Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

14 February 2003

NATO

• NATO has put formal efforts to end a split over Iraq on hold, admitting it is unlikely to resolve the crisis at least until after a crucial session of the UN Security Council Friday, reports AFP. “After consultations between countries, it was decided that it would be difficult to make progress in a formal meeting. We have delayed the meeting until a later time,” the dispatch quotes a NATO spokesman saying.

The debate within NATO regarding Turkey’s defense against an Iraqi missile attack remains at the center of media attention.
Reuters asserts that Gen. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Senate panel Thursday that NATO was examining ways to deploy AWACS surveillance planes and missile defense assets in a way that would not require political approval, “They think they may have that legal authority without going through the political process,” Gen. Meyers reportedly said. A related article in France’s Le Figaro writes that “Gen. Myers threatened Thursday to circumvent the NAC to provide Turkey with the support it is requesting.” Explaining “the marginalization plan,” the article stresses: “Since France has excluded itself from the integrated military command…, all it takes is to make decisions within the framework of the Defense Planning Committee, where France does not have a seat. From words to deeds there is only one step. Gen. Myers has openly envisaged doing this.”

Liberation observes meanwhile that the deployment of Patriot missiles could just as well have taken place in a “discreet” way. In fact, says the French daily, on Thursday, the German Defense Ministry delivered 46 Patriot missiles to the Dutch army, which is equipped with the same system and will deploy its batteries in Turkey as of next week…. But the Americans have made a symbol of this issue…. Hence, the deadlock and the rift within the Alliance. Ankara’s TRT-2 television, Feb. 13, reported that the German Ambassador to Ankara, Rudolph Schmidt, Thursday conveyed to the Turkish Foreign Ministry the message that Germany is ready to place at the service of Turkey the personnel for the Patriot missiles and the AWACS aircraft. “Accordingly, Germany has undertaken to send to Turkey its personnel for the Patriot missiles and the AWACS aircraft,” the program claimed.
The German government announced it would soon begin shipping military equipment to Turkey, writes the Washington Post, quoting Chancellor Schroeder saying in an address to Parliament Thursday: “In December, I publicly announced that German AWACS crews were available to protect Turkey. Together with the Netherlands, we will provide Turkey with the most modern defense equipment available in Europe, the Patriot system.” The newspaper stresses that Germany will provide the missiles, but they will be operated by Dutch soldiers. A related article in the same newspaper says: “Turkey received a commitment of military help Thursday from Germany and the Netherlands, which prepared to ship Patriot missiles there despite the Alliance’s inability to agree to a Turkish request for protection against a potential Iraqi threat.”

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal, notes that lost in the headlines this week was the news that Germany took over command of ISAF. “These aren’t normal times,” says the daily, referring to the NATO debate on Turkey’s defense. But, it continues: “Among the 19 allies, the German establishment has generally been the most NATO-enthusiastic….. The country was, quite literally, rebuilt around the Alliance…. Regardless of their views on Iraq, Germans are sounding more anxious each day about the weakening of the NATO pillar. It did not help that the United States this week revealed possible plans to reduce, or move eastward, its 100,000 troops in Germany…. German military culture is more closely interwoven with NATO than any other ally’s. American generals can easily imagine a world without the Alliance; no German can. Any day at NATO headquarters in Brussels or the military headquarters in Mons, the odds are a German military delegation is visiting. During the Kosovo war, the most visible press spokesman was a German colonel. The number two at Mons is a German four-star general. Ten thousand troops are in Bosnia and Kosovo under the NATO flag.” The article concludes: Leave aside the rhetoric of Chancellor Schroeder and this past week’s events, the Alliance still looks central to German defense and foreign policy. Defense Minister Struck actively champions the missions abroad. He wants ISAF to be put under the NATO flag, a controversial idea inside the club. Unlike Britain or Turkey before them in Afghanistan, Germany has already begun to use the facilities at Mons to help run the mission.

OTHER NEWS

• AP writes that deflecting criticism from the Pentagon, Austria defended its decision Friday to block U.S. troops from crossing the nation, saying they will not be free to transit the neutral country without a new UN resolution authorizing war. Austrian Defense Minister Scheibner reportedly told national radio that the country would not approve U.S. military flights through Austrian airspace or the movement of U.S. troops without a UN resolution. But, he added, “should there be a new UN mandate, we would have to reconsider.” The dispatch notes that neutral Austria has strict rules dealing with the movement of foreign troops.