Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

17 June 2003

GENERAL JONES

• Continuing a series of articles bringing together Gen. Jones’ vision of EUCOM, the Stars and Stripes writes that much of the attention on Gen. Jones’ plans to reshape his forces has centered on setting up bases in Eastern Europe, but he also is looking south. “We don’t pay enough attention to Africa, but I think we’re going to have to in the 21st century,” the newspaper quotes Gen. Jones saying, in his capacity as commander of the U.S. European Command. According to the article, Gen. Jones said he envisions using troops already in Europe to rotate into bare-bones Forward Operating Sites throughout the African continent. “Hopefully, we’ll see more visits and more presence by our American forces, and maybe from the European theater to begin to stem the tide of what is going to be, I think an extremely difficult story with regard to the developments of not only the southern rim of the Mediterranean, but sub-Saharan Africa as well,” Gen. Jones reportedly said.

ISAF

• According to Moscow’s Interfax, Defense Minister Ivanov told senior members of the Russian government Tuesday that Russia has offered assistance to NATO when the Alliance takes on peacekeeping duties in Afghanistan and “the offer was gratefully accepted.”

Looking at NATO’s forthcoming takeover of the ISAF mission, the Wall Street Journal writes: “NATO hopes that Afghanistan’s chronic instability will help anchor a military alliance bereft of a clear purpose since the collapse of the Soviet Union and further disoriented by squabbling over Iraq and whether the U.S. was leading the Alliance astray. For an organization set to tame the Soviet empire and still spending more than $7 billion a year on command centers and other military expenses, NATO’s new Kabul mission is somewhat puny. The Alliance will coordinate staffing and provide some communication gears, photocopiers and other equipment…. But, says NATO Secretary General Robertson, the move to Kabul—the organization’s first deployment outside Europe—marks ‘a watershed’ that will help debunk the ‘trendy argument’ that the U.S. and Europe have drifted apart.” The article, which centers on transatlantic squabbles before the war in Iraq, observes: The ISAF includes personnel from 29 nations, but the vast bulk of the manpower comes from European countries at odds with the U.S. over Iraq. Among other things, European troops patrol Kabul around the clock. Unlike combat operations, which involve short bursts of intense action, street patrols last for years. In Bosnia, they’ve been going on for a decade.

• The external service of Mashhad Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran, June 16, reported that representatives from Afghanistan’s Herat province have expressed their opposition to a possible deployment of ISAF troops in the area. Peace and security prevail in the province and there is no justification for an ISAF presence, they reportedly insisted at a meeting Sunday. The report noted that a German delegation is expected to visit Herat to assess the security situation, the trend of reconstruction and the issue of deployment of ISAF forces in the province. The Washington Post writes that as the U.S. retreats, Iran is putting its money into Herat province. In the battle for Afghan hearts and minds, Iran appears to be gaining influence in the province ruled by one of the nation’s most powerful and independent regional leaders, governor Ismail Khan, notes the newspaper. While the United States has distanced itself from Khan recently in an effort to show unambiguous support for Afghanistan’s central government, Iran’s relationship with Herat has grown closer. Some in the area find this alarming, because they are eager to see western-style democracy and women’s rights prevail over Iran’s brand of Islamic rule, the newspaper continues.

IRAN

• With media seeing Iran’s nuclear program at the center of the international community’s concerns, The Daily Telegraph writes that the EU ditched its “softly-softly” policy toward Iran Monday, ordering the clerical regime to give weapons inspectors “urgent and unconditional” access to its nuclear facilities. Lining up behind the United States, adds the newspaper, EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg voiced “serious concerns” that Iran’s atomic energy program was being used to conceal an attempt to build nuclear weapons. The article comments that the dramatic change in EU policy shows how far the group has gone since the Iraq war to align its strategic thinking on weapons proliferation with the Bush administration. Diplomats said France played a key role in pushing through the new strategic doctrine in tandem with Britain, despite strong German reservations, notes the newspaper. Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, is quoted saying the French share CIA assessments that Iraq is two to three years from developing nuclear weapons.
  
  
• Electronic media report that French police have launched a massive raid in the Paris region on the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujahideen. They quote the Interior Ministry saying in a statement that the raids were carried out on the orders of France’s leading anti-terrorism judge for “criminal association aimed at preparing terrorist acts and for financing a terrorist enterprise.” According to the BBC World Service, more than 150 people were arrested during the operation by 1,300 police officers. The program claimed that police had arrested Maryam Rajavi, wife of the group’s leader, Massoud Rajavi. She is seen by the People’s Mujahideen as the future president of Iran, said the program. The broadcast noted that the EU declared the People’s Mujahideen a terrorist organization in May last year, but this is the first time that the French authorities have moved to detain its members. France-2 television explained that while the People’s Mujahideen presents itself as an alternative to the Iranian regime, it has no support in Iran’s democratic circles. The program recalled the group’s close connection with Saddam Hussein’s former regime in Iraq.
  

ESDP

• The BBC World Service reported that troops of the French-led international force deployed in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo town of Burnia have killed two militiamen, according to a spokesman for the force. The incident occurred when the troops came under fire, the spokesman reportedly said. He warned that the force mandated by the UN and deployed by the EU “would respond firmly to all people threatening the life of the population and soldiers of the multinational force.”