Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

04 September 2003

IRAQ

• U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday that additional American forces were not needed in Iraq, but called for more Iraqi and international involvement in security. He said the senior military leadership did not believe an increase in U.S. forces was required in Iraq and that more than 50,000-60,000 Iraqis were already involved in security efforts. There are 20,000-22,000 non-U.S. forces in Iraq and Rumsfeld said he would like that number to go up by another division from international forces. (Reuters 040130 GMT Sep 03)
  
  
• Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has urged Prime Minister Blair to send more troops to Iraq or risk “strategic failure,” the Daily Telegraph newspaper said on Thursday. In notes prepared for a meeting -- seen by the Daily Telegraph – he warned Tony Blair that the current military force was incapable of providing the level of reconstruction needed. Straw said that sending an extra 5,000 troops would not only help improve security but also demonstrate Britain’s resolve to sceptical Iraqis and other coalition members. In his point-by-point analysis, Straw warned the “lack of political progress in solving the linked problems of security, infrastructure and the political process are undermining the consent of the Iraqi people to the coalition presence.” He also said the current problems were providing “fertile ground for extremists and terrorists.” A Downing Street spokesman said he could not speculate on the report while a Ministry of Defence spokesman said the number of troops was “constantly under review.” (Reuters 040241 GMT Sep 03)

BALKANS

• Serbia and Montenegro accused neighbouring Albania on Wednesday of gross interference in its internal affairs for criticising Belgrade’s position on the UN-governed province of Kosovo. A foreign ministry official said Belgrade lodged a protest after Albania’s legislature denounced last week’s Serbian parliament declaration which said the predominantly ethnic Albanian province was part of its territory. (Reuters 031254 GMT Sep 03)

OTHER NEWS

• After the Iraq war, support for U.S. global leadership has faded badly in European nations, most dramatically in Germany and France which strenuously opposed the war, according to a survey released on Thursday. U.S. President Bush’s standing has just about evaporated in Germany where his approval rating is 16 percent - down from 36 percent in 2002 - and where public opinion increasingly questions American leadership, said the Trans-Atlantic Trends 2003 survey. The war has made the trans-Atlantic disconnect so significant that large chunks of public opinion in France (70 percent), Germany and Italy (both 50 percent), Portugal (44 percent) now see U.S leadership as undesirable, the poll showed. “The trans-Atlantic split over the war in Iraq has undermined Americans’ standing with Europeans,” it added. The survey of the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Compagnia di Sao Paolo, a Turin foundation devoted to developing interest in international affairs in Italy was held in mid-June. (AP 040200 Sep 03)
  
  
• The United States cannot meet an international deadline next April 29 for destroying at least 45 per cent of its chemical arms stockpile and is seeking an extension until 2007, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. Citing “political and operational issues” such as lawsuits that caused delays at some domestic destruction sites, the Defense Department said the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) allowed signatory states to seek extensions. The Pentagon said it would seek an extension of that final deadline before next April but denied that the moves were sending a mixed signal to the world on Washington’s commitment to eradicating chemical arms. (Reuters 032212 GMT Sep 03)
  
  
• Russia is prepared to consider proposals for reforming the UN Security Council, including adding more permanent members, but the issue must be approached cautiously, a leading diplomat said Wednesday. The Security Council “should become more representative, in part by including major authoritative nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America in its ranks,” the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Yuri Fedotov as saying. Russia has used its position as a permanent member to seek to counter growing U.S. international clout since the Soviet collapse, and has repeatedly stressed the importance of the United Nations in world affairs. (AP 031928 Sep 03)