Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

13 March 2003

IRAQ

• According to The Daily Telegraph, Prime Minister Blair prepared Britain yesterday for going to war against Iraq without fresh authority from the UN, dismissing the idea that America would go ahead without British forces because of his difficulty in persuading Labour MPs and the public of the case for military action. Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Straw reportedly refused to say whether the draft resolution which set a March 17 deadline for Saddam to show he was disarming would be put to a vote in the UN Security Council this week. Mr. Blair, the newspaper writes, outlined six tests for Iraq to prove it was ready to disarm. The proposals represent, observes the daily, a last-ditch attempt to try to win round “waverers” on the Security Council to secure the nine votes needed for a new resolution. In any case, stresses the newspaper, Mr. Blair left MPs in no doubt that, with or without a second resolution, he was ready to send British troops into action alongside American forces. Britain’s conditions, listed by an AP report, would include: a television appearance by Saddam renouncing weapons of mass destruction; Iraq’s permission for 30 key weapons scientists to travel to Cyprus to be interviewed by UN weapons inspectors; the destruction of 10,000 liters of anthrax and other chemical and biological weapons; the surrender of and an explanation about biological weapons production; a commitment to destroy proscribed missiles; an accounting for unmanned aerial vehicles. This initiative however, has been rejected today by France, which said Baghdad must be given a realistic deadline to get rid of its weapons of mass destruction, an AP dispatch reports. Foreign Minister de Villepin was quoted saying on the issue: “It’s not about giving a few more days to Iraq before resorting to force but about resolutely advancing through peaceful disarmament”. The Washington Post stressed that Turkey’s leaders hardened their position insisting they need further assurances about post-war Iraq before they allow U.S. troops to deploy along the border for an attack against Iraq. Moreover, they are also refusing to let the Americans use Turkish airspace without parliament’s approval.
  
  
• The Daily Telegraph reports the EU issued a blunt warning yesterday, reports, that it would not finance the reconstruction of Iraq if Washington went to war without a clear mandate and full cover from the UN. The European external affairs commissioner, Mr. Chris Patten, was quoted saying to Euro-MPs that it would be “very difficult” to convince states to spend large sums of money repairing the damage done by America in a conflict they opposed. In a related article, carried by The Times, Mr. Patten’s speech is seen as a clear sign of the hardening of attitudes against any pre-emptive American-led attack on Saddam. EU would be more likely to be generous in its contribution to a longer-term reconstruction, Mr. Patten reportedly stated, if the legitimacy of the military action was undisputed and if the Un was clearly in charge of the reconstruction process and the new political order that emerged in Iraq.
  

NATO

• NATO is to send two more Patriot anti-missile batteries to Turkey to boost the country’s defense in preparation for a possible war in Iraq, reported an AFP wire dispatch, taking to five the total number of Patriot systems now in Turkey. In a similar Reuters report, according to some diplomats, the U.S. offered to send the two Patriot systems resolving one of NATO’s problems in meeting the defense needs of its ally Turkey.

EU-NATO

• AFP reports the Greek foreign minister announcing that after months of negotiations, NATO and EU will sign a security agreement in Athens tomorrow. The deal, the dispatch says, which envisages the exchange of confidential information between the two organizations, will be signed By Mr. Solana and lord Robertson. The accord aims at giving flesh to the EU’s common defense and security policy. In the end of March, concludes the report, the EU takes over NATO’s peacekeeping operation in Macedonia (sic). On the same subject, a Euronews broadcast stated that the agreement to be signed tomorrow includes the generation of a contingent of about 220 soldiers, half of which French to be sent to Macedonia (sic).

BALKANS

• An AFP dispatch quoted UN police officials in Kosovo saying that they have heightened security procedures in the province following the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Djindjic. Ethnic Albanian analysts said that the killing could have repercussions on the upcoming dialogue between Kosovo leaders and Belgrade authorities, due to take place in the coming weeks.