Europe to the Rescue?
Ar Rustamiyah, the top military academy under Saddam Hussein's regime, called Rustumia College [Ar Rustamiyah], is in eastern Baghdad. Iraq's West Point. Also known as Iraqi War College. On March 31, 2003 American warplanes bombed the barracks of the main training center of the Iraqi paramilitary forces in eastern Baghdad's Rustamiyah area.
On July 25, 2005 graduation ceremonies were held for the first 24 hand-picked graduates of intense NATO in Iraq training. "The course has been specifically tailored to Iraqi requirements, and the students carefully selected from a large group of applicants." I'd like to know what are the specific Iraqi requirements. The graduates will teach/train officers for the Iraqi security forces, the new old republic guards that our own Republicans believe will step up soon so the US can step down.
In September 2005 NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and Supreme Allied Commander, General James L. Jones, visited Iraq to mark the enhancement of NATO's training mission. The NATO flag was raised over the new NATO Training Mission Headquarters inside the International Zone of Baghdad (formerly know as the Green Zone b/c war=$$$). Along with the Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Jafaari, he also opened the Iraqi Joint Staff College in Ar-Rustamiyah, on the outskirts of the capital, where officer training will take place. Ar Rustamiyah or the West Point of Iraq is back in business.
In August 2004 Eurocorps took over for the NATO led ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) in Afghanistan. NATO and ISAF's mission is to help create "the conditions under which Afghanistan can enjoy a representative government and prolonged peace and security."
Originally created as a Franco-German Eurocorps' the mainframe now includes Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Spain, so don't believe the stories of certain European heads being against the Iraq War. Germany's Gerhard Schröder has said his country will not play a military role in Iraq. But Germany does train Iraqi police and soldiers in the UAE. And Ms. Merkel will likely do more than support a cop shop on the border.
Eurocorps now a "High Readiness Force" today includes in its membership : Austria, Canada, Finland, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. "The type and size of units needed by the Eurocorps have to be determined depending on the assigned mission, likely employment and the expected operational outcome. In the case that all the earmarked national contributions are committed, the Corps would number approximately 60,000 soldiers."
With the We$t Point of Iraq back in bu$ine$$, more UN and NATO $upport, and a growing Eurocorp$ - is the defeat of "terrori$m" on the horizon? Nah, the Anglo world ha$n't gotten all the po$$ible mileage yet in winning the War on Terror, but for public acceptance may have to re$ell it as A$$i$ting the $ecurity & Peace (ASP).
10 comments:
it is very unlikely that something will come out of this.
according to the german ex-general klaus reinhardt, a guy who commanded troops in bosnia and kosovo and who left service only very recently, the german troops in afghanistan are so ill-equipped they have to rely on ukrainia for airtransport. they really can't do any offensive operations and there is not enough money to pay the soldiers extra cash for going to a war zone. they earn the same money by simply staying at home. since only volunteers can be send abroad (weird german laws) it will not only be impossible to raise the troop numbers, but it will be very hard to keep the troops in afghanistan for a long time.
reinhardt was in fact really mad at the operation and called it a farce and a masquerade.
it is true that the german conservatives supported the war, but that is simply because the cdu/csu has a lot of business relations with the republicans. german parties are like companies, they run businesses and make money.
the german army lacks the means to go to iraq.
All those "problems" of equipment and salary are minor. That's where "ASP" comes in. The US will assist supplying the Eurocorps with funds and equipment. Germany has a great deal of capital; they only need a change of law to use more of it militarily. And war is the biggest business to make money.
Since WWII the US has kept Germany from having too strong a military, understandably. But as we know, sentiments can change rapidly in politics.
gee, you really overestimate the german economy. germany is as broke as can be. there is no way on earth that they could send their little old army to iraq, or get it to work as mercenaries for the us-government. and then there is that little problem of merkel never getting a majority for idiocies like that in parlament.
Germany's economy is the world's 3rd biggest. The EU constrains the country's fiscal policy some say. The rising unemployment and/or low wage dead end jobs in so called "advanced" nations will lead people and parities to accept "peacekeeping" work as a necessity, which will require troops.
Germany, as all of the EU has economic interests in Iraq and are now ready to work with the US to secure those interests. "Work with" securing the peace is code for cooperating with US led and instigated interventions.
Money/capital will not be a problem. The Pentagon and USrael governments will assist all Europeans willing to sign up.
germany has not enough troops. no way for them to get enough troops. you really think that unemployed people are dumb enough to act as cannon fodder? maybe in the usa, where people believe that the state has no busines interfering with 'the invisible hand' of the economy. in germany the reactions to still more unemployment will be more like what we have seen in france, riots against the state. so far unemployment aid keeps the lid down. the dumb politicians started something that they cannot finish. because not enough of their subjects will play soldiers for them.
Time will tell. Europe's unemployed are no more civilized or smarter than the US; as you said "unemployment aids keep the lid down." Europe's safety net is no more secure than the US. When conditions are right armies are easily raised.
BTW Germany has 20.5 million military manpower available.
but a professional army of no more than 10000. when even in the united states recroutment numbers are going down and down i cannot see why a very large number of people in germany would want to join the military.
See above post "Objects in Rearview...." as according to DoD US recruiting is meeting quotas.
I know 10,000 doesn't sound like much, but with a dozen member countries in the Eurocorps and the possibility of more nations assisting under the guise of peacekeeping that could become a very big "army."
The UN could also muster troops. I don't think large numbers of people want to enlist for war but 3 years from now, economically, it may be the option for many. The "Third World White" I blogged says some of my sentiments.
I doubt the US will reinstate the draft, but there are other ideas floating around, i.e. mandatory national service for 19 to 25 y/o. While many Americans feel there's a "change" taking place with Murtha, just as the hope rose with Sheehan, Fitzpatrick, and others, I don't see it as "change" but as tactics to placate the public while the domestic agenda is putting laws and policies in place to continue the goal of the global elite.
of course you are correct that european elites are just as scummy as the us-elite. yet it is unlikely that politicians will reach their goals with this idiotic war, both in iraq and afghanistan.
i don't believe in happy ends, though. no strait defeat for the warmongers and return to democracy and a state that respects the laws in he civilized world.
i have a very bad feeling about where all this is headed.
I share that "bad feeling" with you but I do believe in miracles, i.e. the commoners unite. ;)
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