Military

SHAPE News Morning Update

07 July 2004

NATO

• U.S. President Bush said Tuesday that he had not yet reached a decision about whether to withdraw four jet fighters from Iceland as part of a global military realignment of American forces. During an Oval Office meeting, Iceland Prime Minister David Oddsson lobbied President Bush to keep the F-15 fighters in place. The announcement that the planes were leaving caused political problems for Prime Minister Oddsson, who supported the United States in the war on Iraq even though 80 percent of the country’s population opposed it. (AP 061641 Jul 04)
  
  
• New NATO member Slovakia is considering training Iraqi military policemen and engineers, a Defence Ministry spokesman said Tuesday in Bratislava. Mr. Zenon Mikle said Defence Minister Juraj Liska mentioned the possibility on Tuesday, but stressed that at this point this was only under consideration. (AP 061314 Jul 04)

BALKANS

• A trans-Atlantic security group praised Croatia’s government for its policy on returning refugees and promoting reconciliation between Croats and minority Serbs, but urged more action on the issue. The 55-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said in a report on Tuesday that Croatia had improved in promoting the reintegration of Serb refugees, minority rights, cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal and regional cooperation. “The government has committed itself to achieving greater progress on remaining post-conflict issues,” said Peter Semneby, chief of the group’s Croatia mission. (AP 061620 Jul 04)
  
  
• The president of Macedonia (sic) offered Tuesday to help Serbia-Montenegro in efforts to join a NATO outreach program (Partnership for Peace) that is considered a stepping stone to alliance membership. The offer by President Branko Crvenkovski came as Svetozar Markovic, president of Serbia-Montenegro, arrived in Skopje on an official two-day visit meant to boost ties between the two countries. Also Tuesday, Belgrade and Skopje officials signed an agreement to protect Serb and Macedonian (sic) minorities across their sensitive border. (AP 061616 Jul 04)

AFGHANISTAN

• Spain’s parliament endorsed the Socialist government’s plan to send more troops to Afghanistan to provide security for the upcoming elections, and also to Haiti as part of a UN-sponsored mission. While politically useful, parliament approval wasn’t even legally necessary. Mr. Zapatero’s Cabinet announced on Friday it intended to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan from 137 to about 1,000 for the elections set to be held by October. Some would be rotated out soon after, leaving 540 in place at the end of the year. (AP 062139 Jul 04)
  
  
• Afghan parliamentary polls must be delayed on logistical grounds but the president can be elected as planned by mid-October, a government official quoted the country’s electoral body as saying in Kabul. It told a cabinet meeting under President Karzai the polls would have to come two or six months after the presidential election, not at the same time as the constitution envisaged, the official said. (Reuters 061730 GMT Jul 04)

IRAQ

• In a secret operation, the United States last month removed from Iraq nearly two tons of uranium and hundreds of highly radioactive items that could have been used in a so-called dirty bomb, the Energy Department disclosed. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham described the previously undisclosed operation, which was concluded June 23, as “a major achievement” in an attempt to “keep potentially dangerous nuclear material out of the hands of terrorists.” (AP 070034 Jul 04)
  
  
• The U.S. military on Tuesday denied that Israel had been involved in any interrogations of prisoners held in Iraq. The comment came after a U.S. Army general, once in charge of Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison, said on Saturday that she met an Israeli interrogator during her time there, appearing to confirm speculation that Israel might have helped the U.S.-led coalition. “I can definitely say that ... Israel has not been involved in interrogations here in any way, to include providing interrogators,” Army Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, a spokesman for the U.S. detainee operations in Iraq said. (Reuters 062035 GMT Jul 04)

MIDDLE EAST

• Hungary may withdraw its troops from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Defence Minister Ferenc Juhasz said Tuesday in Budapest. Hungarian soldiers, police and border guards have been part of the international peacekeeping force in the Sinai Peninsula since 1995. The reassessment was partly based on the government’s recent decision to limit the number of Hungarian soldiers participating in foreign peacekeeping missions to 1,000, he said. (AP 061149 Jul 04)
  
  
• The head of the UN atomic watchdog agency is using a visit to Israel, thought to be the Middle East’s only nuclear power, to urge it and its Islamic foes to resume contacts that would ultimately lead to a region free of weapons of mass destruction. Arriving Tuesday, Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, acknowledged he had no “magic wand” to change Israel’s policy of not acknowledging any possession of nuclear arms. Earlier on Tuesday, Israel Army Radio rebroadcast comments by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who said he would not budge from the country’s traditional “no show, no tell” policy. (AP 070340 Jul 04)