Military

NATO-MINISTERIAL MEETING

¨         AFP reports Defense Secretary Rumsfeld called on NATO Tuesday to create a 21,000-strong force, warning that failure to arm the Alliance for new threats like terrorism would send the world a "harmful signal."  The dispatch quotes a senior U.S. defense official saying that Rumsfeld's proposal for a rapid response force capable of deploying anywhere in the world with as little as a week's notice drew "overwhelming support" from a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Warsaw.  The official reportedly stressed that more than a dozen defense ministers spoke in favor of the proposal, including Britain, France, Greece, Poland and Turkey.  The dispatch notes that Italy and Spain were also reported to support it.  Examining initial reactions to Rumsfeld's proposal, a related Reuters dispatch quotes Italian Defense Minister Martino saying:  "I think this is a very good idea.  It must be evaluated in the framework of all the other commitments we have with NATO and the EU.  The idea of increasing the readiness of our forces to be ready in days or weeks rather than months is important." 

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal considers that the U.S. proposal for a NATO Rapid Response Force makes military sense and represents an imaginative solution to NATO's current predicament.  The military needs of today and tomorrow call for state-of-the-art, light, flexible and easily moveable forces.  A NATO rapid reaction force compliments other reforms on the table, stresses the newspaper, noting that the U.S. proposal to partner up with the Europeans on a new venture to defend each other against common threats serves everyone's interests.  The newspaper also notes that taken at face value, Washington's proposal shows the U.S. wants to revitalize NATO into a military club of like-minded democracies willing and able to act globally.  "NATO may yet be back in business.  Both American and European interests can still be served by this product of the Cold War," the article concludes.  It warns, however, that now that the U.S. looks serious about giving the Alliance an important role again, the question becomes, will the Europeans respond by getting serious about military modernization and backing these reforms?  

Under the title, "Rumsfeld asks NATO to develop 'rogue state' strike force," The Independent opines that "the proposal could be the last chance for the Alliance to rescue itself from irrelevance" in the aftermath of Sept. 11.  In a similar vein, The Times writes that a new rapid reaction force could help NATO to become more relevant in international security and give European nations a military role alongside American troops.   While the article claims that military experts predicted that the plan could mean the end of the EU's own fledgling rapid reaction force, media generally highlight that the U.S. proposal is different from EU plans for a 60,000-strong rapid reaction force.  La Libre Belgique explains that the "crack force" envisaged under the U.S. proposal is  based on a study by the U.S. Conservative think-tank Rand Corporation and its objective is to constitute a brigade-size force of about 5,000 personnel which could be quickly expanded to about 20,000 with the support of one or several of the 19 NATO allies.   The newspaper quotes Defense Minister Flahaut saying Tuesday he did not exclude the possibility that Belgian Para commandos could be allocated to the NATO force. 

Le Soir asserts that funding for the new NATO force is creating friction within the Belgian ruling coalition.  The article observes that the proposal puts Belgium, which is engaged in a radical restructuring of its Army, with savings into the bargain, in the "hot seat."

Sueddeutsche Zeitung focuses on reports that the new NATO force could take part in "out of area" combat missions in the framework of the fight against  international terrorism.  "In the future, NATO will play a central military role," concludes the newspaper.

The United States is putting pressure on the NATO allies to agree to the establishment of a rapid reaction force.  The message which Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is conveying is that if  this does not take place, the Alliance will lose its credibility, writes Dutch daily De Volkskrant.

¨         According to Reuters, Germany and the Netherlands offered on Tuesday to take command of ISAF when Turkey's mandate expires at the end of the year.  The dispatch quotes German Defense Minister Struck saying that at the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Warsaw, the two countries had offered to deploy their joint force as leader of the Kabul-based force. "With my Dutch colleague here we proposed that the First Dutch-German Corps will take over leadership in Afghanistan in January or February," Struck reportedly said.  According to the dispatch, he suggested that the offer could help to ease frictions between Berlin and Washington which have broken out over German opposition to the U.S. campaign to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Defense News, Sept. 23-29, expects that NATO defense ministers meeting in Warsaw will also discuss the ongoing review of the Alliance's command structure.

The ministers intend to review progress reports and make recommendations to be adopted at the Prague summit, says the article.  It article claims that NATO officials may consider adding a new command-Allied Forces West-to the existing Allied Forces North Europe and Allied Forces South Europe. They may also consider consolidating or eliminating sub-commands.  The article stresses, however, that the challenge, according to NATO officials, will be to persuade some NATO countries that host the regional commands to give them up.

NATO-HIGHT READINESS HEADQUARTERS

¨         Belgian daily De Standaard quotes military sources saying Monday that the Eurocorps staff has successfully completed its final operational test with a view toward receiving the status of  NATO "High Readiness Forces Headquarters." About 3,300 military from five different Eurocorps nations took part in the exercise "Common Effort" in the German town of Wildflecken.