Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

15 March 2004

GENERAL JONES

• A purported statement by Gen. Jones, in a testimony to a Belgian Senate Committee, that the United States will significantly reduce its nuclear weapons in Europe is noted by German weekly Der Spiegel. Under the title, “Withdrawal from Europe,” the weekly says: “The United States will significantly reduce its nuclear weapons arsenal in Europe. This was announced by Gen. Jones last week… The general, who is also EUCOM commander, gave no details…. It remains to be seen whether German nuclear weapons sites will benefit from Gen. Jones’ ‘good news.’” The article lists alleged U.S. nuclear weapons sites in Germany.

NATO

• According to Greek daily Elevthrotipia, March 12, the newly elected Greek government is expected to make an official request for NATO help in Olympic security at a ministerial level within the next few weeks. Greece is requesting NATO’s help on three levels, the daily said, adding: “First, help with the collection of equipment and means (masks, uniforms, vaccines, antidotes) so that they will be immediately available to Greece if necessary. Second, help in securing additional hospital beds and the transportation of injured with air bridges to NATO ships or land hospitals. Third, help in upgrading the readiness of … a specialized NATO unit for radio-biochemical threats. A five-hour readiness for the organized transportation of the unit to Greece during the Games … is required.” A related Daily Telegraph article says NATO is expected to provide some protection against major terrorist attacks launched from the sea, and will also monitor the no-fly zone to be established over Athens during the Games with AWACS surveillance planes. It will also lend assistance in the event of a catastrophic terrorist attack.

IRAQ

• Spain’s Socialist party Prime Minister-elect, Jose Luis Zapatero, has confirmed his intention to pull Spanish troops out of Iraq, reported BBC News. According to the broadcast, Zapatero told Spanish radio that no decision would be taken until he was in power or without wide political consultation. But he stressed that the soldiers would be pulled out if there was no change in Iraq by the June 30 deadline for the transfer of sovereignty.

SPAIN-ELECTIONS-TERRORISM

• The train bombings in Madrid last Thursday are seen as the decisive factor in Prime Minister Aznar’s defeat in Spain’s general elections. Media observe that an easy Conservative victory was predicted and that Jose Luis Zapatero was until Thursday considered as an outsider for the prime minister post. Against this background, media stress that if the attacks were in fact perpetrated by Al Qaeda, it means the movement can affect the outcome of elections in western democracies. Media also see Aznar’s defeat as a setback for President Bush. “The blasts probably played a major role in the ousting of Spain’s ruling party in national elections Sunday, a political shift that has punished a key ally of President Bush in his war on terrorism,” writes the Wall Street Journal. On the global stage, the newspaper adds, if the mayhem in Madrid does prove to have been the work of Moslem terrorists, it could mean that Islamist radicals have affected the outcome of an election in a major western democracy. BBC News carried a correspondent stressing that the late swing to the Socialists raises one disturbing thought—if Al Qaeda was responsible for Thursday’s attacks, it appears to have had significant influence in changing the government of a leading western democracy. Stressing that internationally, Aznar’s defeat is a setback to President Bush’s efforts to shore up support for his Iraq campaign, Deutche Welle noted that the Conservative Popular Party is the first of Bush’s allies to be ousted at the ballot box. The program suggested that it could leave other European leaders contemplating their next move in Iraq.

GREATER MIDDLE EAST INITIATIVE

• The International Herald Tribune carries an article representing the views of a trans-Atlantic group sponsored by the German Marshall Fund of the United States. The article calls for a trans-Atlantic plan for democracy in the Middle East. Discussing the U.S. Greater Middle East Initiative, the group says: “If we want a serious strategy, we must do three things: increase support for democrats in the region; create a better regional context for democratic development; and reorganize ourselves at home to pursue and sustain pro-democracy policies abroad.” The group stresses that a new trans-Atlantic Forum for democracy promotion could be created to coordinate all activities in the region, including the bilateral programs pursued by European countries. It could be supplemented by an independent Trust for Democracy in the Middle East to which European countries and the U.S. government could contribute funds and expertise. The United States and its European allies need to help create the external security environment and regional context in which democratic change can occur more easily, the group members’ write, adding that “NATO has a role to play.” The group insists: “NATO can provide the peacekeeping capabilities needed to help rebuild Afghanistan and Iraq. And it can help promote more democratic practices in peacetime by extending cooperation to the Middle East under a new version of the Partnership for Peace Program. NATO’s new role would be to keep the Americans and Europeans together, the aggressor out and the terrorists down.”