Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

28 May 2003

NATO

• The United States may ask NATO to play a bigger role in Iraq within the next six months, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO said on Tuesday. The 19-nation strong military alliance will contribute to peace-keeping in Iraq by providing logistical support to Poland. But NATO’s role could expand beyond that, Nicholas Burns told reporters. (Reuters 272200 GMT May 03)

EU

• Seven European countries on Tuesday sealed a long-awaited order for 180 Airbus military transport planes, a deal worth some 20 billion euros that is meant to boost Europe’s ability to deploy independently of NATO. The launch contract includes 60 A400M aircraft for Germany and 50 for France. They are expected to enter service by 2010. (AP 271251 May 03)

IRAN

• The United States accused Iran of harboring al-Qaida militants and said it was worth checking a claim by an Iranian opposition group that the Islamic government was secretly constructing two uranium enrichment plants. Ruling out force for the time being, a U.S. presidential spokesman said the United States is addressing the terrorism and nuclear issues through diplomacy. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said informants inside Iran had made known the existence of two secret uranium enrichment facilities that are under construction about 64 kilometers west of Tehran. A NCRI spokeswoman told a news conference that the facilities will serve as adjuncts of a larger enrichment facility in the city of Natanz. She estimated that Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2005. (AP 280119 May 03)

IRAQ

• The new UN special representative for Iraq pledged on Tuesday to be on the job in Baghdad by next Monday and said the most urgent priority there was to establish law and order. “To build what we want to build - democratic institutions and a real culture of human rights and a political process making it possible for the Iraqis to govern themselves as soon as possible - is impossible without security,” Sergio Vieira de Mello told a news conference at UN headquarters. UN officials said Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the UN Development Program, would meet at the United Nations on June 24 with officials of governments interested in participating in Iraqi reconstruction. (Reuters 271956 GMT May 03)
  
  
• The United States intends to maintain a tight grip in Baghdad to “fill the vacuum of authority” while helping Iraq to create its own version of democracy, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Tuesday in Washington. “We are committed to helping the Iraqi people get on the path to a free society,” he said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations. In remarks clearly aimed at Iran, Rumsfeld said the allies would not permit some “new form of tyranny” to replace Saddam’s. “Iran should be on notice that attempts to remake Iraq in Iran’s image will be aggressively put down,” he added. (AP 272328 May 03)

MIDDLE EAST

• Israel and Palestinian leaders have told the European Union that while its involvement in the Middle East peace process is important the success of the “road map” rests squarely with the United States. On Tuesday’s closing day of an EU foreign ministers meeting with the bloc’s southern Arab neighbours as well as Israel, the clear message was that, just as in the Iraq crisis, Washington would be regarded as the key player in ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “There is no question Europeans are going to apply pressure, but the fundamental pressure has to come from the United States,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath said. “European pressure by itself won’t do it,” he told reporters. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom called for an end to the tension in EU-Israel relations and said European involvement in the road map would be welcome. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the bloc was ready to do all it could to ensure the road map was implemented fairly by both sides. (Reuters 270836 GMT May 03)