Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

20 August 2003

IRAQ

• Ankara’s Anatolia, Aug. 19, quoted diplomatic sources saying the Turkish General Staff and Foreign Ministry Tuesday received an unofficial answer from Gen. Jones to a set of questions which Turkey conveyed to the United States regarding sending soldiers to Iraq. Concurrently, the General Staff and Foreign Ministry had reportedly also received the answer of the United States.
  
  
• According to AP, a Polish Defense Ministry spokesman said Tuesday that U.S. military commanders had decided to shrink the Polish area of responsibility in south-central Iraq by several square kilometers in order to leave a key road junction in an American sector. The spokesman reportedly denied newspaper reports that Poland had asked the U.S. military to retain control of the area in Babil province for security reasons. “Operational reasons decided,” he said, explaining the area contains an important road junction that feeds the bordering U.S. zone around Baghdad. The loss of the area will have little impact on the Polish-led mission to enforce security over about 80,000 square kilometers, the spokesman added. According to the dispatch, he said Poland had sent nearly 2,400 troops to Iraq, about 100 more than originally planned, because more of certain specialists were necessary. “The number of troops is being adjusted according to the needs,” the spokesman reportedly insisted, refusing further explanation.

Media focus on Tuesday’s bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

¨ Amid worldwide condemnation, AFP reports that NATO Tuesday called the attack an act of barbarity. The dispatch claims that NATO is monitoring the situation in Iraq particularly closely since it is supporting Poland in establishing a multi-national stabilization force there.

Tuesday’s bombing of the UN headquarters appears to be reinforcing the view that Iraq is becoming a “magnet” for terrorists.
Iraq is becoming a major “magnet” for Al Qaeda terrorists, who now pose more of a threat than remnants of Saddam Hussein’s Baath party, CNN carried terrorism analyst Peter Bergen saying. He added that most of the militants were Saudis who crossed into Iraq from Syria. Iraq is attractive to Al Qaeda as Bosnia was during the mid-1990s and Chechnya has been in recent years, Bergen noted, stressing that Iraq provides “unlimited targeting, it’s right in their backyard, and is a very attractive cause for them.”
In recent months, Iraq has most likely become the operational theater of religious extremists from all over the world, writes Berliner Zeitung and adds: “Their aim is to battle against the United States. Afghanistan is no longer a base for such a confrontation. The world’s attention centers on Iraq…. Above all, Iraq offers numerous targets with the thousands of soldiers, military installations, numerous offices and representatives of relief organizations. With the attack on the UN, these Islamist extremists have set a signal: no one must, or is allowed to help the United States out of the Iraqi muddles. The Americans are to be beaten and must withdraw subdued…. These extremists are indifferent to the Iraqi population. They belong to international terrorism.”

Looking at the targets of recent terrorist attacks in Iraq, media generally conclude that terrorists are aiming at preventing improvements to the quality of life of ordinary Iraqis to prevent the establishment of an Arab democracy.
This is typified by the New York Times, which writes: “The attacks on foreign embassies and the headquarters of international organizations, as well as water and oil pipelines, appear specifically devised to halt improvements in the quality of life of average Iraqis. The problem now posed for American forces in Iraq is an acute one. Put simply, if Iraqis are afraid and unconvinced that their situation is improving, their hostility to the United States may grow. It seems clear that any improvement in the standard of living of Iraqis is viewed by opponents of the occupation as a victory for the United States and it efforts to create a stable, democratic, Iraq.”

Tuesday’s attack in Iraq and the upsurge of violence in Afghanistan is prompting a Reuters analysis to conclude that nearly two years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S.-led war on terrorism seems to be losing ground.

ISAF

• According to AP, ISAF Commander Lt. Gen. Gliemeroth told a news conference in Kabul Wednesday that the city was relatively secure but terrorist attacks were “always pending.” Gen. Gliemeroth is quoted saying: “I cannot exclude that there will be an additional number of potential terrorists having infiltrated the city, preparing whatever attack. I cannot write that off. But our current estimate is that the situation is under control.”
  
  
• German media focus on reports that a German reconnaissance team is traveling to Afghanistan to clarify the preconditions for a possible expansion of the Bundeswehr’s mission to the Kundus region. The German government wants to contribute to the improvement of the security outside Kabul, says Berliner Zeitung. According to assessments from Berlin, adds the daily, the dispatch of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) to the provinces is the only way for the international community to help Afghanistan stabilize before the 2004 elections. Claiming that the German PRT would replace a smaller American one in Kundus, the article adds that in September, the German government will try to convince the UN to extend ISAF’s mandate. “If the German PRT was allowed to act under the name of the force, it would be easier to get a mandate from Parliament. The aid organizations would also have fewer problems if they cooperated with ISAF rather than with anti-terrorism units operating in the framework of Operation Enduring Freedom, notes the newspaper.