Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

20 March 2003

IRAQ

• Explosions rocked Baghdad at dawn on Thursday as the United States launched a war to overthrow Saddam Hussein. The U.S. military appeared to take over the main frequency of Iraqi state radio, saying Saddam’s administration was under attack. In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush said the attack on Iraq was in its early stages; “These are the opening stages of what will be a broad and concerted campaign,” President Bush said in an address. (Reuters 200303 GMT Mar 03)
  
  
• The government asked parliament to grant the U.S. military permission to use Turkish airspace in an Iraq war, a delayed decision that falls short of Washington’s initial hopes to station ground troops in Turkey. The proposal would not allow U.S. planes to use Turkish air bases or refuel in Turkey. The United States also would not be able to use the Incirlik air base. The government sent the resolution to parliament late Wednesday and a vote was expected on Thursday. (AP 200024 Mar 03)
  
  
• Italy’s parliament approved Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s request on Wednesday to allow U.S.-led coalition forces to use Italian air space and military bases, but not for directs attacks on Iraq. Bases can be used for logistical purposes but “not for military attacks (by planes) that take off from these bases,” Berlusconi said. “We are not a belligerent nation.” (AP 191940 Mar 03)
  
  
• The leader of an Islamic guerrilla group in Kurdish Iraq that has been tied to al-Qaida warned the United States not to attack his group on Wednesday. In an interview broadcast on Dutch television program Netwerk, Mullah Krekar said his group, Ansar al-Islam, would use suicide attacks to defend itself, if necessary. “If the Americans attack us, I may call for holy war,” he said. The United Nations has labeled Ansar al-Islam a terrorist organization and Washington believes some members of al-Qaida fleeing Afghanistan joined the 500-strong group. (AP 192300 Mar 03)
  

AFGHANISTAN

• German Defence Minister Peter Struck said on Wednesday he wanted NATO to decide soon on a proposal to replace German and Dutch troops in leading the international “stabilization” force in Afghanistan. Struck said NATO members France and Belgium opposed the idea that the Alliance should take over, making it unclear what would happen to the International Security Assistance Force once the period Germany and the Netherlands were in charge ran out. “We need clarity over who succeeds the German-Dutch leadership, at the latest in April,” Struck told parliament in a debate on Germany’s 2003 defence budget. “If it is difficult to find another country, then we in Germany will have to decide what to do. It is pretty clear that the Netherlands wants to withdraw its share (of the force),” Struck said. The ISAF force was a logistical and financial burden for Germany, he added. He said the proposal for NATO to take over was supported by NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, the United States and Afghanistan’s leader Hamid Karzai. (Reuters 192125 GMT Mar 03)