Military

DATE=11/22/02

TYPE=INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

TITLE=GENERAL GEORGE JOULWAN, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER

NUMBER=3-434

BYLINE=TOM CROSBY

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

INTERNET=

/// EDITORS: This interview is available in Dalet under SOD/English News Now Interviews in the folder for today or yesterday ///

INTRO: NATO allies have agreed to take what they call "effective action" to back United Nations' efforts to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction. Retired U-S Army General George Joulwan (JOWL-one) was NATO's supreme allied commander from 1993 to 1997. He says having NATO as a U-S partner in any military intervention in Iraq is much better than...as he put it..."going it alone."

At the same time, General Joulwan tells V-O-A's Tom Crosby, he endorses the NATO leaders' pledge Thursday to modernize alliance forces:

GEN. JOULWAN: I think, very clearly, what we are talking about is really improved capability to operate, particularly with the United States, in areas at the high end of the spectrum. And what that means is that we have made rapid development in this country in what we call communications, intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance type of technology, and our European allies have not kept pace. This is an attempt to do it.

And one of the areas that they have agreed upon at the summit is what we call Alliance Ground Surveillance. This is something I started 10 years ago, and said this is what the Alliance needs. And that has been approved. This will give needed capability for NATO to really act now as a new NATO in the new missions in the 21st century, and work very closely with the United States, as well as with its other member nations.

MR. CROSBY: Are we talking, too, about the ability to deploy more rapidly?

GEN. JOULWAN: One of the other things that was mentioned, instead of a laundry list of 50 or 60 items, they have listed just a handful. And the other was strategic lift, whether they lease it or buy it. My guess is most will lease it. Precision munitions to operate with us at the high end of the spectrum; refueling capability is another, as well as in the area of intelligence sharing. And this Alliance Ground Surveillance will permit mixed crews. And I think that is significant. It is similar to what we have with the early warning AWACS planes that NATO has that were deployed here, by the way, after September 11th by the Alliance, in recognition of the attack that was conducted on the United States.

MR. CROSBY: General, as NATO looks toward expanding its membership to include some former communist countries, might we assume that those countries, too, are coming in with some very specific military needs and more advanced equipment perhaps required?

GEN. JOULWAN: Well, many of them are in pretty good shape. I think, this enlargement can be very good news for the Alliance in many ways. And, militarily, you have to remember, when I went into Bosnia, and I was in command of that operation, we had 36 nations, and many of these nations were represented. They do need to modernize. They are going to go through that. What they really need to modernize is their infrastructure, their command-and-control, their air defense, those sort of things, as well as modern weapons and equipment.

HOST: Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander George Joulwan (JOWL-one).

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