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NATO Promises to Train Iraqi Forces, Details to Be Worked Out |
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(Source: Voice of America news; issued June 28, 2004)
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(EDITOR’S NOTE: Official and background documents relating to the Istanbul summit are available on the NATO website, at http://www.nato.int/docu/comm/2004/06-istanbul/home.htm )
ISTANBUL --- The leaders of NATO's 26 nations, meeting at a summit in Istanbul, have formally agreed the alliance should help Iraq's new government train its armed forces. But differences remain among the allies over how this should be done. NATO has also agreed to boost its peacekeeping force in Afghanistan.
The decision to help train Iraqi security forces came just after the sooner-than-expected handover of power to Iraq's new government by the U.S.-led coalition. Help for Iraq came in response to a request last week by the country's prime minister, Iyad Allawi, for training and other technical assistance.
But there is still no agreement on whether the training will take place inside or outside Iraq, when it will begin, and how many NATO instructors will be involved.
French President Jacques Chirac says NATO should not have a presence in Iraq. His aides say France, backed by such countries as Germany, Belgium and Spain, believes individual NATO allies should conduct training programs for Iraqis. They also believe that NATO could act as a coordinator for such activities, but that, under no circumstances, should there be what they call a NATO flag in Iraq.
The United States and Britain want a NATO training mission to be a first step toward a gradually increasing presence of the alliance in Iraq. U.S. officials at the summit have spoken of a NATO command eventually being set up in Baghdad. The alliance also pledged Monday to continue giving logistical support to a Polish-led multinational division in south-central Iraq.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, whose responsibility it is to put together the training package for the Iraqis, says the details still have to be worked out, but that it is up to the Iraqis themselves, now that they have recovered their sovereignty, to decide just what they want NATO to give them.
"How this training is going to be worked out, I do not know yet, because, let's not forget that, after the very important moment we all witnessed this morning, it is the Iraqi government, and only the Iraqi government who's going to decide finally what's going to happen, and not a NATO capital or NATO as such," Mr. de Hoop Scheffer said.
NATO makes decisions by consensus, so it is unclear for now how soon ambassadors can come to a compromise agreement on just what kind of role the alliance will play in Iraq.
On Afghanistan, which Mr. de Hoop Scheffer considers the alliance's main priority, NATO agreed to raise the level of its peacekeeping force there from the current 6,500 troops to 10,000 to provide security for the nationwide elections later this year. The alliance has struggled to persuade its members to contribute more troops and equipment to the Afghan mission, and diplomats say that its credibility is at risk, if it fails to honor its commitments there.
NATO says its nine-year peacekeeping mission in Bosnia has been a success, and it is preparing to hand over control of the operation to the European Union later this year. But some analysts wonder if the alliance could not have done more to track down and capture war crimes suspects who are still on the run. (ends)
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NATO Summit Clouded by Divisions, Credibility Gap |
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(Source: Voice of America news; issued June 25, 2004)
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BRUSSELS --- The 26-member NATO alliance holds a summit Monday and Tuesday in Istanbul. The meeting is being held as NATO is being asked to play a role in Iraq, even as its mission in Afghanistan is suffering. The alliance is still trying to define its place in a post-Cold War world and is having problems adapting to new global security challenges.
Diplomats and analysts say most NATO allies have lacked both the agility and the willingness to face up to 21st Century threats that emanate from outside the alliance's traditional operating area in Europe.
Fifteen months after the Iraq War began, the divisions that it caused have still not healed. But most observers say they will be downplayed at the Istanbul summit.
Still, reverberations from the aftermath of the conflict will be on the table, especially since Iraq's interim prime minister, Iyad Allawi, has asked the alliance for help in training Iraqi security forces and other unspecified technical assistance.
President Bush has acknowledged that NATO countries, 16 of which are involved in Iraq, are not likely to contribute more troops there, but he has expressed hopes that some of the allies will help train Iraqi forces.
Italy has offered to do so. Even Germany, which, along with France strenuously opposed the Iraq War, says it, too, could help in the effort as long as the training is done outside Iraq.
NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says it is up to allied leaders to decide how they should help Iraq, but he told reporters this week that he does not think they should turn down the Iraqi request.
"There is a fully legitimized interim government in Iraq with a prime minister who writes a letter to NATO," he said. "NATO should never slam the door in this prime minister's or this government's face."
France, which opposes any NATO presence in Iraq, has not closed the door on NATO troops training Iraqis, but it wants further discussions on the issue. So, as Mr. De Hoop Scheffer's deputy, Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, puts it, there is no guarantee that a decision will be reached in Istanbul.
"NATO works by consensus, consensus by the governments, so there could not be any intervention anywhere unless 26 governments decide so," he said.
The debate on how NATO can help Iraq comes as many of the allies with forces there are growing uneasy with the deteriorating security situation. Spain has already pulled its troops out after a change of government. The Poles want a multinational NATO force to take over their operational area. Other countries have set time limits for their forces' presence in Iraq. Still, British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon says the allies can find a role to play.
"I believe there is a role for other countries to become engaged even if they choose not to put their forces on the ground to face the kind of threats that are currently facing the coalition forces," he added.
While the NATO leaders attempt to find common cause on what their alliance can do in Iraq, they will also have to face up to an embarrassing problem NATO has encountered in Afghanistan, where it commands an international peacekeeping force. NATO nations have been slow in providing troops and equipment to allow the force to expand its operations beyond Kabul, the Afghan capital.
NATO has promised to create at least five provincial reconstruction teams, made up of both civilians and troops, to help guarantee security for nationwide elections in September. The alliance says it will make good on its pledge, but Mr. De Hoop Scheffer has had to virtually beg the individual allies for contributions and what he has been given is still far short of NATO's goals.
Analyst Julian Lindley-French, of the Geneva Center for Security Policy, says NATO's credibility is at stake in Afghanistan and that the alliance cannot afford to fail there.
"At the end of the day, like it or not, Afghanistan is going to be a litmus test for much of the world that could be hostile to us over our intent and our capability in this field," Mr. French said.
The Secretary-General says he will press NATO leaders to consider ways of matching political commitments and military resources, such as common funding for crucial capabilities like transport aircraft and helicopters so that the alliance can avoid a replay of its experience in Afghanistan.
A major cause of these shortfalls is that most European allies have stagnant or declining defense budgets and, in many cases, have not reconfigured their forces from a static Cold War posture to meet the requirements of crisis operations far from home. Only four percent of the 1.2 million men and women in uniform in European NATO nations are deployable. And calling for an increase in defense spending is the kiss of death for a European politician these days. Only Britain and France, apart from the United States, are judged to have the kind of highly mobile forces NATO needs.
But if NATO cannot reform and become more agile, Mr. Lindley-French says the United States may never be convinced that the alliance offers an efficient alternative to the kind of coalition of the willing that it put together in Iraq.
"If the major powers, particularly the United States, does not get agreement inside NATO, it will always decide to act outside," he added.
U.S. officials like John Koenig, the number two man at Washington's mission to NATO, say that the United States is committed to working with NATO, when it can.
"For the United States, with its global responsibilities, NATO has not always been the only choice for operations, but it is certainly our preferred choice," he noted.
U.S. and British diplomats say that if NATO is to continue being relevant in the 21st Century, then European members have to spend more money on defense and transform their armies into flexible fighting forces that can operate alongside those of the United States. If they fail to do so, policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic may begin to ask whether NATO is really worth saving. (ends)
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Chirac Chides Bush for Comments on Turkey |
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(Source: Voice of America news; issued June 28, 2004)
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French president Jacques Chirac says President Bush went too far when he voiced his support for Turkey's bid to become a member of the European Union.
Mr. Chirac told reporters on the sidelines of the NATO summit that Mr. Bush acted inappropriately by publicly urging the European Union to set a date for accession talks with Turkey.
Mr. Bush made the controversial comment Sunday, after meeting with Turkish leaders ahead of today's NATO summit in Istanbul.
European leaders have until the end of the year to decide whether to open accession talks with Turkey, which has been criticized for its human rights record. (ends)
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Turkish Police, Protesters Clash Outside NATO Summit |
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(Source: Voice of America news; issued June 28, 2004)
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Turkish police in Istanbul have used tear gas and water cannon to stop hundreds of protesters from approaching the conference center where NATO leaders are meeting.
Local news reports say about 2,000 people took part in Monday's demonstration, during which some of them tried to force their way through a police barricade.
Reports say protesters threw fire bombs and rocks, as they clashed with police. Several policemen and protesters were reported injured.
Thousands of Turkish police have been deployed in Istanbul to provide security for the two-day NATO summit.
-ends-
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