Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

16 December 2003

IRAQ

• Warsaw’s Rzeczpospolita, Dec. 15, quoted Defense Minister Szmajdzinski saying that “the capture of (Saddam Hussein) might well be a major factor spurring a NATO decision to take over command over the Polish sector and the southern (British) sector in Iraq.” In a similar vein, Die Welt writes that Saddam Hussein’s capture might make way for more NATO involvement in Iraq. “Next February or March,” the newspaper quotes a NATO official saying, the Alliance will put forward ideas for a future role in the country. The article asserts that NATO defense ministers want to discuss the issue informally on the sidelines of a Munich security conference next February. It adds that further talks will also take place at an informal meeting of Alliance foreign ministers in the spring. According to the newspaper, it is being said in Brussels that decisions on a new orientation of NATO’s role in Iraq could be made at the NATO summit in Istanbul end of June. The article considers there are two possible ways to increase NATO’s involvement: A request by the future Iraqi government, which should take power in the summer of 2004, for NATO support. NATO could then go into Iraq as a stabilization force under the aegis of a new UN mandate. Another option would be to go directly to the UN. According to the article, NATO officials believe that pressure on President Bush will decline as a result of Saddam’s arrest. Consequently, the United States might include a more intensive use of multinational approaches in its planning. A stronger role for the UN could result in a stronger NATO involvement. The article stresses, however, that these options depend on an improvement of the security situation and on the transfer next year of political power to an Iraqi government.
  
  
• Reuters reports President Chirac’s Office announced Tuesday that U.S. special envoy James Baker and President Chirac had agreed at talks in Paris that their countries must cooperate over efforts to rebuild Iraq. The two countries had also reportedly agreed that a deal to ease Iraq’s huge debts should be reached in the Paris Club of creditor states in 2004. The dispatch notes that France, keen to carve a role in aiding Iraq, said Monday the Paris Club could strike a debt relief deal in 2004 and that France itself was ready to write off some of Iraq’s debt. Earlier, the International Herald Tribune described France’s decision to write off part of the Iraqi debt as a conciliatory gesture to Washington as much as a hand extended to Baghdad. The Independent suggested that Baker’s mission to Europe was likely to be crucial for attempts to mend fences shattered by the war in Iraq. “The formal purpose of his trip is to persuade key creditors, above all France, Germany, and Russia to forgive the debt run up by Saddam Hussein, and whose existence could cripple efforts to rebuild the Iraqi economy. Before the weekend, amid a new row over the Pentagon’s announcement that nations opposing the war would be barred from bidding for reconstruction contracts, his chances looked next to zero. But in the wake of Saddam’s capture, warm congratulatory words from Paris and Berlin, and conciliatory noises from President Bush himself, the visit is being seen as an unexpected chance to heal the rift,” stressed the daily.