Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

16 January 2004

IRAQ

• According to Berlin’s DDP, Reinhold Robbe, chairman of the Bundestag Defense Committee, has come out in favor of deploying German paramedics to Iraq. The flying “Med Evac” hospital is one of the best in the world and is excellently suited for humanitarian aid, Robbe reportedly said in Berlin, adding: “If this measures also contributes to stabilizing the transatlantic relationship, I am for it.” The dispatch adds that according to Robbe, the deployment of other German soldiers is also conceivable, for instance within the framework of NATO staffs. “They would not be affected by Germany’s refusal of a military participation in an Iraq mission…. These are things that are connected with Alliance duties,” the dispatch quotes Robbe saying. In an interview with ARD television, Jan. 15, Chancellor Schroeder again ruled out deploying soldiers to Iraq, but said he was open to a “humanitarian” engagement. He added that a final decision on any assistance in Iraq would require the request of “an Iraqi, perhaps provisional … government.” He said he expected the issue to be resolved by mid-2004.

  A commentary in Sueddeutsche Zeitung insists that Germany must engage military in Iraq because of NATO.
  The article says: “So there will be German soldiers in Iraq, sooner or later. Even if at first it is only the personnel of a medical plane that will pick up wounded NATO comrades from some Iraqi airfields. Chancellor Schroeder, musing aloud that the Bundeswehr could participate with a Med Evac Airbus in a possible NATO deployment, has started some things to move. It has been clear for some time to security and foreign policy politicians that Germany will not be able to stand in the way of a NATO engagement in Iraq, desired by the United States. A ‘No’ in the NATO Council—dependent on unanimity—would, without a doubt, plunge the Alliance into an existential crisis.” Suggesting that the dispatch of a medical plane would be both a humanitarian gesture and a military mission and would enable Germany to stay with its position not to send soldiers while participating in the deployment, the article continues: “Schroeder wants to meet with President Bush at the end of February. The chancellor’s words will surely ease the ‘transatlantic flow of conversation.’ Schroeder’s conditions do not come as a surprise for the Americans. On the contrary: they themselves are writing the script. First, there must be a government in Baghdad capable of acting, then it requests help from UN Secretary General Annan, and the latter calls on NATO. NATO will go into Iraq, and if necessary, German medics will fly out the wounded. Schroeder tossed a pebble into the water. What will come next? Will German officers be allowed to work on NATO staffs that deal with Iraq? Probably no problem. But would these soldiers also be allowed to be stationed on Iraqi soil, perhaps at a headquarters? That would be within the deployment logic of NATO.”

• France is pondering conditions for possible engagement in Iraq. In circles close to President Chirac, one does not exclude a French participation in a stabilization force provided by NATO at the UN’s request, writes Le Monde. According to the newspaper, members of Chirac’s entourage do not deny that a new phase has begun in connection with the Iraq question and this could eventually result in a more substantive French involvement in that country. A close associate of the president reportedly made it known that Paris would not oppose NATO’s providing a multinational force for Iraq along the lines of SFOR. France, he said, “has already broken some taboos,” by agreeing to NATO intervention in Afghanistan, or to its providing logistical support for the Polish intervention in Iraq. He gave to understand that Paris would not in principle rule out an involvement--on certain conditions, of course: that the request come for a sovereign and legitimate Iraqi government; that this multinational force’s mandate be defined by the UN; that it not be under U.S. command. The Washington Post, Jan. 15, quoted Defense Minister Alliot-Marie saying, ahead of her current visit to Washington, that France is open to NATO taking a role in Iraq.
  

ISAF

• An article in Le Soir, which focuses on security aspects of the participation of Belgian troops in PRTs, notes that while Prime Minister Verhofstadt has confirmed to NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer that Belgium would be stepping up its military effort in Afghanistan, a Defense Ministry spokesman said Wednesday that in all only six Belgian soldiers would be deployed in Kunduz in March. These six soldiers will be charged, alongside German military, with ensuring the functioning of Kabul city airport. "This meager reinforcement to ISAF is a very strange response to the call made Wednesday in Brussels by Mr. de Hoop Scheffer and the temporary UN representative in Afghanistan, Jean-Francois Arnaut. Belgium has clearly given a more than mixed response to the appeal," the article stresses. Implying, however, that Belgium's response could be linked to NATO's take over of one PRT, the article continues: "Now that ISAF has taken command of a first PRT put together by the Americans, the Afghan population is no longer able to distinguish 'occupying troops from troops deployed for peacekeeping and security missions, including the Belgians." Against this background, the article adds that in Brussels Thursday, the MSF organization, (Doctors without borders), complained that "PRT personnel . sometimes travel in white armored vehicles similar to those of the NGOs."