.  The article observes that NATO officials sought to depict the force's disbandment as a result of the changing face of Europe following the Cold War.  But, it stresses, the force was first deployed during the Gulf War, when it was sent to protect Turkey's border with Iraq, and, immediately after the end of the Cold War, NATO portrayed the unit as the centerpiece of its new strategy. Further noting that NATO officials tried to claim Tuesday that AMF(L) headquarters had become obsolete,  the article insists that the force was always designed to deploy anywhere rapidly, and any unit replacing it would still need to have a headquarters which ought to be ready at any time.

IRAQ

¨         Despite Chancellor Schroeder's statements, the Iraqi crisis is not on the agenda of an informal meeting of NATO defense ministers due to take place on Sept. 23.  However, any minister present at the meeting could raise the issue, writes Stuttgarter Zeitung.  Pondering whether the chancellor lacks information about developments within the Alliance or whether his assertion that the NATO meeting will discuss the Iraqi crisis should merely been seen as election tactics, the newspaper quotes a NATO spokesman saying in Brussels Monday that Iraq is not on the agenda of the ministers' meeting.  The newspaper notes, however, that the spokesman indicated that any issue could be discussed at such meetings.  "If a defense minister wants to raise the issue of Iraq, then he can do so," the spokesman reportedly acknowledged.  According to the newspaper, he added that speculations in the last few weeks over U.S. plans for an action against Iraq have not played a role at NATO headquarters. "This is still highly hypothetical," he indicated.  Suggesting that NATO is standing by the rules of the games, the newspaper notes that these say Saddam Hussein and the threat he generates will be discussed within the circle of the 19 NATO member nations when the United States, as it did after Sept. 11, formally calls for the invocation of Article 5  of the NATO Treaty. It recalls that NATO does not own any military capability, except for the AWACS fleet, and it would therefore be up to governments to decide which troops and how many they would be willing to contribute. The article stresses, however, that the formal invocation of Article 5 would in any way increase the pressure on NATO members not only to make declarations but also to follow their words by deeds.  According to NATO military experts, individual NATO members have special military capabilities which the United States may need for a strike against Saddam Hussein's regime.  Among those, are the Bundeswehr's Fuchs NBC reconnaissance tanks, which can quickly detect biological and chemical agents.  Washington could therefore directly ask the Federal Government to put special units at its disposals and this whether or not Article 5 is formally invoked, concludes the newspaper.

¨         According to the Christian Science Monitor, Western and Middle Eastern analysts say Arab opposition to a U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein is growing so significantly that it may change the shape of potential U.S. plans to launch an attack against Iraq.  The observers reportedly stress that the idea is so generally abhorrent to leaders and civilians in the region that the U.S. government will be pressed to sell the operation-which is still on the drawing boards-not as a U.S.-led operation, but as an Iraqi opposition-led assault. 

CZECH REPUBLIC-FLOODS

¨         Prague's CTK reports Deputy Prime Minister Svoboda told journalists in Prague Wednesday the Czech Republic would accept all foreign help which may be offered to deal with the floods.  The Czech Republic will need vaccines, medicines and drying devices, Svoboda reportedly said, adding that aid had been offered by Sweden, Poland, France, the United States, Norway, Japan, Switzerland, Greece, Italy as well as NATO and the EU.  According to the dispatch, Svoboda explained that individual ministries had to give their demands for humanitarian aid to the Central Emergency Committee, which would collect them and pass them to the Foreign Ministry. 

FINAL ITEM