Military

WAR ON TERRORISM

¨         Amid increasingly warm ties, Russia and NATO discussed strategies for fighting terrorism on Monday, with NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson saying the former foes must trim their bulky, Cold War-style armies to adapt to new threats. "The Cold War is over, Russia and NATO are partners and Cold War forces are simply a waste of money," Lord Robertson told reporters in Moscow.  "In many ways, Osama bin Laden was the midwife of an incredible new rapprochement," Lord Robertson said. "But I don't think that in his wildest dreams this fanatical criminal would have thought that he would have ended forever the Cold War and brought NATO and Russia so closely together." (AP 091628 Dec 02)

¨         Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has left open the possibility of expanding the new U.S. military presence in the Horn of Africa, where hundreds of American troops are based as part of a land, sea and air campaign to root out al-Qaida terrorists. In an interview on Monday en route to his first visit to the Horn of Africa since taking office, Rumsfeld said some countries in that unstable region had offered the use of military facilities, but that so far the United States had only agreed to use Camp Le Monier in the desert hinterland of Djibouti. (AP 100345 Dec 02)

¨         The Dutch internal intelligence service (AIVD) said in a report on Monday that dozens of young disenchanted Muslims in the Netherlands may have been recruited for suicide missions in the name of Islam. The 40-page report said second generation Muslims who "wrestle with their identity" are ripe for recruitment for jihad, or holy war, by radical Islamic groups. Sybrand van Hulst, chief of the AIVD, said recruits could be sent on missions in the Netherlands or other western nations "at any moment." He told a news conference, however, that the agency wasn't aware of any concrete threat. (AP 091904 Dec 02)

¨         Georgian President Shevardnadze said the weekend anti-crime crackdown in the capital Tbilisi was prompted by the threat of large-scale terrorist attacks against his Caucasus Mountain nation. In his weekly radio interview, Shevardnadze said Georgian intelligence had information that "extremist groups were planning to carry out wide-ranging terrorist acts in Tbilisi." He also noted "published threats" against Georgia, apparently referring to Georgian media reports that Chechen rebel spokesman Movladi Udugov had warned of retaliation if Tbilisi extradited three Chechens demanded by Moscow. In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked Shevardnadze "for decisive action in the struggle against terrorism," the Interfax news agency reported. (AP 091803 Dec 02)

IRAQ

¨         A crack appeared on Monday in the German government's position on the use of German air space in an Iraq war after a Greens party leader, Angelika Beer, said it would be unconstitutional to allow the United States overflight without a UN mandate authorizing force. Beer was formerly the Greens defense expert. "I am convinced that it would be against the constitution," she told the daily Die Welt, without elaborating. Beer also ruled out allowing German crews to man NATO's AWACS early warning planes without a UN mandate. About a quarter of NATO's crews for its 17 AWACS are German. (AP 091636 Dec 02)

NATO

¨         A British government paper on the planned U.S. missile defense system said Monday that an early warning station in northern England could help defend against attack from the Middle East. Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon, issuing his department's discussion paper, said the United States had not made any formal request for the use of British facilities for the project, but that any such request would be considered very seriously. (AP 092151 Dec 02)

¨         The military will try to shoot down a dummy strategic missile warhead over the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday in the eighth such test of a planned U.S. defense against ballistic missiles, the Pentagon said on Monday. (Reuters 100027 GMT Dec 02)

¨         Turkey's powerful generals on Monday told the new government it should be alert to any rise in Islamic militancy which could threaten the NATO member state's secular order, private broadcaster NTV said. "The Turkish armed forces will continue to devote all of its attention to protecting secularism," NTV's website quoted the military General Staff as telling Prime Minister Abdullah Gul and members of his cabinet at a briefing in Ankara. (Reuters 091929 GMT Dec 02)

¨         Canada and the United States have signed a new military cooperation agreement that allows troops of each country to enter the other in an emergency, officials announced on Monday. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the agreement creates a new U.S.-Canadian planning group that will prepare contingency plans for responding to terror threats, attacks or other emergencies in either country. Canadian Defense Minister John McCallum told a news conference that the goal was to best utilize the forces available. (AP 092202 Dec 02)