U.S. Discussing New International Peacekeeping Force
By REUTERS
Filed at 9:00 p.m. ET
CARLISLE, Pa. (Reuters) - The U.S. government has begun internal
discussions about the possible creation of a U.S.-led international
force capable of taking on peacekeeping duties in world hot-spots such
as Iraq and Afghanistan, a senior Army officer said.
``We are having a dialogue with other elements of the government on
this,'' said Col. Michael Dooley, acting director of the U.S. Army
Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute, a military think-tank
charged with studying post-combat operations in war-torn countries.
``At this point, we have only limited capability to assist. But we do
have some thoughts on the subject and we're exchanging those thoughts
and ideas with other elements of the government,'' he told Reuters in
an interview this week.
The Army had announced in January that it would close its Peacekeeping
Institute, at the Army War College in Carlisle, in central
Pennsylvania.
The Pentagon has since found itself facing a rising tide of deadly
guerrilla attacks in Iraq that have claimed the lives of more
Americans since May 1 than died during the six weeks of major combat
operations before then.
Military analysts and sources at nongovernmental agencies say senior
Bush administration officials, hard pressed by the difficulty of
raising foreign troops for Iraq, have proposed creating a new
international force consisting of troops from developing countries as
well as the United States.
Washington suffered a new setback on Friday when Turkey said it would
not help secure the country.
OUTSIDE PURVIEW OF U.N. OR NATO?
Some analysts and sources have suggested the force would be largely
trained and supported by the United States and operate outside the
purview of the United Nations or NATO.
Pentagon officials had no immediate comment on the issue.
Dooley did not elaborate.
``It comes down to resources -- who's going to assist others. Some
countries have the desire but absolutely no resources,'' he said.
Preparation for post-combat Iraq is one thing the institute was in no
position to help Army commanders with last spring. At the time, the
10-member, $1 million-a-year group, then known simply as the
Peacekeeping Institute, was scheduled for elimination under a Pentagon
cost-cutting initiative.
Critics blame the Bush administration for jettisoning any policy
initiative imbued with Clinton-era notions of peacekeeping, nation
building or multilateralism.
But soon after the ouster of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, U.S.
officials appeared caught unawares by widespread looting and
lawlessness that dominated daily life in Baghdad.
Then came a rising tide of deadly guerrilla attacks on U.S. occupation
forces, and the decision to close the institute suddenly ``didn't pass
the common sense test,'' Dooley said.
The Army expanded the staff to 20 and the budget to $1.4 million,
saying it would become the Army's preeminent strategic authority on
stability operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Kosovo. It also
broadened the scope to include the study of counter-terrorism,
psychological operations and public relations under post-combat
conditions.
.
|
