Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

23 July 2003

IRAQ

• The New York Times, July 22, writes that Paul Bremer, the top American civilian administrator in Iraq, is to announce on Wednesday a 60-day plan for the nation, including restoring power to prewar levels, resuming criminal courts, awarding mobile-telephone licenses, and distributing revised textbooks to newly opened schools. The detailed set of security, economic and political objectives, to be described in a speech by the administrator, comments the paper, is intended to rebut growing criticism from some in Congress, aid agencies and even some military officers in Iraq that the civilian occupation authorities have no clearly defined path ahead for post-war rebuilding. Reportedly Mr. Bremer called for more money, acknowledging that his 6 billion dollar budget for the next six months would nearly deplete his available funds and said he was awaiting a comprehensive assessment by the World Bank of what was needed in Iraq. The plan the administrator is to outline at the National Press Club, sets 60-day and 120-day deadlines for accomplishment in a wide range of areas, and forecasts some goals well into next year. On the civil affairs side, concludes the daily, the allies intend in the next 60 days to help establish independent media outlets, support the new Iraqi Governing Council’s efforts to create a new constitution, and support the interim ministers and their senior advisers among the allies.
  
  
• Turkish soldiers will be ready to go to Iraq within a month and approximately 12,000 soldiers will be stationed around Baghdad and Tikrit for at least three years and the issue of how the expenses of the Turkish force will be met will be discussed during Foreign Minister Gul’s visit in the U.S., says Turkish daily Milliyet, July 22. The details of the contribution of Turkish troops in to the international Stability Force in Iraq, comments the newspaper, have begun to become clearer with the visits of Gen. James Jones and Gen. John Abizaid in Ankara. Turkish troops currently stationed in the north of the country will remain there, adds the paper. Reportedly, a separate military headquarters will be established and the Turkish force, which will become the third largest force, is expected to consist of mechanized units equipped with developed armored vehicles, which include high-tech security equipment. A memorandum regarding the “operative cooperation” agreement reached with the U.S. will be prepared, concludes the daily. The Romanian daily Ziua, July 22, reports that, based on a decision made by the Romanian Parliament, in addition to the 600 Romanian troops in the British sector, the country will send a strong military intelligence detachment to Iraq. It is reportedly made of 56 specialists from the Military Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff. The Romanian detachment will deploy a command and control cell to the theater of operations in the Polish sector, along with SIGINT (Signal Intelligence) equipment and an IMINT (Image Intelligence) structure that includes two Shadow 600 unmanned aircraft. The paper stresses this is the first time the aircraft have been sent on a mission abroad since Romania acquired them in 1998 from a U.S. company. According to the specialists, the data supplied by the Romanian military intelligence detachment will be tactical, operative, and strategic.

LIBERIA

• Secretary of State Powell pledged support yesterday for a West African peacekeeping operation in Liberia after speaking by telephone with UN Secretary general Annan, but the Bush administration continued to resist entreaties from the Secretary General to promptly announce plans to deploy U.S. peacekeeping forces and “spare no effort” in supporting a “vanguard” contingent from Senegal, Nigeria and other West African states, reports the Washington Post. As rebel factions attacking Monrovia announced a cease-fire, Secretary of State Powell told reporters that President Bush had promised to support the West African peacekeepers and determine “what else might be appropriate to do.” His spokesman, Richard Boucher, explained later that any decision to deploy peacekeepers first must be made by member nations from the Economic Community of West African States.

BALKANS

• According to an AFP dispatch, July 22, NATO-led peacekeepers said Tuesday they had brought together army officers from Bosnia’s Serb, Muslim and Croat communities for the first joint training program since the war. The program, continues the report, organized in early July in the Southern city of Mostar, brought together 165 officers from the armies of the two entities that make up Bosnia, the Serb-run Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation. NATO, recalls the dispatch, has demanded the establishment of a common command and control system for the armed forces of the two entities as a requirement for Bosnia to join the Alliance’s Partnership for Peace program.