Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

24 June 2004

NATO

• The Czech government agreed on Wednesday to send 100 of its chemical detection troops to help safeguard the Athens Olympics in event of attack. A government official said the troops, part of the NATO member’s highly trained elite forces that have been used in the Gulf and Iraq wars, would stay in Athens for two months for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Speaking after a cabinet meeting, he added that NATO would pay for their transport while Greece would pay for the logistics of housing and feeding the troops. The move must still be approved by parliament. (Reuters 232247 GMT Jun 04)

IRAQ

• The prospect of a NATO role in Iraq grew on Wednesday when Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi formally asked the alliance to help train his country’s fledgling security forces. A NATO official, declining to be named, said Mr. Iyad Allawi made his request in a letter to NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer that also called for “other technical assistance,” though the nature and timing of this was not spelt out. “The next step is to consult with nations,” the official said, adding a decision on how to respond would not be taken before an alliance summit in Istanbul. “Training of Iraqi security forces is the likely option for NATO to start in Iraq - and some say that’s where it will end,” said one alliance diplomat, also declining to be identified. (Reuters 231856 GMT Jun 04)
  
  
• The Bush administration plans to extend immunity from prosecution for U.S. troops in Iraq beyond the handover of power on June 30, The Washington Post reported on Thursday. In a step that would bypass the most contentious remaining issue before power is transferred to Iraq’s interim government, U.S. administrator Paul Bremer was expected to renew an immunity order that has been in place throughout the occupation, the newspaper said, citing U.S. officials. The immunity was expected to remain in place for six or seven months until Iraqi elections are held, the newspaper added. (Reuters 240439 GMT Jun 04)

BALKANS

• Bosnian Serbs have taken a big step by admitting the massacre of thousands of Muslims by Serbs in Srebrenica in 1995, but they are unlikely to arrest top war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic, analysts said on Wednesday in Sarajevo. “It is 99 percent that NATO will have to do that,” Bosnian Serb political commentator Igor Gajic said. Even if they knew his whereabouts and were ordered to go after him, “you can’t expect ordinary police who are paid US $250 a month to go catching Karadzic,” he added. Reprisals by diehard supporters were a further deterrent. “The admission (over Srebrenica) definitely paves the way for the arrest, but I am not sure it will happen immediately,” said Antonio Prlenda of the Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje. “Politicians in the Serb Republic would rather see Karadzic arrested by NATO or by a special state security agency.” Political analyst Tanja Topic said the Serb admission of guilt was undoubtedly made under pressure, but it was significant that “no one questioned what it said.” “But to think that institutions of the Serb Republic would arrest Karadzic in the next several days or before local elections in October is not realistic,” she said. “Anyway, both politicians and people would rather see this done by NATO.” (Reuters 231538 GMT Jun 04)

UNITED STATES

• The Senate approved a US $447 billion defence spending bill that covers only part of the Pentagon’s upcoming war costs but gives the military a pay raise and increases troop levels. The measure includes US $25 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bush administration plans to submit a supplemental budget at the start of the next calendar year, after November’s election, that is expected to seek at least an additional US $25 billion for the two ongoing military campaigns. In a move opposed by the White House and Pentagon, senators also included a provision to add 20,000 troops to the Army. (AP 240355 Jun 04)
  
  
• The United States plans to put “substantially” more ships and warplanes in Asia and the Pacific, even as it pulls troops out of South Korea, a top Pentagon official told Congress on Wednesday in Washington. “We are not focused on maintaining numbers of troops overseas,” Douglas Feith, under secretary of defence for policy said. “Instead, we are focused on increasing the capabilities of our forces and those of our friends.” In other changes, he said the Bush administration would invest in new military facilities in south-eastern Europe that would be useful for joint training and as a springboard for rapid deployment to the Middle East. He ruled out building full-fledged bases. In the Middle East, the administration proposed to maintain facilities to be used for emergencies and force rotations, building on those used in the U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. (Reuters 232256 GMT Jun 04)
  
  
• The United States abandoned its effort on Wednesday to seek a UN exemption for U.S. soldiers from prosecution overseas and withdrew a Security Council resolution because it lacked support. Washington in the past has threatened to veto UN peacekeeping missions if the resolution giving it immunity from the new International Criminal Court were not adopted. James Cunningham, the U.S. deputy ambassador, would not comment about whether it would carry out the threat this time. Washington has signed bilateral agreements with 90 countries that bar prosecution of U.S. officials by the court. (Reuters 231821 GMT Jun 04)