Military

SACEUR-EUCOM

¨         According to the Stars and Stripes, the U.S. Senate Wednesday confirmed Marine Commandant Gen. James Jones as EUCOM Commander and SACEUR.  The newspaper quotes Gen. Jones'  spokesman saying:  "(Gen. Jones is) humbled by the faith shown in him by the president and Senate and looks forward to the challenges ahead."

NATO

¨         Under the title, "NATO set to establish rapid reaction force," the Financial Times writes that "NATO's top military commander in Europe Thursday swept away several taboos by saying the Alliance would establish a rapid reaction force ready to go 'anywhere, any time at very short notice,' and capable of carrying out 200 combat sorties a day."  The newspaper argues that "Gen. Ralston's short speech to a NATO conference in effect threw down the gauntlet to the EU, almost paralyzed in trying to establish its own rapid reaction force by mid-2003."  It quotes diplomats saying Gen. Ralston's speech confirmed a fresh willingness by the U.S. to push NATO into a leaner, more flexible organization through its new NATO Response Force. Although NATO diplomats dismissed the idea that the NATO Rapid Response Force would eclipse the EU's rapid reaction force, European diplomats think otherwise, says the article, quoting one European diplomat commenting:  "What a reversal of roles.  ESDP is struggling for survival while NATO is attempting a revival."

IRAQ

¨         According to The Guardian,  France may hold the key to a compromise on the UN Security Council on the question of an eventual U.S.-backed intervention on Iraq. The newspaper quotes officials and diplomats saying Thursday that Paris, the fifth permanent member of the Council, wants two UN resolutions before any military intervention, and has staked out the middle ground between pro-war America and Britain and the much more skeptical Russia and China.  The newspaper notes that President Chirac Thursday reiterated his "utter hostility" to the U.S. and British draft resolution sanctioning the automatic use of force if Baghdad fails to comply with weapons inspections.  It adds, however, that  a French Foreign Ministry source said Paris might accept an element of "automaticity" in a second resolution, to be tabled only if Saddam Hussein obstructed the inspectors.  The article stresses that while Paris is standing firm on its conditions for the use of force, it is also preparing to play a full role in any UN-backed attack.  One French official reportedly said Thursday:   "If it has been decided by the proper process to implement international law, we will be there in force."  The newspaper observes that France's center-right government has made every effort since it was elected in June to improve France's standing in Washington. Consequently, adds the article, Paris is now in the thick of the diplomatic maneuvering over Iraq. 

A purported call in Brussels Thursday by U.S. deputy National Security Adviser Hadley for NATO to back the United States against Iraq when allied leaders meet in Prague next month is noted by The Times. 

The newspaper considers that by challenging the Alliance to give its full backing to U.S. military action against Iraq, "Washington put NATO on the spot."  The article quotes NATO diplomats saying that although the Alliance would not have a role in dealing with Iraq,  the issue of weapons of mass destruction would be on the agenda of the Prague summit.  The sources reportedly acknowledged, however, that Iraq would be discussed in the margins and during bilateral talks with America. 

TRANSATLANTIC COOPERATON-GEN. RALSTON

¨         The Washington Post, Oct. 3, remarked that while French and American diplomats and politicians argued this week over waging war on Iraq, French and American soldiers were working closely together in Ivory Coast to save lives.  The article stresses that the little-noticed operation is a useful reminder of the shared values and patterns of cooperation that Europeans and Americans have developed out of World War II and the Cold War.  "It also points to the kind of flexible command arrangements that could help stabilize NATO and overcome temptations of unilateralism on each side of the Atlantic."  A French colonel and a U.S. lieutenant colonel ran the operation jointly, without concern for past theological fights over national command arrangements between Paris and Washington, and spirited out 250 Americans, 400 French and a small number of people of other nationalities, adds the newspaper, continuing:  "Gen. Ralston, Commander of U.S. Forces in Europe, rushed about 75 Special Operation troops and five giant C-130s into the former French colony.  They transited through Ghana, one of half-dozen transit hubs in Africa that Gen. Ralston has been able to set up over the past two years."  The newspaper quotes Gen. Ralston saying in a telephonic interview Tuesday:   "This operation has been a model for cooperation between countries that want to get the most out of the military resources they have available and that have to move very quickly."  The newspaper concludes:  "The French forces showed flexibility and professionalism in welcoming a small American force into an area that Paris previously made off-limits to outside powers..  This small burst of pragmatism in West Africa may quickly get lost in the windstorm of global concern about unilateralism, terrorism and Iraq.  But it shows what can happen when old prejudices and pessimism are put aside and intelligent military professionals get to work on the problem."

AFGHANISTAN

¨         Il Giornale reports that the Lower House of Parliament Thursday approved the Italian government's plan to send up to 1,000 troops to Afghanistan.  The move followed a previous approval of the plans by Italy's Senate.