Military

SHAPE News Summary & Analysis

30 August 2004

OLYMPICS

• In the wake of Sunday’s Closing Ceremony, Athens’ Ta Nea reports that security measures for the Olympic Games are now gradually easing. U.S. Navy seals are departing, says the daily, adding that this coincides with a reduction in the number of police and military personnel involved with the security of the Olympic venues, as only the main stadium will be used for the Paralympic Games. Stressing that this does not mean the departure of other units or staffs or NATO means, the daily writes that the NATO CBRN Task Force unit in Chakida and Nea Peramos, NATO ships patrolling the Mediterranean and Alliance’s AWACs will remain unchanged. “The 22-strong NATO forward command element, located inside the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, which was visited by Gen. Jones, will also remain at its present level,” the daily adds. But, it continues, the Greek Olympic Division, which provided 11,000 personnel to the Hellenic police will be gradually reduced by 50 percent. Police patrols and the operational readiness for air defense units and the entire Greek fleet will reportedly be kept at their current level in the Aegean and Ionian seas. Earlier, English-language Athens News announced that “Gen. Jones is due to attend Sunday’s closing Ceremony of the Athens Olympics for which NATO’s ‘Distinguished Games’ operation has provided an unprecedented air, land and sea security umbrella, at the request of the Greek government.” Reuters reports the head of the organizing committee, Gianna Angelopoulos, said in an interview Monday Athens had won a battle against fear by hosting the first summer Games since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States with a “flawless” security operation. She reportedly praised the way security forces had managed to protect the Games while remaining unobtrusive.

AFGHANISTAN

• Media focus on reports that a car bomb hit a private U.S. security company in Kabul Sunday, killing up to 11 people in the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital in two years. They report that the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on the office of Dyncorps Inc., which provides bodyguards for President Karzai and works for the U.S. government in Iraq. BBC News quoted an ISAF spokesman saying ISAF was reviewing its operations in the Afghan capital. The program carried its correspondent in Kabul noting that there have been growing fears that militants opposed to the Afghan government would carry out bomb attacks in Kabul ahead of the Oct. 9 presidential elections. In a similar vein, CNN stressed that security officials had issued several warnings in recent weeks that anti-government militants could ramp up attacks to disrupt Afghanistan’s landmark presidential election. The network added that hours before the Kabul blast, an explosion at a religious school killed at least 10 people, most of them children.
  
• According to Reuters, the Dutch Defense Ministry said in a statement one airman was slightly hurt when a Dutch Apache helicopter crashed in Afghanistan Sunday but the crash was not due to enemy fire. A second airman abroad was unhurt, the statement reportedly said, adding the aircraft was on a patrol flight near Kabul. The cause of the crash was under investigation. The dispatch notes that six Dutch Apache helicopters, along with about 135 troops, have been stationed in Afghanistan since the end of March to boost ISAF. In another development, Kabul’s Radio Afghanistan, Aug. 29, reported that a Dutch military unit serving within ISAF was deployed in Pol-e Khomri in the Baghlan province Sunday. The unit comprises 130 officers and soldiers. Its deployment is aimed at ensuring complete security for sound elections in the province, said the program.

IRAQ

• Reporting on NATO’s Training Implementation Mission in Iraq (NTIM-I), the Stars and Stripes writes that while NATO has yet to announce its ultimate strategy for training security forces in Iraq, the Alliance already has begun a pilot project schooling dozens of Iraqi senior officials in the ancient art of military management. “Alliance personnel are in the Baghdad area training top-tier military and police leaders on how to lead forces and keep Iraq’s new structures from falling apart,” says the newspaper, quoting the NTIM-I’s spokesman saying: “That’s what we’re aiming for at the moment, headquarters-level personnel…. This is like staff-college-level education.” The newspaper notes that the team arrived in Iraq two weeks ago both to begin limited training and to look at how best to train forces on a larger scale. “The team will deliver its findings to SACEUR, Gen. Jones, who then will relay his final proposals to the (NAC) in mid-September. After that, NATO theoretically could begin training Iraqis of more varied ranks and types,” the newspaper adds, further quoting the NTIM-I’s spokesman saying: “It includes all categories. So at this stage we haven’t limited or narrowed on any one or specific group. That might come later, though.”