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NATO Defense Minsterial & Security Conference in Munich
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NE-@latvia-usa.org
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Feb 08, 2004 23:49 PST
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NATO ENLARGEMENT DAILY BRIEF (NEDB)
Monday, 09 February 2004, 01:29 EDT
---------------------------------------------
* NATO MUST COMMIT TO FUTURE IRAQ ROLE: DE HOOP SCHEFFER ?
AFP
* U.S. PLANS FOR NATO MEET RESISTANCE OF FRANCE, GERMANY ?
AFP / Lorne Cook
* GERMANY WOULD NOT BLOCK NATO ROLE IN IRAQ ? AFP / Jim
Mannion
* NATO DEFMINS PROMISE MORE REGIONAL SECURITY TEAMS FOR
ISAF? WP / Bradley Graham
* NEW "HARMEL REPORT" NEEDED ON NATO'S FUTURE: GERMAN
DEFMIN ? DPA
* GERMAN OPPOSITION LEADER BACKS DEFMIN?S INITIATIVE - BBC
Monitoring /DDP
* CZECHS WILL SEND "PROVINCIAL UNITS" TO AFGHANISTAN:
DFEFMIN - BBC Monitoring / CTK
* RAPPROCHEMENT WITH NATO IS UKRAINE'S PRIORITY: DEFMIN ?
TASS / Vitaly Matarykin
* SPAIN MAY HAVE TO SEND 1,000 MORE SOLDIERS TO IRAQ - BBC
Monitoring / ABC
* POLISH DEFMININ CALLS FOR NATO ROLE IN IRAQ - BBC
Monitoring / PAP
* RUMSFELD DEFENDS PREEMPTION DOCTRINE ? WP / Bradley
Graham
* UN IS GUARANTOR OF INTERNATIONAL LEGITIMACY: FRENCH
MINISTER ? AFP
* MOSCOW THREATENS TO LEAVE CFE TREATY - FT / Judy Dempsey
---------------------------------------------
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40TH MUNICH CONFERENCE ON SECURITY POLICY
http://securityconference.de
NATO DEFENSE MINISTERIAL IN MUNICH
http://www.nato.int/docu/comm/2004/02-munich/040206-munich.htm
NATO MUST COMMIT TO FUTURE IRAQ ROLE: DE HOOP SCHEFFER
AFP, 07 Feb 04
NATO has a duty to help provide security in Iraq and must
play a fuller role there if a new and independent
government calls on it to do so, the alliance's chief Jaap
de Hoop Scheffer said Saturday.
"If a legitimate Iraqi government asks for our assistance,
and if we have the support of the United Nations, NATO
should not abdicate from its responsibilities," he told an
international security conference in Munich, southern
Germany.
NATO currently provides support to member state Poland in
its control of a sector in the war-torn country, but the
United States wants the alliance to play a wider role.
The push for a larger NATO role comes amid mounting
pressure on the US military as it struggles to pacify Iraq
while preparing to hand over sovereignty to an as yet
undefined transitional government.
Other countries, notably Germany, have voiced scepticism
about the idea and are reluctant to make any commitment
until elections have been held.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said earlier that
Berlin would not stand in the way of NATO deploying in
Iraq, but it would not send troops.
"But the risk of failure and the possible consequences to
the NATO alliance in Iraq absolutely must be taken into
consideration," he said. "Honesty demands of me that I
cannot conceal my deep scepticism on this account."
However de Hoop Scheffer said sceptism was not enough.
"If we say that we cannot afford failure in Iraq like we
cannot afford failure in Afghanistan ... then you can't say
I'm sceptical, full stop. Unless you say we can afford to
lose and I think we can't afford to lose," he said.
"There should be many words after scepticism," he added.
Germany vehemently opposed the US-led war, a stance that
tore apart its diplomatic relations with the United States,
relations which have only just begun to improve.
De Hoop Scheffer acknowledged that the war had created deep
divisions but said: "there cannot be the slightest doubt
that winning the peace in Iraq is in everybody's collective
interest."
He was speaking at the annual Munich security conference,
which gathers defence experts and senior politicians from
around the world.
U.S. PLANS FOR NATO MEET RESISTANCE OF FRANCE, GERMANY
AFP, 8 Feb 04, by Lorne Cook
Ambitious US plans for NATO to help stabilise the "Greater
Middle East" met niggling resistance in Europe over the
weekend and highlighted the important strategic differences
between them.
With transatlantic ties barely recovering after the US-led
war on Iraq, the United States urged its NATO allies to
mobilise their resources in Afghanistan, play a real role
in Iraq and become more involved in the Middle East.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it was important
for NATO to build on its achievements and the change it has
helped inspire in eastern Europe.
"Our challenge is to think creatively about how we can
harness the power of the Alliance and to contribute to
similar democratic progress across the Middle East," he
told the world's defence community in Munich, southern
Germany.
But for the main opponents of the Iraq war, little has
changed in the year since it was launched, apart from
Washington's need for help as its troops come under daily
attack amid calls for a handover of sovereignty to the
Iraqis.
France placed conditions on its involvement in Afghanistan,
Germany said it was sceptical about a NATO mission in Iraq,
and Russia railed against the threat to its interests posed
by the Alliance's eastward expansion.
French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie set conditions
for a wider NATO presence in Afghanistan through the
five-nation Eurocorps, including demands that it remain
near the capital Kabul and limits on how long it could
stay.
On Iraq, she said it was "out of the question that NATO
carries out a mission under the command of another Alliance
member," without directly mentioning the United States.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who clashed with
Rumsfeld at the conference last year, said that Berlin
would not take part in any operation in Iraq but nor would
it seek to block NATO.
"The federal republic will not stand in the way of a
consensus even if it will not supply German troops to
Iraq," Fischer said.
"But the risk of failure and the possible consequences to
the NATO alliance in Iraq absolutely must be taken into
consideration," he cautioned. "Honesty demands of me that I
cannot conceal my deep skepticism on this account."
While Russia supports Washington on Iraq, it has felt
increasingly threatened as NATO expands eastwards toward
its borders following the collapse of the Soviet Union in
1991. The Baltic states will join in coming months.
"We have been fulfilling our unilateral commitments on
restraint in stationing military equipment and armaments"
in the Kaliningrad region, Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov
said at the conference.
"We have assumed those commitments in a definite military
and political environment. With the admission of the
invitees to NATO, this environment will drastically
change," he said.
In the Middle East, King Abdullah II of Jordan made an
eloquent plea for a region-wide international alliance
aimed at fighting conflict at its roots by encouraging
modernisation and dealing seriously with poverty.
"Neither the parties, nor their neighbours, nor the region
can do it alone," he said on the final day of the 40th
annual Munich security conference. "It requires a
collective international alliance for peace."
In his speech, Fischer took perhaps the firmest steps of
any speaker in that direction by proposing that the EU,
NATO and Mediterranean countries begin a joint process on a
common future for the entire Middle East.
"It is in our interests that the people of the Middle East
are able to share in the benefits of globalisation," he
said. "If we fail, we will have a high price to pay and we
will also have to pay it collectively."
By the end of the conference on Sunday, it was unclear
whether his forward thinking approach would find the
consensus it needs to succeed.
GERMANY WOULD NOT BLOCK A CONSENSUS ON NATO ROLE IN IRAQ
AFP, 7 Feb 04, by Jim Mannion
Germany said Saturday it would not stand in the way of a
greater NATO involvement in Iraq, but deep differences
persisted between the United States and Europe over how to
stabilize the region.
Despite calls on all sides to put aside the divisions
opened by the war in Iraq, US Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld made an emotional defense of the US-led overthrow
of Saddam Hussein at the annual Munich security conference.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who last year led
the charge here against the war, told the same audience
that "events have proven the position we took at the time
was right."
Fischer said Germany would not block a consensus from
emerging in NATO over greater involvement in Iraq, but
would send no troops.
"Honesty demands of me that I cannot conceal my deep
skepticism on this account," he said as Rumsfeld listened.
Instead, he suggested that the United States and its allies
pool resources in a transatlantic initiative to help rescue
the Arab world from a crisis of modernization he said was
fostering terrorism and instability.
Rumsfeld, alluded to the suggestion in his speech, but
appeared to dismiss it by saying the United States and its
coalition partners already had a "common strategy."
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said France,
another opponent of the Iraq war, intended to be a "driving
force" in NATO and backed up its commitment with 25,000
troops in a new Rapid Response Force.
She stressed the United Nations "is the principle guarantor
of legitimacy in international relations. We must watch
over that legitimacy."
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, speaking a day
after a bombing in Moscow, said his government was ready to
help Washington stabilize the Middle East, linking it to
its own war against Chechen separatists.
Iraq, he said, "has now turned into a real magnet for
terrorists."
Rumsfeld defended the war as an action to free a brutalized
people from a tyrant who passed up the chance to disarm
under UN resolutions.
At one point, he appeared to choke up as he recounted
seeing the name of a high school friend inscribed at a
memorial in Seoul to US dead in the 1950-53 Korean war.
He related the story as a reminder of the sacrifices made
by US soldiers.
Rumsfeld acknowledged the US image in the world had been
hurt but blamed it on "shocking, absolutely shocking" media
coverage.
"I know in my heart and my brain that America ain't what's
wrong in the world," he said.
He skirted around the failure to find weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, a key rationale for the US invasion.
Asked about the intelligence failures, Rumsfeld said it was
a question of critical importance that would be looked at
by a commission named Friday by President George W. Bush.
But he argued that preemptive military action had to be
weighed in a world in which terrorists and the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction raised the
prospects of thousands of people being killed in attacks.
"As you go upscale from snowball to weapons of mass
destruction, at some point where the risk gets high enough
it's not going to be a snowball in your face," he said.
"It could be a biological weapon that is going to kill tens
of thousands of human beings. Then you have to ask yourself
if you have an obligation to take the blow and do something
afterwards."
Fischer defended Germany's decision not to join the
US-coalition.
"It was a political decision not to join the coalition
because we were not and we are still not convinced of the
validity of the reasons for war," he said.
But he said the coalition's success was vital because
failure would have damaging consequences for everyone.
"The forces of violence and terror must not win the upper
hand," he said.
NATO TO EXPAND FORCE IN AFGHANISTAN; DEFENSE MINISTERS
PROMISE RUMSFELD REGIONAL SECURITY TEAMS
Washington Post, 7 Feb 03, by Bradley Graham
Several European defense ministers offered on Friday to
expand NATO operations in Afghanistan by forming new
regional security teams beyond Kabul. But U.S. and NATO
authorities gave conflicting statements on whether the
teams could be established in time to bolster security for
national elections planned for this summer.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, attending a meeting
of NATO defense ministers here, had appealed for more
alliance help and greeted the European commitments
enthusiastically. In remarks to the ministers and at a news
conference afterward, he outlined an even greater potential
role for NATO in Afghanistan in which the alliance would
ultimately take command of all international military
operations in the country.
The officials also discussed Iraq. For weeks, alliance
officials have mulled the possibility of NATO taking charge
of the international force that patrols south-central Iraq
under Polish and Spanish leadership.
With political power in Iraq scheduled to pass to an
interim government this summer, France and Germany, which
opposed the U.S. invasion, have signaled a willingness to
consider a NATO deployment. But the ministers made no
decision on the matter, and instead focused on the growing
mission in Afghanistan.
"NATO's first priority is to get Afghanistan right," said
Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, NATO's new secretary general. "We
have no choice."
NATO's ability to follow through on the mission, its first
outside of Europe, has become a crucial test for the
alliance. In August, NATO took command of the International
Security Assistance Force in Kabul, which now numbers
nearly 8,000 troops. As a test case for expanding beyond
the capital, Germany last month took charge of a security
team in the northern city of Kunduz.
The U.S.-led coalition force of 13,000 troops has seven
teams of its own and intends to set up more. The teams,
known as Provincial Reconstruction Teams and made up of 80
to 200 soldiers each, provide security for aid workers and
engage in small development projects. The Bush
administration regards them as crucial not only to
providing greater security in the provinces but also to
extending the authority of the Afghan government, since
troops of the new Afghan army work with the teams.
U.S. officials have been eager for NATO to establish
additional teams in advance of the national elections. But
NATO has had difficulty mustering enough troops and
equipment from member nations to fulfill commitments;
Rumsfeld and his staff came to Munich hoping to spur the
project.
At the meeting Friday, Gen. James Jones, a U.S. Marine who
commands NATO forces, briefed the ministers on a plan to
set up five new teams. The briefing, according to one
participant, provided "a certain amount of momentum" that
led the ministers of four countries -- Britain, Italy,
Turkey and Norway -- to commit to leading one team each. A
U.S. official said the Netherlands has also indicated it
might head one.
While U.S. forces are concentrated in southern and eastern
Afghanistan, where Taliban and al Qaeda fighters remain a
threat, plans call for the NATO teams to go into the
relatively calm north and west.
Asked about timing, Rumsfeld said it was "realistic" that
the NATO teams could be set up by the summer. But de Hoop
Scheffer told reporters that no formal decision was made
and that the matter might have to wait until a NATO summit
in Istanbul in June.
Eventually, Rumsfeld said, NATO might take control of all
the reconstruction teams in Afghanistan, and after that,
assume command of all international forces there. But
another senior U.S. official called that idea "an
aspiration" that has "really no definition" to it.
The ministers also discussed plans to end NATO's mission in
Bosnia, which began in 1995, and replace it with police and
military forces from the European Union. The proposal,
which is to be formally approved at the Istanbul summit,
would leave a small headquarters unit headed by a U.S.
two-star general that would continue to provide
counterterrorism assistance and hunt for war crimes
suspects still wanted by the International War Crimes
Tribunal -- most notably, Bosnian Serb wartime leader
Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Ratko Mladic.
NEW "HARMEL REPORT" NEEDED ON NATO'S FUTURE: GERMAN
MINISTER
Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 7 Feb 04
German Defence Minister Peter Struck called Saturday for
NATO to order a major study on its future tasks modelled on
the 1967 Harmel Report which expanded the Alliance's global
security role. Struck, in a speech at the annual Munich
security conference, welcomed improvements in what he
termed "the transatlantic atmosphere" since last year's
bitter row over the Iraq war. Germany, he said, viewed it
as vital for Europe and the United States to stand together
against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. But
while noting NATO would remain Germany's first choice for
any crisis, Struck underlined that the European Union
(E.U.) would have an expanding role in crises where civil
and security issues were at stake. "Nobody can afford the
luxury of relying on one organisation," said Struck. Struck
called on NATO to commission a major report delimiting the
Alliance's tasks modelled on the 1967 Harmel Report which
converted NATO from a defensive military organisation into
clearinghouse for Western security policy. The call for new
Harmel Report was swiftly criticized by U.S. participants
at the meeting. Brent Scowcroft, a former U.S. National
Security Adviser for President George Bush senior, stressed
that NATO had to be the first resort in any crisis. If it
isn't "we are still on the road to disaster," warned
Scowcroft. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, a Republicans Party U.S.
Senator from Texas, also expressed concern over Struck's
proposal. In a reply to Scowcroft, Defence Minister Struck
said there should be no doubt that NATO would remain the
number one choice for Germany. NATO Secretary General Jaap
de Hoop Scheffer also underlined there could be no
consideration of watering down the Alliance's role. "NATO
will definitely have the first go," said de Hoop Scheffer,
adding: "In this 21st century we need multilaterlism with
teeth." The NATO chief noted that NATO ties with the
European Union faced a crucial "litmus test" later this
year with the planned ending of the SFOR mission in
Bosnia-Herzegovina and the handing over of power to the
European Union. "If this handover proceeds in a smooth and
transparent way ... the Balkans, Europe and the
transatlantic relationship will have made a major leap
forward," said de Hoop Scheffer.
GERMAN OPPOSITION LEADER BACKS MINISTER'S MIDDLE EAST
INITIATIVE
BBC Monitoring / DDP, 7 Feb 04
Excerpt from report by Ulrich Meyer: "Surprising advance -
Fischer launches peace initiative for Middle East -
protests at security conference", published by the German
news agency ddp on 7 February
Germany has suddenly launched a new major peace initiative
for the Middle East.
At the 40th security conference in Munich on Saturday 7
February , Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer (Greens) urged
NATO and the EU to put together a coordinated programme for
the future of the region of unrest. He received "express"
support for it by CDU Christian Democratic Union Chairwoman
Angela Merkel. At the same time, however, Fischer warned
against a NATO mission in Iraq. A failure would endanger
the alliance as a whole. Passage omitted
CDU Chairwoman Merkel welcomed the foreign minister's
initiative. At the same time, however, she criticized
Fischer's refusal to provide soldiers for a potential NATO
mission in Iraq. Germany must not refuse the partners'
requests, Merkel said, and in this connection, she also
demanded raising the German defence budget to the average
of the European NATO states. Passage omitted
During the protests against the security conference Munich
police relied on a strong presence in the streets. Most of
the 175 persons who had been detained by Saturday morning
were released after a brief period. In 147 cases, it was
just so-called preventive custody, which was supposed to
prevent imminent disturbances.
However, 28 of the detained protesters were indeed
arrested. They are accused of obstructing public authority,
violations of the law on assemblies, and insult.
/Passage omitted/
CZECHS WILL SEND "PROVINCIAL UNITS" TO AFGHANISTAN, SAYS
MINISTER
BBC Monitoring / CTK, 8 Feb 04
Czech Defence Minister Miroslav Kostelka told CTK today
that the Czech Republic will have to send soldiers to
Afghanistan this or next year to join "provincial units".
Kostelka attended a two-day annual security conference in
Munich that focused on the future of NATO and transatlantic
relations.
Ministers agreed at the conference that NATO could raise
the number of "provincial units" destined for
reconstruction in Afghanistan. "This will affect the Czech
Republic as well," Kostelka said. "Even if we do not go
there this year, next year we will definitely have to send
some soldiers to Afghanistan because this is NATO's task
number one," he said.
He added that the Czech Republic has the necessary
capacity. "We can say in the strength of a reinforced
company," Kostelka said.
The Czech Republic is ready to send more than 100
reconnaissance experts and about 30 other soldiers,
including meteorologists and mine-clearance experts, to
Afghanistan this spring already. (passage omitted)
RAPPROCHEMENT WITH NATO IS UKRAINE'S PRIORITY - MINISTER
TASS, 8 Feb 04, by Vitaly Matarykin
Rapprochement with NATO is a priority of Ukraine, Foreign
Minister Konstantin Grishchenko said at a plenary meeting
"The Future of NATO" of the international security
conference in Munich.
Grishchenko stressed the contribution of Kiev to the
stability in various places of the world, the Ukrainian
foreign ministry press service reports. "Life shows that
such partners as Ukraine are both willing and capable of
reinforcing the NATO response to modern threats and
challenges," the minister said. He referred to the
Ukrainian participation in the stabilization operation in
Iraq, and peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and Liberia.
Grishchenko called for using Ukrainian military cargo
planes in NATO shipments.
"Ukraine welcomes further development of cooperation
between Russia and NATO," he said. "Partnership between the
Alliance and Russia is a cornerstone of the European
security."
SPAIN MAY HAVE TO SEND 1,000 MORE SOLDIERS TO IRAQ
BBC Monitoring / web site, Madrid, in Spanish, 7 Feb 04
Madrid: Spain would have to increase the current contingent
of 1,300 soldiers deployed in Iraq by 1,000 if it decided
to take over the command of the centre-south multinational
division, in which our troops are deployed and which is
currently led by a Polish general, on 30 June. This is what
was said yesterday by the secretary of state for defence
and government commissioner for the reconstruction of Iraq,
Fernando Diez Moreno, who added that what appears to be
clear is that Poland does not appear to be going to prolong
its mandate, but he did not rule out either that NATO may
take over the leadership of the division.
As for Spain's future decision concerning the command of
the centre-south division, Polish Defence Ministry sources
told ABC at the meeting of NATO ministers in Munich
yesterday that the government headed by Jose Maria Aznar
will not take any decision, so Madrid has told them. After
the 14 March legislative elections (in Spain), the new
government that emerges from the ballot boxes will adopt a
position in this regard, the sources said. (passage
omitted)
POLISH DEFENCE MINISTER CALLS FOR TALKS ON NATO'S ROLE IN
IRAQ
BBC Monitoring / PAP, 6 Feb 04
Warsaw, 6 February: Nobody questioned Polish proposals to
begin work aiming at establishing the level of the future
NATO's involvement in Iraq, National Defence Minister Jerzy
Szmajdzinski told PAP. The minister is attending an
informal two-day meeting of NATO defence ministers which
started on Friday (6 February) in Munich.
"I suggested that we should begin informal consultations at
ambassadorial level and that later on this dialogue should
be continued at the level of foreign ministers, who would
meet soon. I also suggested that certain analytical work
should be carried out by the NATO military committee," he
explained.
He said that according to earlier announcements, Poland,
Spain, the United States, Turkey and Britain had put
forward a proposal considering a possibility of increasing
NATO's involvement in Iraq. He added that it was not a
secret that Poland wanted decisions concerning the possible
NATO's role in Iraq to be made at the NATO summit in June
in Istanbul.
Szmajdzinski said that a discussion about increasing NATO's
involvement in Afghanistan took considerably longer at the
meeting. "We will analyse further the possibilities of
increasing our participation, however, our capabilities are
limited," the defence minister said.
He said that at present there were 100 Polish servicemen in
Afghanistan as part of an American led operation while
several dozen officers are present in structures
subordinated to NATO, the International Security and
Assistance Force (ISAF). A biographical intelligence team
and two air traffic controllers will soon start their
service there.
He added that in Munich the defence ministers also
discussed the issue of the European Union taking over the
responsibility for operation in Bosnia and Hercegovina from
NATO. "This subject is to be discussed further," he said.
He added that in his opinion this idea had already gained
support from NATO members.
RUMSFELD DEFENDS PREEMPTION DOCTRINE
Washington Post, 8 Feb 04, by Bradley Graham
MUNICH, Feb. 7 -- Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
reaffirmed the administration's doctrine of preemptive
military action Saturday and offered an impassioned defense
of the decision to invade Iraq, saying former president
Saddam Hussein's defiance had forced the United States to
act.
While acknowledging that the decision to attack an enemy
before being attacked depends on having "elegant
intelligence" about the opponent's intentions and arsenals,
Rumsfeld argued forcefully for striking first, particularly
in cases involving the potential use of a biological agent
or other weapons that could cause thousands of deaths.
"The greater the risk and the danger, the lower the
threshold for action," he said, speaking at a conference on
U.S. and European security issues here.
The invasion of Iraq marked the first application of the
Bush administration's preemptive approach. The disclosure
recently of errors and gaps in the U.S. intelligence
assessment of Iraq's weapons programs before the war has
raised fresh concerns about the U.S. doctrine, both in the
United States and abroad.
"I agree you can't wait to absorb the first blow," Josef
Joffee, editor of the German publication Die Zeit, told
Rumsfeld during a question-and-answer session. "But what
are we going to do about intelligence in a situation where
intelligence is absolutely vital so we don't shoot the
wrong guy?"
Rumsfeld responded that gathering intelligence in a world
of secretive governments, fiber-optic cabling and
underground tunneling is "a very difficult thing to do,"
but he said he hoped the new U.S. presidential commission
announced Friday to investigate intelligence shortcomings
would lead to improvements.
Rumsfeld's unyielding remarks surprised many of the
conference participants. In recent weeks, the Bush
administration has made a point of trying to move relations
with European allies beyond last year's divisions over the
Iraq war and toward a focus on new cooperative initiatives
against terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction. In the process, the administration also has
been seeking more European troops for operations in
Afghanistan and Iraq.
At last year's conference -- an annual event that draws
several hundred senior government officials and national
security experts, mostly from European countries --
Rumsfeld clashed openly with German Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer over Washington's reasons for preparing to
invade Iraq. This year, many had expected Rumsfeld to
strike a measured tone. Most other speeches and remarks
during the day were notably free of contention.
Fischer, delivering the opening address, did start with a
jab about Iraq, saying the German government "feels that
events have proven the position it took at the time to be
right," adding, "we were not and are still not convinced of
the validity of the reasons for war."
He also expressed "deep skepticism" about an enlarged role
for NATO in Iraq, though he made clear his government would
not block a possible alliance move to take command of a
multinational division in south-central Iraq now under
Polish and Spanish leadership.
But Fischer quickly sounded a conciliatory note, outlining
a proposal for the United States and Europe to join in
developing a broad new strategy for fostering
"modernization and stabilization" in the Middle East. U.S.
officials traveling with Rumsfeld welcomed the initiative,
noting similarities with President Bush's call last autumn
for efforts to promote democracy in the region.
Rumsfeld, in his prepared remarks, launched into a spirited
defense of the invasion, arguing Hussein brought it on
himself. He noted decisions by Kazakhstan, Ukraine, South
Africa and, most recently, Libya to open their arsenals of
nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction to
inspection, and contrasted this openness with Hussein's
"path of deception and defiance" before the war.
"It was his choice," Rumsfeld said of Hussein. "If the
Iraqi regime had taken the steps Libya is now taking, there
would have been no war."
Facing some critical audience questions afterward, Rumsfeld
became animated and loud at times. Asked what the United
States could do to improve its much-deteriorated image in
the world, Rumsfeld blamed news coverage by Arab television
networks for contributing to the decline by promoting
"highly negative" stories.
"I know in my heart and brain that America ain't what's
wrong with the world," he said.
Cutting through the air with his hands for emphasis, he
recalled the situation in Iraq before the war, "with people
being tortured, rape rooms, mass graves, gross corruption,
a country that had used chemical weapons on its own
people."
"There were prominent people from represented countries in
this room that opined that they really didn't think it made
a hell of a lot of difference who won," he said, looking
out at the packed hotel conference room. "Shocking.
Absolutely shocking."
UN IS GUARANTOR OF INTERNATIONAL LEGITIMACY: FRENCH
MINISTER
AFP, 7 Feb 04
The United Nations is the main guarantor of international
legitimacy, French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie
said Saturday, amid US pressure for NATO to deploy in Iraq.
"The UN is the principle guarantor of legitimacy in
international relations. We must watch over that
legitimacy," Alliot-Marie told a conference of defence
luminaries in Munich, southern Germany.
"It is the precondition so that there is no feeling of
injustice in the world -- a feeling of injustice which
could, under certain conditions, be the reason behind
certain terrorist ideas," she said.
France has said it would not support any NATO mission in
Iraq until a legitimate government has been installed in
Baghdad, with the backing of the United Nations.
Alliot-Marie said that the United Nations had "proved
itself and shown its capacity to deal with difficult
periods of stabilisation and reconstruction in the
Balkans."
MOSCOW THREATENS TO LEAVE CFE TREATY
Financial Times, 8 Feb 04, by Judy Dempsey
Russia was considering pulling out of asecurity treaty that
limits troop movements and conventional weapons throughout
Europe and Russia, Sergei Ivanov, Russian defence minister,
told an international security conference in Munich.
The threat stunned US and European defence officials, since
a decision by Russia to withdraw from the Conventional
Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty would destroy one of the main
cornerstones of European security.
John McCain, Republican senator, was one of the few top US
officials at the conference to accuse Moscow of reneging on
its treaty commitments and its policies in Chechnya.
The CFE treaty, negotiated during the 1980s by the then
Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe,
represented one of the most significant breakthroughs on
reducing conventional forces between Nato and the
Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.
But since 1999, when the treaty was updated to take into
account the break-up of the Soviet Union, Russia has
consistently refused to ratify the treaty and withdraw its
forces from several parts of the Caucasus.
Russia has two military bases in republic of Georgia, now
led by a new and democratic government that wants to join
Nato.
Russian officials said Moscow had no money to pay for the
redeployment of the troops but the US recently offered to
help with the costs. Colin Powell, US secretary of state,
raised the issue with President Vladimir Putin last month,
signalling a tougher approach from Washington.
Russia also has troops and armaments in Trans Dniestr,
whose pro-Russian communist-led leadership wants to break
away from Moldova.
Mr Ivanov said the amended treaty "in its actual form
cannot continue to uphold stability and the balance of
interests" largely because of the way Nato has expanded.
The treaty, he added, could end up a relic of the cold war,
like the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) Treaty the US and
Russia scrapped two years ago.
Nato will admit seven new countries in April, three of
which are the Baltic states. This, said Mr Ivanov, would
undermine the treaty, as several of the new members would
remain outside it, "making the treaty system of limitations
imperfect".
Diplomats said Russia believed it might have some leverage
ahead of the Nato expansion because Moscow might link
ratification and implementation of the CFE treaty to any
move by Nato to establish new bases in Poland and the
Baltic countries.
Mr Ivanov, however, made clear Russia would not stop Nato
enlargement, but equally made it clear the future of the
CFE treaty was not guaranteed.
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