Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

22 April 2004

GENERAL JONES

• Sofia’s 24 Chasa, April 20, carried an interview with Gen. Jones in which, among other things, he viewed NATO’s enlargement, the ISAF mission and U.S. troop deployments in Europe. Regarding the protection of the airspace of NATO’s new members, Gen. Jones was quoted saying: “All member states have the same rights regarding defense. The fact that you do not have a base or NATO aircraft in your country does not mean that the Bulgarian and Romanian airspace is not guarded just as well as the German or Italian airspace. Air patrols are a procedure which is applied in respect of all 26 members of the Alliance. As far as the future is concerned, (ACO), which I head, and (ACT), under Adm. Giambastiani, are in the process of setting up Centers of Excellence in various countries where NATO facilities will be moved temporarily or permanently. All kinds of activities pertaining to the Alliance will be performed in all countries and this is in fact the content of the reforms and the achievement of military compatibility.” Asked whether he thought NATO forces were already stretched too thin even without being committed in Iraq, Gen. Jones reportedly acknowledged that “times are not easy, of course,” adding, however: “If you look at NATO’s capacity in terms of number of people in uniform, aircraft and military capability, capacity does exist. The real issue here is whether we have reached the limit of the financial support for the operations. This is not about having the capacity or the will to do so.” Regarding ISAF, Gen. Jones was quoted saying: “We plan to expand our presence in Kabul and also expand our rebuilding activities outside the capital. We plan to open a new zone to the north, where we would deploy two more (PRTs), and three more in the western parts of the country. NATO’s idea is to do this by saturating the northern region first, so that we would be sure to have enough military capacity to guarantee the success of the reconstruction teams and then move on to the second stage of setting up structures in the western parts of the country. We hope that most of Afghanistan would be covered by ISAF or the reconstruction teams by the end of the year and that we would be able to demonstrate to the people of that country that change is coming, that roads are being constructed, and there are realistic prospects that they would be able to live in a free society. I cannot say what number of forces would be deployed because it would depend on the will of the Alliance’s members. One PRT usually consists of 100 to 150 people. This makes a total of 300 people for the northern zone. They will be reinforced with military personnel who would ensure the security of the mission in terms of mobility and medical services. We would need more helicopters and other teams of transportation. This makes a total of about 2,000 people.” Regarding U.S. troop re-deployments in Europe, Gen. Jones was quoted saying, in his capacity as commanding officer of the U.S. armed forces in Europe: “The recommendations by the European Command have been based solely on military needs…. Our initial idea was that this reform should not affect the values and concept of military deployment outside the United States. Second, we want to keep those of the strategic bases that we would need in the future. Third, at the end of this process—however long it takes and it could take quite a while—we want to have armed forces that are strategically more efficient and capable than they are today. This can be achieved by combining military deployments abroad with peacetime and wartime rotation of forces. As far as the implementation of this plan is concerned, to the best of my knowledge it is on the defense secretary’s desk at this time.”

NATO

• Looking at NATO’s evolving role, French daily Le Monde stresses that by embracing seven new members, NATO is showing that it is no longer merely an aging club dating from the Cold War, but a military and political alliance that a growing number of candidates want to join. The article further says: “By intervening in Afghanistan and Africa, and by envisaging doing so within the framework of the Greater Middle East and Africa, NATO is eliminating the obstacle which, according to the North Atlantic Treaty, confined it to the Euro-Atlantic theater. Its limits have to do with governments’ political will, and are no longer geographical. It is changing by acquiring flexibility and responsiveness, with the establishment of a response force capable of being projected swiftly into conflict areas.” At last, the newspaper stresses, the crisis of the year 2003, when members were divided over Iraq, has been surmounted. The article continues: “France, the main contributor of the NRF is now cited as an example by U.S. leaders, who no longer hesitate to grant it key posts: a French admiral has been appointed to (ACT) and a French general to the (NRF). NATO and the EU, traditionally suspicious of each other, have at last reached a gentleman’s agreement. The Alliance now accepts the existence of a European defense, realizing that the latter can be complementary and not necessarily a rival. In the Balkans and Afghanistan, we can see the implicit formulation of a burden sharing that could be fruitful.” Noting that the Europeans have contributed to the transatlantic updating, the newspaper adds: “The old French temptation to undermine the Atlantic organization from within has faded, and the strategy of strengthening a ‘European pillar’ within the Alliance no longer makes sense, since there is no longer any ‘opposition between the EU and NATO,” according to President Chirac.”

TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS

• In a contribution to the Financial Times, Dominique Moisi, a senior advisor at the French Institute for International Relations, urges President Chirac “to rebuild trust with the United States.” A consensus already exists among the French elite that, even if France was right to condemn what in retrospect looks like U.S. adventurism in Iraq, Paris could have voiced its concerns in a less offensive way. With President Chirac’s backing and Mr. Barnier at the Foreign Ministry, France may have the best opportunity in a long time to rebuild its bridges with the U.S,” Moisi writes. He adds: “As problems in Iraq worsen and the U.S. presidential election draws closer, America badly needs allies…. In a report written at the request of the Trilateral Commission, the network of international experts, six months ago, I suggested that a selected group of advisers from both sides of the Atlantic should take on the task of reviewing, if not reinventing, transatlantic relations. The message of such an initiative—which could be linked to the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings—would be much stronger if France were to take the lead.”