Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

27 June 2003

SACEUR

• Gen. Jones’ visit to the Czech anti-chemical unit in Liberec generated high interest in Czech media. The CTK news agency, June 25, quoted a base spokesman saying the visit was the greatest possible recognition and award for the unit’s soldiers and their work. The spokesman reportedly compared it to the historic visit of Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Josef I to the Liberec barracks in the 19th century. The dispatch reported that Czech anti-chemical weapons experts demonstrated their skills to Gen. Jones, primarily in the detection and identification of toxic substances. They also displayed modern equipment for decontaminating machinery and people, such a the Tatra truck, equipped with a jet engine that can remove substances from 50 vehicles or 200 people per hour. Claiming that Gen. Jones was primarily visiting the Czech Republic to observe developments in the Army after the cancellation of planned military reforms because of budget cuts, the dispatch added: “The chemical unit, which now has 400 members, was to be increased to 700 members. However, it will now be necessary to wait until the public finance reform is passed to see if there are sufficient funds for the 300 additional soldiers.” Related information was carried by four major dailies as well as national television and radio. Another CKT dispatch, June 26, quoted Gen. Jones saying at a news conference in Prague that NATO would like its member states to allocate at least 2 percent of GDP to defense. “Gen. Jones was reacting to developments in the Czech armed forces, which will get only 1.98 percent of GDP instead of the planned 2.2 percent in connection with the planned public finance reform,” the dispatch claimed, noting: “Gen. Jones said he believes the Czech Republic, which has set on the path of specialization, will effectively use the finance allocated. He said the transformation aimed at creating the NRF is under way and that the military wing of the Alliance must be adapted to 21st century threats, such as terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. He said NATO’s effectiveness would be increased if it cuts the numerical strength and reduces the whole structure. The means gained could then be invested in modernization. He added that the Czech Republic was also following that path.” The dispatch also quoted a spokesman for the Czech presidency saying Gen. Jones thanked President Klaus for the participation of Czech soldiers in foreign missions. “He also praised the Czech Republic’s offer to assume the leading role in building a multinational battalion for protection against weapons of mass destruction,” the spokesman reportedly stressed.

ISAF

• Deutsche Welle carried an interview with Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN envoy to Afghanistan, in which he called for an expansion of ISAF’s mandate. Speaking after meetings in Germany with Defense Minister Struck and Foreign Minister Fischer, Brahimi said: “The international troops, ISAF, are needed now and they will be needed for some time. How long is difficult to say. My personal calculation is a couple of years before the Afghan army and national police can provide security for the people of Afghanistan, especially in Kabul…. We are in the process of rebuilding the state machinery. There are no roads, no telephones, no lines of communication. That is why it is so difficult to project the influence of the central government in the country. The government is limited in its resources, but it is recognized in the provinces. Therefore, what is required is to help the government rebuild the state, not only in Kabul, but in the provinces. The best way of doing this is to extend ISAF outside the capital.” Radio Afghanistan, June 26, carried Afghan Interior Ministry Jalali saying: “There have been many requests for an expansion of ISAF to other cities of Afghanistan, particularly Mazar-e Sharif. Afghanistan has requested this, the UN has requested this, and other international organizations have also requested this. But, I think there is no process underway to expand ISAF to Mazar-e Sharif. The countries that send military forces to ISAF have not yet decided on this issue. However, British reconstruction teams will soon be deployed here. They have promised to bring their military elements to this area, when they establish their reconstruction teams. In fact, they are not involved in security, but their presence may prove helpful.”

TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS

• According to the Washington Times, the Bush administration Thursday urged its European allies not to “put a check” on American power but to stand firmly with the United States in its effort to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction an other modern ills. Speaking at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, adds the newspaper, National Security Adviser Condoleeza Rice warned the Europeans that only a united front pressuring rogue states like Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear ambitions would help to avoid military confrontation. “We don’t ever want to have to deal with the proliferation issue again the way we dealt with Iraq,” she said. She stressed that the United States should not be feared and opposed just because of its unparalleled might. She argued that other nations can put their mark on history by joining forces with Washington to battle terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and other post-Cold War security threats. The newspaper observes that Ms. Rice also joined the chorus of U.S. and European officials who have been insisting that, however deep the divisions over the war in Iraq might have been, the two sides of the Atlantic are still united by a “confluence of common interests and common values .”

International media generally considered that an EU-U.S. summit in Washington Wednesday provided an opportunity for the Bush administration to agree and make up in the wake of transatlantic differences over the war in Iraq.
This was typified by The Independent, which noted that the EU and the US. embarked on a show of post-Iraq fence-mending, pressing Iran not to produce nuclear weapons, and jointly vowing to defeat international terrorism. The newspaper noted that the EU-U.S. summit ended with two specific agreements to speed extraditions of suspected terrorists and to crack down on illegal trade in materials which could be used for weapons proliferation. The new accords were being hailed by both sides as proof that wounds are beginning to heal after the bitter raw between the Bush administration and several European countries regarding the war in Iraq. U.S. officials spoke of “converging agendas” on both ides of the Atlantic, and their European counterparts tried to strike a similar upbeat note, said the newspaper. Athens News Agency, June 26, reported that at a joint news conference with President Bush, Greek Prime Minister and current President of the European Council Costas Simitis emphasized the need for cooperation between Europe and the U.S. to confront “common threats.” Simitis characterized the transatlantic relation and interdependence between the United States and the EU as being of “fundamental importance,” added the dispatch.

OTHER NEWS

• Defense Secretary Rumsfeld is discussing the possibility of the United States organizing a standing international peacekeeping force that could be dispatched to trouble spots around the globe. The force would operate outside the auspices of the UN and NATO and would include thousands of U.S. Army troops trained for, and permanently assigned to, peacekeeping work, reports the Los Angeles Times. According to the newspaper, senior Bush administration officials are coming to believe in the need to create a standing constabulary force made up of troops from a range of countries—but led and trained by the United States. It would be distinct from the proposed NATO Response Force and apart from the UN, which has provided peacekeeping missions for decades. Pentagon officials are quoted saying that although Rumsfeld has broached his idea in meetings recently with senior army officials, he has not ordered a formal study or set a timetable for implementation.