Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

12 June 2003

NATO

• Allied defense ministers will seek Thursday to overcome differences over NATO’s command structure that threaten to delay military reforms essential to alliance modernization. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also is expected to push his European colleagues to honour pledges to beef up forces and press ahead with plans for an elite NATO fast-reaction force to spearhead the alliance’s response to threats around the world. “This will be the most radical restructuring of NATO since NATO was created,” Lord Robertson, the alliance’s secretary general, said last week. The streamlining will see NATO’s worldwide operational command concentrated at its European headquarters in southern Belgium under U.S. Marine Gen. James L. Jones. Signaling a step forward in efforts to plug gaping holes in Europe’s military toolbox, several allies were scheduled to sign “letters of intent” on Thursday committing them to lease cargo ships and big transport planes. (AP 120058 Jun 03)

IRAQ

• Amid the failure so far to find Iraq’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, the CIA said on Wednesday it had enlisted a former chief UN nuclear weapons inspector to refine the search. CIA Director George Tenet announced the appointment of David Kay to serve as an Iraq-based special adviser to help find the weapons. Kay led three United Nations arms inspection missions in Iraq during 1991-92. (Reuters 120053 GMT Jun 03)

OTHER NEWS

• Given a forum for bridging the American-German rift over Iraq, U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld on Wednesday instead revived criticism of what he has called “old Europe.” He suggested that a lack of vision led Western European nations to oppose the military campaign against Saddam Hussein. Stopping in Germany on his way to a NATO meeting in Brussels, Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said allies should be able to work together despite occasional disagreements. Appearing as keynote speakers, Rumsfeld and his German counterpart, Peter Struck, both said the two long-time allies should work to overcome their differences. He also criticized a Belgian war crimes law. He called it a “dangerous law which has turned Belgium’s legal system into a platform for divisive, politicized lawsuits against her NATO allies.” (AP 112124 Jun 03)
  
  
• The United States expects the international nuclear inspection agency to support its contention that Iran has an advanced program to build a nuclear weapon, a senior State Department official said. Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency is to release a report on Iran’s nuclear program on Monday. The UN visited Iran’s nuclear facilities earlier this year. The official also said the Bush administration rejects an offer by Iran to permit additional international monitoring of its nuclear development in exchange for the right to import advanced technology. The United States wants Iran to submit to further inspections without conditions, the official said. And even if it does, the U.S. will oppose Iran’s acquisition of advanced technology until it answers questions about its nuclear program, the official added. In the meantime, Undersecretary of State John Bolton headed on Wednesday for Madrid for a meeting with officials from about a dozen countries on how to slow the spread of dangerous weapons technology. Intercepting shipments at sea is one proposal under consideration. (AP 120051 Jun 03)
  
  
• The United States should be ready to smash North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor if necessary to keep Pyongyang from trafficking in nuclear weapons, an influential member of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s advisory panel said on Wednesday. “Whether we can effectively mobilize a coalition -- including China, Russia, the South Koreans, the Japanese, ourselves -- and so isolate them that they will abandon this program, that remains to be seen,” said Richard Perle. “But I don’t think anyone can exclude the kind of surgical strike we saw in 1981,” he said, citing Israel’s surprise air attack that destroyed Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor. “We should always be prepared to go it alone, if necessary,” he added. “I think we must assume that if they had a nuclear weapon, and if al Qaeda wished to purchase a nuclear weapon, it’s a deal that could be done,” said Perle. Asked whether the United States ultimately might resort to force, he said: “It is too soon to say whether that’s the only way we can prevent something I think we must prevent.” (Reuters 112249 GMT Jun 03)