Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

22 July 2003

IRAQ

• An AP article, carried by The Guardian, writes that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is hoping the UN will throw its support behind a U.S.-selected Iraqi Governing Council as a first step toward ending the U.S. occupation and handing control of the country over to the Iraqi people. He will address the Council on Tuesday, reports the paper, and discuss the high and low points of post-war life for Iraqis. The backdrop of the gathering is, reportedly, a strongly-worded report Secretary General Annan delivered to the Security Council Monday in which he warned the U.S. that “democracy cannot be imposed from the outside.” He allegedly wrote: “It is important that Iraqis are able to see a clear timetable leading to the full restoration of sovereignty.” The critical tone of the report, comments the daily, was unlikely to help U.S. efforts to win support for an international peacekeeping force that could relieve overburdened American troops in Iraq. Much of the report, says the paper, is based on UN chief’s special envoy Vieira de Mello’s observations and discussions with U.S. officials in Baghdad, including the U.S. occupation governor for Iraq, Paul Bremer. Mr. de Mello, adds the newspaper, reportedly complained to Mr. Bremer last week about the “treatment of detainees and the conditions under which they are held in detention.” The report, according to the source, also expresses concerns about the living conditions and “precarious security situation” in the capital. Although Secretary general Annan offered the U.S. assistance in a host of areas including de-mining and police training, concludes the daily, he ruled out the possibility of a UN police force working side-by-side with U.S. troops.

NATO

• According to the Washington Post, July 21, a move by the Bush administration to withdraw the last several U.S. Air Force fighter jets from Iceland has drawn strong objection from Icelandic authorities and threatened to disrupt relations with yet another NATO ally. Pentagon officials reportedly argue that the presence of the planes, intended during the last four decades to oppose a Soviet threat, is no longer needed in Iceland. But Iceland, which has no military observes the paper, regards the aircraft as essential to its air defense and, even more important, a symbol of a U.S. commitment to defend the nation. Word of the U.S. decision to yank the planes was delivered to the Reykjavik government in early May, just before a closely contested parliamentary election, remarks the daily and the timing prompted NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson to intervene and urge President Bush administration to suspend a June withdrawal deadline, which it did.

LIBERIA

• The UN Secretary General and Western African countries implored the President Bush administration to send peacekeepers to Liberia as fighting intensified there and the American embassy came under mortar fire, writes the New York Times, July 21, but administration officials resisted the appeals. They reportedly countered that Liberia’s neighbors should act first in helping stabilize the country. In recent days, notes the paper, the Pentagon ordered about 4,500 sailors and marines to move closer to Liberia in preparation for possible peacekeeping or evacuation duty. The daily says that while Pentagon officials are the most resistant, the State Department is more eager to find a solution and cites among the chief reasons for this ambivalence: the U.S. has no vital interest in Liberia; the military feels overextended in Iraq and elsewhere; the last African intervention, in Somalia, ended badly.

EU

• Judy Dempsey, in a article carried by the Financial Times, July 21, writes that the EU wants to help fund peacekeeping operations in Africa that will be led for the first time by Africans themselves. A decision to consider the proposal was reportedly made on Monday by EU Foreign Ministers with backing from the European Commission. The new and radical plan, specifies the journalist, is to set up a Peace Support Operation Facility (PSOF) to fund peacekeeping forces under the authority of the African Union – something it proposed for the first time at its recent summit in Maputo, Mozambique. The financing of the PSOF would be shared by the Commission and the African Union. Each country would contribute about 125 millions euros for the first year.

UNITED STATES-TURKEY-GEN. JONES

• An AFP report, July 19, quoting some officials, wrote that Turkey and the U.S. have discussed ways of carrying out a joint struggle against Turkish Kurds rebels based in Northern Iraq and the issue was taken up in meetings between the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe (sic), Gen. James Jones, and the new head of Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, with top Turkish military officials. According to this report, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement that the two sides discussed “what can be done jointly against the activities of the PKK-KADEK terrorist organization in Northern Iraq.” U.S. Ambassador Robert Pearson in Ankara, says the dispatch citing the Turkish news agency Anatolia, stated that both had agreed to cooperate on the issue. Later, July 21, the news agency Anatolia reports that Ambassador Pearson said on Monday that Turkey’s participation in Stability Force in Iraq was brought onto agenda and unofficially discussed during the meetings in Ankara on Friday of Gen. Jones and Gen. Abizaid. Ambassador Pearson reportedly said they were expecting the process, which was on preparation step, to become clear during Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Gul’s visit to Washington. The Ambassador is reported adding that bilateral issues, Turkey’s EU process, reform packages, economic reforms, Cyprus and the Middle East peace process would be discussed during Mr. Gul’s visit. Underlining that Turkey and the U.S. had considerable interests to make long-term cooperation in the region, he finally said there were not any strategic and even local reasons for disagreement on security or re-structuring of Iraq between the two countries. A related AFP dispatch confirms that Deputy Prime Minister Gul left today for the U.S. to improve ties between the two NATO allies quoting the Deputy Minister saying: “Turkish-American relations are deep-rooted. Even though there can be hard days sometimes, our relations continue within the framework of partnership. The focus of the visit will be to put Turkish-American relations on a healthier ground.”