Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

3 September 2003

GENERAL JONES

• According to AFP, Gen. Jones said in Ankara Wednesday that the United States would welcome any help Turkey might be able and willing to provide in Iraq. “I think any help that can be given to the very important efforts ongoing in Iraq would be welcome,” Gen. Jones reportedly said ahead of talks with Turkish Defense Minister Gonul. According to the dispatch, he stressed, however, that his visit was to discuss NATO issues rather than to negotiate a possible Turkish military contribution to the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. The dispatch further reports that asked if NATO could play a role in Iraq, Gen. Jones said no decision had been taken to date, but added: “I’m certainly very interested in the dialogue that’s going on (on the issue)…. Should NATO decide, in its wisdom, to contribute some capabilities or support to efforts in Iraq, then as operational commander it would be my job to provide military advice on how to do that.” Ankara’s Anatolia carries similar information. However, the news agency also highlights that Gen. Jones discussed NATO’s transformation with Turkish officials. “Stating that Turkey continued its contributions, Gen. Jones said it was exciting to be part of the Alliance and of this transformation. He said he discussed those issues with the Turkish General Staff and his interlocutors,” stresses the dispatch.

IRAQ

• In an interview with Italy’s La Repubblica, Turkish President Erdogan says Turkey is considering a U.S. request for troops to help stabilize Iraq but would like such a force to be under a UN or NATO mandate. “The United States has asked us (to send troops into Iraq) and we are considering the proposal on many levels. But we would prefer to see the stabilizing force formed under the aegis of the UN or NATO,” Erdogan is quoted saying.
  
  
• The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Sanchez, on Wednesday symbolically marked the transfer of control over the south-central part of the country to an international force led by Poland, hailing the handover as a sign of the international community’s commitment to Iraq, reports AP. The dispatch adds that while military control was ceremoniously passed to the Poles, the handover of the holy city of Najaf was delayed by at last two weeks after the car bombing Friday outside a mosque that killed between 85 and 125 people, including leading Shiite cleric Ayatollah Hakim. The dispatch quotes Gen. Sanchez saying the delay was appropriate and the U.S. Marines were needed in the area for a while longer. The U.S.-led coalition will review the situation in Najaf about mid-month, after which it is hoped control of the city will be handed over to a Spanish brigade taking part in the international force, he reportedly said. According to the dispatch, he noted that the transfer of authority delivered a message that the U.S.-led force occupying Iraq was a broad-based 30-nation coalition.
  
  
• The Washington Post quotes administration officials saying Tuesday that in an effort to win broader international support for U.S. policies in Iraq, President Bush has decided to seek UN Security Council approval of a resolution granting the UN greater control over multinational peacekeeping forces and a role in forming a new Iraqi government. The newspaper quotes aides saying a draft resolution is circulating within the administration and Bush has authorized Secretary of State Powell to begin negotiations with Security Council members to see what they would support. The newspaper observes that the decision marks a shift for Bush after months in which the administration had strongly resisted granting any significant military or political authority to the UN. A senior administration official is quoted saying recent assurances given by UN Secretary General Annan to the U.S. ambassador to the UN played a major role in the shift in the administration’s thinking. Annan told the envoy that “there would have to be a unified command of any international participation, and that command would be with the United States,” the official reportedly said.

ESDP

• In an interview with Radio France Internationale, Sept. 2, French Defense Minister Alliot-Marie hailed the recent EU military mission in Congo. Speaking one day after the EU completed Operation Artemis in the Democratic Republic of Congo, handing over the monitoring of the Ituri region to the UN, she stressed: “I am sometimes a bit exasperated when I hear people say that European defense is a myth…. European defense exists today…. What we have just done in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a completely autonomous European operation, and not a small operation, because it was a risky, difficult and dangerous operation…. This is the first European operation, and it deserves to be highlighted. In a similar vein, Alliot-Marie wrote in a contribution to Le Figaro, Sept. 2: “The EU’s military action capability is no longer merely a blueprint; it is asserting itself increasingly as a reality. (In Congo), the EU has succeeded in projecting a force established within no more than a fortnight from the UN resolution to the deployment of the first units on the ground…. The coordinated action of the Political and Security Committee, the Military Committee, and the European Staff, with Javier Solana’s involvement, have made it possible to establish a chain of command and a force matched to the mission, in record time…. The building of Europe’s defense, far from weakening NATO, contributes to the Europeans’ more decisive involvement in crisis management.”

A British proposal for the establishment of an EU planning cell at SHAPE continues to be noted.
Charging that “London wants to confine European defense within NATO,” French daily Le Figaro argues that “without challenging recent European progress in the field of defense, particularly with Operation Artemis in Congo, which was carried out without NATO’s support, London …. rejects the idea of the Old Continent’s equipping itself in the future, with military resources capable of overshadowing NATO.” Referring to the British proposal, the newspaper continues: “The battle focuses at present on the establishment of a European headquarters in Brussels, which would be geographically independent from NATO. Above all, it prefigures the Blair government’s position within the context of the debate on the future European Constitution, which will open in Rome on Oct. 4. London is proposing creating a European planning cell that would be integrated with SHAPE. This ill-defined ‘cell’ is prompting serious questions on the part of the French, German and Belgian governments. Stressing that questions of detail remain to be resolved, the newspaper continues: “Who would be part of this cell? Would the Americans have a place within it? What kind of operations would it plan? Britain is deliberately remaining vague about this, so as to better sound out its partners. Having been discussed for the first time on the occasion of a meeting of defense experts in Rome on Friday, London’s plan has sparked interest. It has received a favorable reception from Italy and Spain. Because it supports NATO’s primacy, the plan should also receive the support of the future member states, and particularly the countries of Eastern Europe.” The newspaper concludes that “with or without NATO, the future of European defense will constitute one of the main subjects of friction among the governments this fall.”