Military

NATO

¨         The United States challenged the NATO allies Thursday to back it against Iraq when allied leaders meet in Prague next month, reports Reuters.  According to the dispatch, U.S. deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley told a Brussels conference on NATO's future that "Prague will be a place where NATO must speak about Iraq."  As President Bush has said, he reportedly stressed, "the Iraqi regime poses a unique threat to the national security of each of our countries.  This means that it is a challenge for NATO implicitly if not explicitly."  According to the dispatch, he added that "the (Prague) summit will be a valuable opportunity to show allied solidarity in the face of this common threat."  The dispatch adds that European diplomats voiced fears that the summit, called to endorse a new round of eastward enlargement of the Alliance and a modernization of NATO's capabilities and commands, will be overshadowed by the divisive Iraq question.  The dispatch also remarks that Hadley's call for allied solidarity contrasted with a keynote speech by NATO Secretary General Robertson, who did not once mention Iraq, although he spoke in general terms about the threat of the spread of weapons of mass destruction.  Based on the prepared text of Lord Robertson's speech, AFP quotes him warning that the world is threatened by a "cocktail of instability" of terrorism, failed states and weapons proliferation and must get its collective act together.  While not mentioning Iraq, notes the dispatch, Lord Robertson stated that the "spread of weapons of mass destruction will be a defining security challenge of this new century."  NATO would have to evolve, he reportedly stressed, predicting that the Prague summit, which is expected to rubber-stamp NATO's enlargement, would be a watershed: "It will give NATO a clearer profile in combating terrorism, and in responding to the challenges posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

ESDP

¨         A serious lack of cash and political will are crippling EU efforts to set up a Rapid Reaction Force, however modest its aims, writes Reuters, quoting Paris-based defense analyst Francois Heisbourg saying:  "Americans kick in doors.  The EU says it is going to do the dishes and NATO actually does the dishes."  Ahead of a meeting of EU defense ministers meeting in Greece Friday, the dispatch asserts that the ministers know the political will to build the crisis management force is flagging and few countries are prepared to spend the money needed to fill big gaps in military capability.  It adds that EU foreign policy chief Solana has told the ministers they need to look for "imaginative interim options."  Suggesting this is the code for "canny ways to make the best of stagnant defense budgets," the dispatch says these include greater defense integration across the EU, pooling capabilities, leasing military equipment and the development of niche capabilities by individual countries.  According to the dispatch, Solana has also told the ministers they must consider the implications of a U.S. proposal for the creation of a predominantly European NATO strike force.  A related AP dispatch quotes EU diplomats saying ministers would find it hard to avoid talk on Iraq though the issue was not on the agenda.  The diplomats reportedly added, however, that no substantive debate was expected on Europe's response to the crisis.  Speaking on condition of anonymity, European officials said the diplomatic process in the UN meant it was too early for defense ministers to get down to the details of discussing possible military support for any U.S.-led attack on Iraq, adds the dispatch.  But, it continues, regardless of their position on Iraq, the EU nations face mounting pressure to build up their military after the Sept. 11 attacks revealed the vulnerability of western nations to terrorist or rogue state attacks

Paris' Le Monde, Sept. 29, asserted that the French military is seeking "cadre nation" status in the EU rapid reaction force. 

France has made a commitment to supply 20 percent of the operational capability for the Rapid Reaction Force that the EU wants to have up and running in 2003 to carry out "crisis management" military missions, said the article.  It claimed, however, that the EU Council has not ruled out using the force to conduct so-called "high-intensity" combat operations. The article continued:  "The role that France wants to play in this is written black on white in the very first lines of the draft defense budget for 2003, which the government has just approved, and in the draft military spending bill for 2003-2008.  Officially, France is demanding to be able to play a 'cadre nation' role within (the EU force.)  What this implies is the ability of the French armed forces to bring together the military contributions of the other member nations around its own national capabilities.  In order for France to achieve this, the 2003 draft defense budget will have to enable it to supply-for at least one year, even if this means rotating them regularly, 12,000 men, 75 combat airplanes, and 12 ships with the naval air group around the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle."

BALKANS

¨         Hilversum's Radio Netherlands, Oct. 2, reported that the Cabinet does not want to extend the Dutch participation in the NATO mission in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.  At the end of December at the latest the Dutch soldiers would have to leave the country, said the broadcast, adding that this emerged during consultations in the Lower House with Defense Minister Korthals.  At the end of the year both the Dutch participation in the peace mission in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the contribution to ISAF are due to end.  The cabinet has yet to decide formally in which mission the Netherlands will continue to participate, the program continued. 

AFGHANISTAN

¨         AP reports Italy's Senate gave its support Thursday to government plans to send up to 1,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, where they would take up combat roles as part of the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom. A vote in the lower house of parliament was reportedly expected later in the day.

ICC

¨         According to the Financial Times, Washington said a deal forged Monday by EU foreign ministers did not go far enough in preventing U.S. citizens from being handed over to the new International Criminal Court (ICC).  But, the newspaper observes,  the U.S. fell short of rejecting outright the compromise and said it would continue negotiating with the Europeans.  A State Department spokesman is quoted saying the EU's guidelines agreed this week "were a positive and constructive way forward."  He reportedly added, however that the U.S. would continue to seek agreements for all its nationals living outside the U.S. from immunity from prosecution.

OTHER NEWS

¨         According to The Guardian, a group of eminent scientists said Wednesday that the British government should immediately announce that Britain will abandon nuclear weapons when the Trident missile system reaches the end of its life.  A report by the Pugwash group to mark the 50^th anniversary of the first British nuclear test reportedly says such a move would not jeopardize the country's security yet would pressure on other nuclear states to disarm.  The authors of the report are quoted saying the government should set up a public inquiry into Britain's nuclear weapons policy, an issue they say has been ignored for far too long.  The government should also justify the number of nuclear warheads it deploys and clarify the circumstances in which they might be used.