Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

21 April 2004

IRAQ

• According to Deutsche Welle, during a visit to Afghanistan Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Fischer praised the work of German troops and said the reconstruction effort there should serve as a role model to Iraq. Referring to PRTs, Fischer reportedly said the combination of civil and military personnel was proving to be effective. The progress made in Afghanistan should serve as a model in Iraq, where the reconstruction process is being stalled by fighting between coalition troops and Iraqi insurgent, he proposed, adding: “It’s never too late to learn from our mistakes. It will perhaps be more difficult, because time is being wasted, but it’s never too late to learn.”

UNITED STATES-TROOP BASING

• The United States is moving its military bases eastward, in a major strategic change of the post-Communist world. The Defense Department has undertaken negotiations with concerned European countries. The commander of the U.S. forces in Europe, Gen. Jones, has been tasked to submit a reorganization plan to President Bush, wrote Le Figaro, April 19. The newspaper remarked that this gradual transfer from west to east of the central pivot of the American force structure, which would follow NATO’s enlargement eastward, would enable the United States to be within strategic range of Central Asia and the Middle East. “The United Sates feels it no longer needs a static defense of heavy and permanent bases like those it maintains in Germany. The move to the east will be the opportunity to create smaller, lighter and more modular structures as needed. This system would be better suited to the new U.S. doctrine of ‘preemptive’ attack against rogue states or terrorist groups likely to acquire weapons of mass destruction,” the article added. Stressing, however, that in no case does the United States want to withdraw from Europe completely, the daily quoted Col. Raymond Millen, one of the directors of the Institute for Strategic Studies of the Army War College, saying: “A total disengagement would lead to Europe’s loss of confidence in the United States and would marginalize U.S. influence on the contingent…. The European Union would take advantage of it to fill the vacuum and promote its rapid reaction force. This would be the death of NATO. American leadership and influence must remain solid in Europe.”

ESDP

• Paris’ Le Figaro, April 19, examined progress in European defense building. Stressing that the various elements of a common defense are gradually becoming established, the newspaper cited as examples: At a meeting in Brussels at the beginning of the month, EU defense ministers approved the establishment of “tactical groups” for rapid response operations by the year 2007. The EU and NATO have reached an agreement on the establishment of a permanent EU cell at SHAPE headquarters and on the presence—also permanent—of NATO liaison officers at the European Military Staff headquarters. The essential elements of the Helsinki “headline goals” which will make it possible to deploy a real European force of 60,000 men, accompanied by the logistical, naval, and aerial resources needed to keep it operational for over a year—have now been achieved. EU foreign and security policy chief Solana has finalized the details of the future EU mission in Bosnia, which will take over from SFOR by the end of the year. The article quoted the director of the French Defense Ministry’s Strategic Affairs Delegation, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut, stressing, however: “European defense must not present itself as a rival to NATO. It cannot adopt a posture of opposition or contribute to weakening Euro-U.S. relations. These are the political limits set on the exercise.”