Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

25 July 2003

IRAQ

• The Financial Times reports NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson stating that NATO could muster no more than 80,000 troops for Iraq, but even that would depend on them being released from missions in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Ivory Coast and Congo, and on the existing UN mandate being strengthened. The assessment, observes the paper, coincides with the continuing search by the U.S. for 30,000 extra troops to help in establishing the post-war stabilization zones in Iraq. The daily explains the reason for Lord Robertson’s assessment quoting him, at a recent seminar of leading defense industries and military experts, saying that the 18 countries of NATO’s integrated military command structure “in principle declare around 250 combat brigades to the Alliance, each up to about 5,000 strong,” and that figure amounts to 1.25 million soldiers. But if the U.S. contribution was subtracted, together with those forces NATO believes are undeployable, “then your figure of 250 combat brigades falls to fewer than 50 brigades…,” added Lord Robertson. Even that figure, he reportedly warned, failed to take into account the fact that the troops needed to be trained, rotated and rested. “Then the number of non-U.S. combat brigades actually available at any one time drops to around 16 brigades, or some 80,000 soldiers,” he went on saying. Nor does that figure, concludes the newspaper, take into account troops presently deployed in the mentioned operational theaters, numbering 37,000. On the troop contribution issue, The Guardian writes that French Foreign Minister de Villepin rejected on Thursday a renewed U.S. appeal for more international military support for Iraq, saying that sending in French troops would only prolong a tense situation. “To build on a system that now exists (and) to add foreign forces to the coalition forces doesn’t appear to us the best way to guarantee security in Iraq,” he was quoted saying, adding: “Only the UN can bring the guarantees of reconstruction necessary for the full international community to take part. Reconstructing Iraq is not easy.” Turkish news agency Anatolia, July 24, reports that Foreign Minister Gul met with U.S. Secretary of State Powell on Thursday and addressing journalists, Secretary of State Powell said the U.S. wished Turkey to give its decision as soon as possible about sending Turkish soldiers to the international Stability Force in Iraq, declaring he was pleased that the Turkish government indicated they would be working on the U.S. proposal to send troops in as fast a manner as possible. The agency noted that Foreign Minister Gul didn’t mention the UN, saying NATO umbrella would be useful for sending soldiers to Iraq. According to the Hong Kong service of AFP, Thailand’s Defense Ministry has approved the deployment of 886 military personnel in Iraq. “We will send 886 military personnel comprising engineers, medical teams and other support units,” the ministry spokesman reportedly said. Thailand, observes the agency, stayed neutral during the conflict, but offered humanitarian support and medical supplies through the Red Cross. Croatian Hrvatski Radio, July 24, reported Defense Minister Antunovic saying Croatian soldiers will not join a war in Iraq, but will participate in establishing stability in that country, and following the decision by the competent state authorities, only those who wish to do so on a voluntary basis will go. The announcement, comments the dispatch, was in response to the statement by public defense attorney Klaric, that the possible decision on the Croatian soldiers’ departure to Iraq was unconstitutional.

BALKANS

• The Serbian government has emphatically ruled out any discussions of Kosovo’s independence and warned of the danger of ethnic-Albanian separatism, according to a policy statement issued Thursday, writes AFP, July 24. Deputy Prime Minister Covic, the official responsible for Kosovo policy in Belgrade, outlined the Serbian government’s position in a document called “Basic Principles for the Resolution of the Kosovo Crisis.” Its release, argues the dispatch, comes ahead of proposed talks between Serbian officials and the Albanian authorities in Kosovo, which would be the first such direct dialogue since the 1998-99 war in the Serbian province. The Deputy Prime Minister reportedly said Belgrade’s policy toward the legal status of Kosovo - a UN protectorate with a separatist Albanian majority - was based on Serbian sovereignty which was not open for discussion. But he was also quoted saying Serbia would accept the “highest autonomy possible” for the Albanian people in Kosovo, although the Albanians should understand that their hopes of independence were “unrealistic and dangerous for the stability of the region.”

NATO

• An article carried by Turkish Daily News, July 24, says the new structure of NATO defined by the Alliance Defense Ministers on June 12 was unveiled by the Headquarters Joint Command Southeast in Izmir with a written statement. According to the statement, the new streamlined military command structure was described as leaner, more flexible, more efficient and better able to conduct the full range of NATO missions and the number of commands was decreased. In particular, notes the daily, at the strategic level there will be only one command responsible for all Alliance operations, Allied Command Operations commanded by SACEUR, with its headquarters, SHAPE, near Mons, Belgium. In addition, a new functional command, Allied Command Transformation, commanded by the Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, will be established to take responsibility for promoting and overseeing the continuing transformation of Alliance forces and capabilities. Beneath SHAPE level, the present five operational regional commands will be reduced to two Joint Force Commands, one in Brunssum, the Netherlands, and one in Naples, Italy with a Joint Headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal. Finally, the 13 present operational subordinate commands will become six, while the number of Combat Air Operation Centers will be reduced from 10 to six, four static and two deployable.