Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

4 July 2003

DSACEUR

• DSACEUR, Adm. Feist, has said it is important for Lithuania to have not a big, but a modern army, able to react to arising dangers quickly, reported Vilnius’ Lithuanian Radio, July 3. The program quoted Adm. Feist saying the Lithuanian army’s reform was on the right track because all soldiers had individual tasks to perform and this would allow them to contribute to NATO’s mission in the future. The broadcast continued: “Adm. Feist said the size of the army was not important. What was important was to develop capabilities that will allow service personnel to combine their abilities in using advanced technologies. He praised the army’s material resources and the troops’ living conditions and said the troops’ participation in international missions was an indication that Lithuania was well-prepared for NATO membership.” Adm. Feist’s remarks were noted by Moscow’s Agentstvo Voyennykh Novostey, July 3. Adm. Feist told a news conference in Vilnius the Lithuanian army is developing correctly and will be capable of fulfilling NATO missions, said the report, adding: “He said the numerical strength is not as important as the army’s capability to make use of high technologies. He emphasized that the Lithuanian army should be compact but up to date and ready to address contingencies.”

ISAF

• Officials said Friday that an advance guard of NATO peacekeeping soldiers will head to Afghanistan this weekend to prepare the ground for the Alliance’s first mission outside Europe, reports AFP. Eight officers will set off on Saturday to prepare for next month’s handover from the current Dutch-German command of ISAF in Kabul, adds the dispatch, which quotes an Alliance statement saying: “NATO’s increased involvement demonstrates its continuing long-term commitment to stability and security in Afghanistan” through assistance to the interim government led by Hamid Karzai. “This support, consisting of strategic command, control and coordination of ISAF will provide continuity in the operation.” The dispatch highlights that it will be the first “out-of-area” mission in NATO’s 54-year history. A related AP dispatch says the NATO advance team will build up a computer network to be used by the NATO headquarters which is replacing ISAF’s current German-Dutch command.

IRAQ

• Against the background of a mounting death toll in Iraq, the Washington Post suggests that ESDP could provide a little of the “soft power” that the United States so obviously is lacking in that country. According to the newspaper, the Europeans could help train a new Iraqi police force, perhaps working alongside interested Arab countries such as Jordan. This European policing project would offer a way to provide stability in Iraq without directly embracing the U.S. military occupation. “The right person to lead such an effort is the EU’s top security official, Javier Solana. The right time to launch it is now, before the situation in Iraq gets any worse…. America clearly needs help in post-war Iraq,” the daily insists. A related article in the New York Times reports that a bipartisan group of nine senators returned Thursday from a three-day trip to Iraq warning that American forces there are stretched thin and will face continuing attacks from disparate but increasingly organized Iraqi guerrillas. According to newspaper, Sen. Carl Levin, the senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, urged the Bush administration to reach out to countries that opposed the war. “We must end the feud with Germany and France and with the UN. We must seek the help of those countries,” he reportedly said. The newspaper notes that the Pentagon has been pressing allies to contribute forces to bolster security, a step that would ease the burden on American soldiers and give the occupation a more international face.

Claiming that a possible involvement of NATO in Iraq is the subject of non-official discussions, French daily Le Monde observes that difficulties encountered by coalition forces are reinforcing the position of those in Washington who are calling for an internationalization of the military presence and reconstruction. Noting that “France has never excluded its participation in a NATO operation, provided it takes place in conformity with international law,” the newspaper asserts that Paris is currently examining a scenario under which France would provide about 5,000 soldiers to a coalition force. France, reportedly insists, however, that a NATO intervention would require some kind of international legitimacy, which could be provided by a new UN resolution approving an “international security force” in Iraq. Diplomatic sources in Paris are quoted saying that France would be ready to examine a possible U.S. request “in a rather open way.” The sources reportedly indicated that close consultation on this is taking place between France and Germany. In this case, the sources reportedly said, SHAPE must be in charge and not CENTCOM. The newspaper adds, however, that at NATO, diplomats envisage a scenario comparable to the situation in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are “cohabiting” with ISAF forces, who are working under a UN resolution and whose mandate is more limited. Acknowledging that the prospect of a NATO intervention is premature, the newspaper concludes: “It is clear that in Iraq, the United States needs the help of experimented European armies, if possible with the help of Moslem nations. This view can only be reinforced by the difficulties encountered by Poland in sending troops to Iraq and mobilizing the other countries which have accepted to aid Warsaw. Polish officials acknowledge that these forces will probably be in Iraq beginning of September rather than July, as initially envisioned.”

LIBERIA

• According to AFP, the main rebel group in Liberia called Thursday for the United States to provide the bulk of soldiers in an eventual peacekeeping force for the country. In a statement received by the French news agency, the rebel Liberians United For Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) reportedly said that if a peacekeeping force were to have any credibility, it would have to have a “strong American component.”

News that EUCOM has been ordered to begin planning for a possible U.S. intervention in Liberia is generating interest.
In the Pentagon’s division of the globe, writes the Washington Post, responsibility for operations in West Africa rests with EUCOM under Gen. Jones, who has drawn up a series of options for Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. “A spokesman for (Gen.) Jones noted that last month 450 U.S. troops were temporarily dispatched into Liberia with little fanfare to help evacuate about 200 U.S. citizens and other foreigners from the country as rebel forces closed in on Monrovia,” adds the newspaper. It remarks that the dispatch of U.S. troops to Liberia on an essentially humanitarian peacekeeping mission would mark a significant political departure for President Bush, who denounced the concept of “nation-building” during a 2000 presidential election debate.