Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

23 June 2003

UNIVERSAL COMPETENCE LAW

• Facing a U.S. threat to force NATO’s headquarters out of Brussels, the Belgian government agreed on Sunday to change a war crimes law used to target President Bush and other prominent Americans. The amendments would reduce the law’s global ambitions, limiting the reach of Belgian courts to cases with a direct link to the country, such as when victims or suspects are Belgian citizens or residents. “It’s not up to Belgium to decide if its justice is better than American justice, or Israeli justice or that of European countries,” Foreign Minister Louis Michel said. “We have fine-tuned the law to avoid abuses.'” It was unclear whether the changes would placate Washington, which insists the law be dropped. The new amendments likely will be approved by the parliament. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt denied charges his government was folding in the face of U.S. pressure, insisting the changes were in response to the recent spate of politically motivated complaints. (The Guardian 23 0329 Jun 03)

WAR ON TERRORISM

• The EU and the U.S. are expected to sign an extradition and judicial co-operation agreement at this week’s summit in Washington, their first since the end of the war against Iraq. The agreements, designed to improve security in the fight against terrorism, could signal the start of rebuilding a transatlantic relationship that was deeply damaged during the US-led war on Iraq. “These are more than goodwill accords,” said an EU diplomat. “They are about how the U.S. and the Europeans can work together on several issues.” EU member states, however, accepted the extradition agreement only on condition they received guarantees that none of their citizens would be subject to the death penalty. The delegation, led by Romano Prodi, European Commission president, Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Costas Simitis, Greek prime minister, and George Papandreou, Greek foreign minister, will also clinch an accord on container security. It will give U.S. officials based in some of Europe’s main ports the right to check containers crossing the Atlantic. (The Financial Times 221758 Jun 03)

EU

• The European Union summit in Thessaloniki that ended on Saturday afternoon amid a blistering heat wave, will be remembered for one main thing: the realities of dealing with 25 countries. Just how difficult it was at this summit can be judged from the level of the debate. Iran, Iraq and the Middle East got very little attention. Instead, the entire dinner was spent discussing the EU’s security doctrine, typically and innocuously entitled “A Secure Europe in a better world.” It is an important document that will be beefed up in the coming months. It sets out Europe’s place in the world and how it perceives conflicts and ways to resolve them. It is too early to say which way it will go. One thing is sure. There was a lot of words and many, many press conferences at this summit where the vanity of the leaders more often than not, took precedence over real content. (The Financial Times 211905 Jun 03)

WMD

• Libya has been “aggressively pursuing” the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction since the United Nations sanctions against the country were suspended after the Lockerbie trial, America claimed yesterday. John Bolton, under secretary of state for arms control and international security, signalled that Colonel Gaddafi’s regime was once again in Washington’s sights. Although the alleged nuclear threats posed by Iran and North Korea have both been in the headlines, the Bush administration is closely monitoring developments in other countries such as Libya and Syria. According to diplomatic sources, America is investigating whether the Gaddafi regime has recruited Iraqi scientists who had previously worked for Saddam Hussein. Mr Bolton said during a visit to London yesterday: “Since the sanctions were lifted, Libya has been able to exploit the normalisation of the economy to be more aggressive in pursuing weapons of mass destruction. For example, Libyan agents are trying to acquire dual-use technology. That in itself is very worrying.” (The Independent 21 Jun 03)

IRAQ

• The commander of British forces in Iraq has admitted that keeping the peace is proving harder than winning the war against Saddam Hussein and complained that the U.S.-led civilian administration is taking too long to get off the ground. “We always knew we were going into the unknown and the aftermath would be less straightforward than the war, but it has turned out to be much more complex,” said Major-General Peter Wall in an interview at his office in what used to be the VIP lounge of Basra airport. Speaking in the week when American troops in Baghdad opened fire on Iraqi soldiers demonstrating against the administration’s decision to disband the army, leaving 400,000 unemployed, Major-General Wall acknowledged that in British-controlled southern Iraq he was ignoring this policy. He denied any rift between the British and Americans over this policy, part of a controversial programme of “de- Ba’athification” under which all senior members of Saddam’s Ba’ath party are banned from holding state jobs. Major-General Wall acknowledged that he “had expected the civilian aspects would be significantly far more advanced by now”, but insisted: “We don’t regard Ba’ath party membership as an obstacle, rather on the contrary, for they are the people with the experience to run things. (The Sunday Times 22 Jun 03)

MIDDLE EAST

• The U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein forced Iraq’s neighbours to contemplate their weaknesses and lack of democracy, Arab leaders said yesterday in a debate that revealed fears about what Washington might have in store next for the region. Iraq was among the main themes at the World Economic Forum, held for the first time in the Middle East. More than 1,100 participants, including 11 heads of state or government and dozens of cabinet ministers attended the three-day meeting, which opened yesterday on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan with the BBC-sponsored debate on Iraq. During the debate, the United States was accused of planning to remake Iraq into its version of an Arab democracy, then impose that model on the rest of the region. In defense, Sen. Richard G. Lugar, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States wanted democracy, economic vibrancy and peace for Iraq and the rest of the Arab world and was ready to work with partners in the region who shared that vision. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa accused the United States of planning the region’s future without consulting its people or its leaders and without giving Arabs credit for their own attempts to change. (The Washington Times 23 Jun 03)