Messages In This Digest (19 Messages)

12.: Japan To Deploy Army Medics To Afghanistan From: Rick Rozoff

13.: U.S. Eyes Formally Expanding Afghan War Into Pakistan Proper From: Rick Rozoff

14.: Strategic Airlift And More: NATO Expands Operations In Hungary From: Rick Rozoff

15.: Simmons Strengthens NATO's Ties With Uzbekistan From: Rick Rozoff

16.: EU-NATO Partnership Key Element In "Global Security Architecture" From: Rick Rozoff

17.: U.S. MDA Chief Describes Phased, Layered Global Missile Shield From: Rick Rozoff

18.: Clinton: Global NATO Must "Anticipate Shifting Security Challenges" From: Rick Rozoff

19.: Fw: US presses allies on missile shield From: Rick Rozoff

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1.: New War Rumors: U.S. Plans To Seize Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 12:56 pm (PDT)

http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/new-war-rumors-u-s-plans-to-seize-pakistans-nuclear-arsenal

Stop NATO
October 15, 2010

New War Rumors: U.S. Plans To Seize Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal
Rick Rozoff

Two recent news items emanating from the United States have begun to reverberate in Pakistan and give rise to speculation that growing American drone strikes and NATO helicopter attacks in that country may be the harbingers of far broader actions: Nothing less than the expansion of the West's war in Afghanistan into Pakistan with the ultimate goal of seizing the nation's nuclear weapons.

The News International, Pakistan's largest English-language newspaper, published a report on October 13 based on excerpts from American journalist Bob Woodward's recently released volume "Obama's Wars" which stated that during a trilateral summit between the presidents of the U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan on May 6 of 2009 Pakistani head of state Asif Ali Zardari accused Washington of being behind Taliban attacks inside his country with the intent to use them so "the US could invade and seize its nuclear weapons." [1]

Woodward recounted comments exchanged at a dinner with Zardari and Afghan-born Zalmay Khalilzad, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations (2007-2009), to Iraq (2005-2007) and Afghanistan (2003-2005). Khalilzad was also a close associate of Jimmy Carter administration National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, architect of the U.S. strategy to support attacks by armed extremists based in Pakistan against Afghanistan starting in 1978, when he joined the Polish expatriate at Columbia University from 1979-1989.

The baton for what is now Washington's over 30-year involvement in Afghanistan was passed from Brzezinski to Khalilzad in the 1980s when the latter was appointed one of the Ronald Reagan administration's senior State Department officials in charge of supporting Mujahedin fighters operating out of Peshawar in Pakistan. He joined the State Department in 1984 on a Council on Foreign Relations fellowship and worked for Paul Wolfowitz, then-Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, at Foggy Bottom. His efforts were augmented by the Central Intelligence Agency's deputy director at the time, Robert Gates, now U.S. defense secretary. Two of their chief clients, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani, are founders and leaders of Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin and the Haqqani network, against whom Gates' Pentagon is currently waging war on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

According to Woodward's account of the Pakistani president's accusations to Khalilzad in May of last year, "Zardari dropped his diplomatic guard. He suggested that one of...two countries was arranging the attacks by the Pakistani Taliban inside his country: India or the US. Zardari didn't think India could be that clever, but the US could. [Afghan President Hamid] Karzai had told him the US was behind the attacks, confirming the claims made by the Pakistani ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence]." [2]

Khalilzad, whose résumé also includes stints at the Defense Department, the National Security Council, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the National Endowment for Democracy, the RAND Corporation (where he assisted in establishing the Middle East Studies Center) and the Project for the New American Century, reportedly took issue with Zardari's contention, which led to the latter responding that what he had described "was a plot to destabilize Pakistan," hatched in order that, according to Woodward's version of his words, "the US could invade and seize [Pakistan's] nuclear weapons."

The account stated Zardari "could not explain the rapid expansion in violence otherwise. And the CIA had not pursued the leaders of the Pakistani Taliban, a group known as Tehrik-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan or TTP that had attacked the government. TTP was also blamed for the assassination of Zardari's wife, Benazir Bhutto."

In the Pakistani president's words: "We give you targets of Taliban people you don't go after. You go after other areas. We're puzzled."

When Khalilzad mentioned that U.S. drone attacks inside Pakistan "were primarily meant to hunt down members of al Qaeda and Afghan insurgents, not the Pakistan Taliban," Zardari responded by insisting "But the Taliban movement is tied to al Qaeda...so by not attacking the targets recommended by Pakistan the US had revealed its support of the TTP. The CIA at one time had even worked with the group's leader, Baitullah Mehsud," Zardari asserted. [3] (Three months later a CIA-directed drone strike killed Mehsud, his wife and several in-laws and bodyguards.)

In August of 2009, while still commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, then-General Stanley McChrystal issued his classified COMISAF (Commander of International Security Assistance Force) Initial Assessment which asserted the "major insurgent groups in order of their threat to the mission are: the Quetta Shura Taliban (05T), the Haqqani Network (HQN), and the Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HiG)." [4] The first is an Afghan Taliban group which as its name indicates is based in the capital of Pakistan's Balochistan province.

Steve Coll, Alfred McCoy and other authorities on the subject have documented the CIA's involvement with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani: That they were shared with if not transferred by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence to the CIA as private assets. Coll has additionally claimed that Haqqani sheltered and supported Osama bin Laden starting in the 1980s.

At the meeting between Obama, Zardari and Karzai in May of 2009, the American president slighted his two counterparts for alleged lack of resolve in prosecuting the war on both sides of the Durand Line, although even as he spoke Pakistan was engaged in a major military assault in the Swat Valley which led to the displacement of 3 million civilians.

Four days after the dinner exchange between Zardari and Khalilzad, the Pakistani president appeared on the May 10 edition of NBC's Meet the Press on a program which also included Afghan President Karzai and Steve Coll, now president and CEO of the New America Foundation and author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (2004) and The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (2008).

Zardari's comments to his American audience included the claim that the Taliban "was part of your past and our past, and the ISI and the CIA created them together. And I can find you 10 books and 10 philosophers and 10 write-ups on that...." [5]

That the leaders of the other two armed groups identified by McChrystal - Haqqani and Hekmatyar - were among the three Mujahedin leaders financed, armed and trained by the CIA (the late Ahmed Shah Massoud being the third), makes the pattern complete: Robert Gates the defense secretary is leading a war against forces that Robert Gates the deputy director of the CIA earlier supported through one of the Agency's longest and most expensive covert programs, Operation Cyclone.

After retiring from public life, George Kennan, the main architect of U.S. Cold War policy, cited a line he ascribed to Goethe to warn that in the end we are all destroyed by monsters of our own creation. To emend Voltaire, the White House rather than God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.

Woodward's account of last year's comments by Pakistan's president and Zalmay Khalilzad could be dismissed as merely anecdotal if not for an article that appeared in the New York Post on October 3 and developments in Pakistan itself over the past six weeks.

Arthur Herman, a visiting scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank, stated in an article entitled "Our Pakistan problem: Obama's approach is failing" that "The bitter irony is that even as Obama is trying to get out of the war in Afghanistan, he may be heading us into one in Pakistan."

The author detailed that whereas in 2009 the U.S. launched 45 Predator unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) attacks inside Pakistan, it had tripled that number by the time his article appeared, and that half as many as last year's total strikes had been launched this September alone.

Also mentioning the NATO helicopter attack in the Kurram Agency of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas on September 30 which killed three members of the Frontier Corps and that "Raids by the CIA's Counterterrorism Pursuit Team - with its 3,000 Afghan troops - into Pakistan are also becoming routine," Herman warned:

"All this adds up to a US effort in Pakistan highly reminiscent of the one we undertook in Laos in the 1960s - one of the springboards into the Vietnam quagmire.

"If Obama's growing pressure on Pakistan destabilizes that government, the only thing keeping that country's nukes out of the hands of al Qaeda may have to be US troops. That's a shooting-war scenario that will make Obama wish his name was Lyndon Baines Johnson." [6]

Herman attributes the expansion of the Afghan war into Pakistan at a qualitatively more dangerous level to the machinations of former CIA officer and current Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution Bruce Riedel and the commander of 152,000 U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan General David Petraeus.

A report of October 13 documented that since Petraeus took command of the war effort in Afghanistan in June there has been a 172 percent increase in U.S. and NATO air strikes, from 257 assault missions in September of 2009 to over 700 last month. In addition, "Surveillance flights increased to nearly three times the number from September 2009 and supply flights are up as well....Petraeus is sometimes seen as more willing to risk the so-called 'collateral damage' of civilian deaths....[7]

Last month's drone attacks were the most in any month since the targeted assasinations were started in 2004 and the amount of deaths they caused - over 150 - the highest monthly total to date.

By the middle of this month there have been at least eight drone attacks and no fewer than 66 people killed.

According to Steve Coll's New America Foundation, 1,439 of the 1,844 deaths caused by drone attacks in Pakistan since 2004 have occurred in 2009 and so far this year. [8]

Similarly, the deaths of 1,111 of 2,160 U.S. and NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 occurred in the same period. Seventeen foreign soldiers were killed between October 13 and 16 alone.

On October 13 the Pakistani press reported that NATO helicopters, until then operating solely in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (in four attacks between September 25-30 against the Haqqani network), violated the nation's airspace over the province of Balochistan, leading Islamabad to lodge a formal protest with NATO.

Since the revelations from Bob Woodward's new book and the publication of Arthur Herman's article, commentaries in Pakistani newspapers have appeared which indicate the seriousness with which recent developments and even more ominous portents are being viewed.

An October 13 feature in The Nation stated that "the ongoing war on terror in Afghanistan is aimed to take the operations into Pakistani territory....The real target is Pakistan's nuclear potential; they [the U.S. and NATO] have no plausible security threat from the ill-equipped Taliban or ragtag extremists."

Commenting on the New York Post feature cited earlier, Pakistani commentator A R Jerral further claimed that what "Herman suggests in his write-up is in fact a policy direction to the US administration. He implies that the policy of sending drones and attacking militant hideouts in the Pakistan territory has not worked....[T]he thrust is Pakistan's nukes. It is a tacit way to tell the policymakers in Washington to keep the pressure on our country, which will weaken the Pakistani government's standing, causing instability. That will provide the reason for the US troops to move in."

He added: "We know about the drone attacks as these are reported in the media, but what we do not know and our media does not report is the fact that US-led NATO forces are launching crossborder raids into Pakistan....For this, CIA is operating Counterterrorism Pursuit Teams in Afghanistan.

"These teams are regularly mounting ground raids into Pakistani territory."

"In this way, things are getting hot as far as the war on terror is concerned. Pakistan is moving to become centre stage in this war. Bruce Riedel, a former CIA and NSC [National Security Council] official, has advised Mr Obama to shift the focus of war 'from Afghanistan to Pakistan'; this is what we are witnessing in the shape of heightened war effort into the Pakistan territory." [9]

A Pakistani commentary of the preceding day stated: "[W]e have...been dragged into giving the US access to Balochistan from where it has been attempting to destabilise the Iranian regime through support for the terrorist group Jundullah....Even more threatening, unless we change course now, we will have lost the battle to retain our nuclear assets because that is where the NATO-US trail is eventually leading to."

"The free-wheeling access to US covert military and intelligence operatives, both officials and private contractors, is another destabilising factor that we seem to be unable or unwilling to check. And now there are the NATO incursions into our territory and targeting of even our military personnel, which shows how servile a state we are living in at present. [10]

As the war in Afghanistan, the largest and longest in the world, proceeds with record casualties among civilians and combatants alike on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, plans are afoot to further expand the war into Pakistan and to threaten Iran as well.

Comparisons to Washington's war in Indochina have been mentioned. [11] But Pakistan with its 180 million people and nuclear weapons is not Cambodia and Iran with its population of over 70 million is not Laos.

1) Shaheen Sehbai, Zardari says US behind Taliban attacks in Pakistan
The News International, October 13, 2010
http://www.thenews.com.pk/13-10-2010/Top-Story/1276.htm
2) Ibid
3) Ibid
4) Washington Post, September 21, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/21/AR2009092100110.html
5) Meet the Press, May 10, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30658135
6) Arthur Herman, Our Pakistan problem: Obama's approach is failing
New York Post, October 3, 2010 http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/our_pakistan_problem_1TqxfBu89mDxSlZHUtHj2K
Obama's Pakistan Failure
American Enterprise Institute, October 3, 2010
http://www.aei.org/article/102612
7) ABC News Radio, October 13, 2010
8) New America Foundation
http://counterterrorism.newamerica.net/drones
9) A R Jerral, Shifting war on terror to Pakistan
The Nation, October 13, 2010
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Columns/13-Oct-2010/Shifting-war-on-terror-to-Pakistan
10) Shireen M Mazari, Ending Collaboration with the US on the War on
Pakistan
The Dawn, October 12, 2010
http://thedawn.com.pk/2010/10/12/ending-collaboration-with-the-us-on-the-war-on-pakistan
11) NATO Expands Afghan War Into Pakistan
Stop NATO, September 28, 2010
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/nato-expands-afghan-war-into-pakistan

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2.: El Pentagono se asocia con la OTAN para crear un sistema de guerra c

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 1:00 pm (PDT)

http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/el-pentagono-se-asocia-con-la-otan-para-crear-un-sistema-de-guerra-ciberespacial-global

Stop NATO
15 de octubre 2010

El Pentagono se asocia con la OTAN para crear un sistema de guerra ciberespacial global
Rick Rozoff

Articulo completo:
http://rickrozoff.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/el-pentagono-se-asocia-con-la-otan-para-crear-un-sistema-de-guerra-ciberespacial-global

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3.: First Combat Mission Abroad: NATO Sends Bosnian Troops To Afghanista

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:15 pm (PDT)

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_1591703.php/First-Bosnian-troops-set-off-for-Afghanistan

Deustche Presse-Agentur
October 15, 2001

First Bosnian troops set off for Afghanistan

Sarajevo: A contingent of 45 Bosnian infantry troops departed on Friday to join the peacekeeping effort in Afghanistan.

The unit comprises professional soldiers who volunteered for the mission.

They have been allocated to the Danish contingent of the peacekeeping effort and will be tasked with security at NATO bases in Helmand province.

It is the first time Bosnia has sent its soldiers on a combat mission.

Bosnians took part in the peacekeeping mission in Iraq, but only with a team of demining experts.
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4.: FMs/DMs Meeting: NATO To Approve U.S. Missile Shield Over Europe

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:15 pm (PDT)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/14/AR2010101406814.html

Washington Post
October 15, 2010

NATO near adoption of U.S. missile shield
By Craig Whitlock

-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with their Turkish counterparts on the sidelines of the NATO meeting Thursday to discuss whether Turkey will allow a high-powered X-band radar on its territory. The location of the radar is the last unresolved piece in the first phase of the Pentagon's missile defense shield for Europe.

BRUSSELS: U.S. and NATO officials said Thursday that they expect the military alliance to formally participate in the Obama administration's plan for a missile defense shield over Europe, scheduled to be activated next year.

"Based on today's discussion, I am quite optimistic," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters after a joint meeting of foreign and defense ministers from the alliance membership. "There is, I think, a broad agreement that we should make such a decision, but there is still some technical work to do."

NATO is scheduled to vote at a summit in Lisbon next month on whether to make missile defense a formal part of its mission. If it does, European alliance members would plug their individual defense systems into a broader missile shield that the Obama administration is building....

The United States would foot most of the bill for building and operating the shield over Europe. The combined cost for other NATO members to link into the system is projected to be about $200 million over 10 years, Rasmussen said.

Although U.S. and NATO officials said they are close to a consensus on missile defense, there are still hurdles to overcome. Turkey, a NATO member and neighbor of Iran that would host a key anti-missile radar installation, has yet to commit.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met with their Turkish counterparts on the sidelines of the NATO meeting Thursday to discuss whether Turkey will allow a high-powered X-band radar on its territory. The location of the radar is the last unresolved piece in the first phase of the Pentagon's missile defense shield for Europe.
....
Although Turkey is a longtime NATO member, its government has developed closer ties with Iran in recent years and appears reluctant to take steps that Tehran might consider hostile. Turkish officials have also sought guarantees that the anti-missile shield would cover the eastern part of their country, which borders Iran.

Pentagon officials are seeking Turkey's agreement to host the radar installation but also to vote in favor of missile defense as a NATO mission at next month's summit. Because NATO operates by consensus, Turkish opposition could scuttle the alliance's plans.

"We've had some very good, deep discussions with Turkey, and now the decisions are in Ankara to make," Jim Townsend Jr., deputy assistant secretary of defense for European and NATO policy, told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

Pentagon officials said they have been negotiating with other NATO allies in southern Europe to host the radar in case Turkey balks. One alternative is Bulgaria, which like Turkey borders the Black Sea but is farther from Iran.

The radar installation - along with mobile radars deployed on Navy ships in the Mediterranean and Black seas - would provide a critical early warning of any launches from Iran, improving the odds of shooting down a missile.

Obama announced in September 2009 that he was overhauling the Bush administration's plans for missile defense in Europe. Although Obama had previously expressed skepticism of Bush's approach, he directed the Pentagon to build a more extensive and flexible missile shield for Europe that will be built in phases between now and 2020.
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5.: Afghanistan: NATO Loses 17 Soldiers In Three Days

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:15 pm (PDT)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jSVSQVBD4BnoHzibVJN9T4k96eAQ?docId=935a48e696a94af4866e1add60f7b493

Associated Press
October 15, 2010

NATO troops die in Afghanistan as attacks surge

KABUL, Afghanistan: Three NATO troops were killed Friday in Afghanistan in a surge of attacks that raised the death toll to 17 over the past three days for international troops in the country.

One service member died Friday in an insurgent attack in the east and another was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, an alliance statement said. It did not give nationalities or exact locations of the attacks.

France said a French soldier died Friday of wounds sustained in a clash in the Uzbin Valley east of Kabul the day before.

On Thursday, eight NATO troops were killed in a spate of attacks, including four separate roadside bombings — the weapon of choice for insurgents who rely on guerrilla tactics to counter intensified NATO-Afghan operations.

It has been the deadliest year for international forces in the nine-year Afghan conflict....

The escalating toll — more than 2,020 NATO deaths since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion — has shaken the commitment of many alliance countries, with calls growing to start drawing down forces quickly.
....
The nearly 150,000 international troops and 220,000 Afghan security forces are still struggling to gain the upper hand against an estimated 30,000 insurgents.

The embattled south is the scene of Operation Dragon Strike, launched last month by NATO and Afghan forces in areas around Kandahar province to flush out entrenched Taliban fighters and destroy their strongholds.

However, near-daily violence has also shaken other regions of Afghanistan recently.
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6.: Venezuela: Russia Plays Vital Role In Upholding Global Balance Of Po

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:38 pm (PDT)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20101015/160973077.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
October 15, 2010

Chavez hails Russia's international role

Moscow: Russia is playing a vital role in maintaining a global balance of power, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday.

Chavez arrived in Moscow on October 14 for talks with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev.

"The role of Russia in maintaining a global balance is great," Chavez told the Russia Today TV channel in an exclusive interview.

"I believe that Russia, its people, its culture, its depth, its history, and its new leaders will take responsibility and will make contribution... to the balance of a world, which will be really free," he continued.

Chavez's visit is part of his international tour, which also includes Belarus, Ukraine and Iran.

He last visited Russia in September 2009 after announcing his country's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
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7.: Clinton, Gates Muscle Britain Into Line On NATO Commitments

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:38 pm (PDT)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/defence/8065583/Liam-Fox-assures-US-of-Britains-commitment-to-Nato.html

Daily Telegraph
October 15, 2010

Liam Fox assures US of Britain's commitment to Nato
Liam Fox, the Defence Secretary, has insisted the country will continue to play a major role in Nato after senior members of Barack Obama's US administration delivered a stark and unusual public warning against large cuts in the British defence budget

By James Kirkup, Political Correspondent, and Andy Bloxham

Mr Fox said the Government had a "global vision of Britain's place in the world".

He also reinforced his personal stance on the cuts, describing himself as "a hawk on defence", and criticised Labour for "writing cheques it knew could not be cashed".

Writing in the Times, he said: "We will continue to be a big contributor to Nato and our interests will be more secure."

His comments came after US politicians suggested an ***over-enthusiastic reduction in defence spending*** could affect international security and strain the Special Relationship.

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, and Robert Gates, made their unusual public intervention as talks on the defence budget went down to the wire, with the chiefs of the Armed Forces making 11th-hour personal appeals to David Cameron last night.

The Daily Telegraph disclosed last month that US officials were privately concerned that British defence spending was about to fall below 2 per cent of gross domestic product, the minimum standard expected of Nato members. Mrs Clinton and Mr Gates, America's two most senior figures on international relations and security, made those fears public in separate remarks.

In a BBC interview to be broadcast today, Mrs Clinton was asked whether defence cuts being made in Europe, and specifically in Britain, worried the US administration.

She replied: "It does. The reason it does is because I think we do have to have an alliance where there is a commitment to the common defence.

"Nato has been the most successful alliance for defensive purposes in the history of the world, I guess, but it has to be maintained. Now each country has to be able to make its appropriate contributions."

Mr Gates attended a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels yesterday, where he delivered his own warning. "My worry is that the more our allies cut their capabilities, the more people will look to the US to cover whatever gaps are created," he told reporters on his flight to Belgium. "At a time when we are facing stringencies of our own, that's a concern for me."

Later, he told the Nato meeting: "As nations deal with their economic problems, we must guard against the hollowing out of alliance military capability by spending reductions that cut too far into muscle."

The American intervention will increase tensions within Whitehall over the scale of the defence cuts to be announced next week.

Britain is one of a handful of European Nato members that meets the 2 per cent standard. Officials believe that defence spending could fall as low as 1.7 per cent of GDP.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, is pressing for a 10 per cent cut in the defence budget, which Dr Fox is resisting fiercely. Sources said the two sides were discussing a "midpoint" compromise of around 6 per cent. That would represent a political victory for Dr Fox but would still leave the Services facing painful losses.

The Royal Navy could lose its amphibious landing capability, meaning Britain would be unable to mount another campaign like that in the Falklands. The future of Harrier and Tornado jets also hangs in the balance. Navy insiders said cutting the Harriers would mean that Britain's first new aircraft carrier would enter service in 2016 with no British aircraft to fly from it.

The heads of the Navy, Army and RAF went to No 10 last night for private meetings with the Prime Minister to warn of the "serious consequences" of the Treasury plan.

"The PM should be aware that the cuts the Treasury is looking for are ridiculous," said a senior military source. William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, tried to play down US fears, insisting: "We will remain a very serious country in defence matters."

Figures released by the National Audit Office today, show that the "black hole" in the MoD's equipment budget ballooned by £3.3 billion in the final 12 months of the Labour government

The NAO blamed a failure to set "realistic" budgets, resulting in a "mismatch" between the MoD's planned expenditure and its forecast funding by the Treasury.

Dr Fox said the cost over-runs were "the direct result of the incompetence of ministers" in the former government.

The decision to delay construction work on the new carriers has added £650m to their final cost, taking the eventual bill to £5.9billion, the watchdog said.

A £2.7billion increase in the cost of Typhoon jets was caused by a decision to buy 16 additional aircraft, in order to meet international obligations to Germany, Italy and Spain.
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8.: Two U.S. Drone Attacks Kill Eight More People In Pakistan

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:38 pm (PDT)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-10/16/c_13559673.htm

Xinhua News Agency
October 16, 2010

Second U.S. drone attack kills 4 in Pakistan tribal area

ISLAMABAD: At least four people were killed late on Friday night when a U.S. drone launched an attack in North Waziristan tribal agency in northwest Pakistan, local sources said.

Three others were also injured after the pilotless aircraft fired three missiles into a village in Mir Ali, a main town in North Waziristan near the Afghan border.

Details about the killed are not immediately known. Most of the killed are believed to be militants hiding in the area, but the U. S. drones do sometimes mistakenly kill innocent civilians.

It was the second strike of its kind in a day. In an afternoon attack, at least four people were killed, including Taliban commander Qari Hussain.
....
The al-Qaeda-linked Haqqani network, whose network is fighting against U.S. and local forces in neighboring Afghanistan, is also active in the region. The network is run by Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of former Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani.

Pakistan is under pressure to launch operations against the Haqqani network....

Pakistan publicly criticizes drone attacks, saying they violate its sovereignty and fuel more anti-Americanism among the people, but observers widely believe that Pakistan shares intelligence with the U.S. on such strikes.
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9.: NATO Chief Hails French Reintegration, U.S. Military Role In Europe

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 3:02 pm (PDT)

http://www.nato.int/cps/en/SID-90D0F049-AB3195DE/natolive/news_67032.htm?

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
October 15, 2010

Secretary General counts on France to support NATO reform

On 15 October, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Prime Minister François Fillon and Minister of Foreign Affairs Bernard Kouchner in Paris. He also delivered a speech entitled "Les défis de l'OTAN" at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales (IFRI).

With French officials, the Secretary General raised the fact that President Sarkozy's decision to take its full place in Alliance structures was paying off for France, and he also discussed the new strategic concept, missile defense and the main items on the agenda of the upcoming Lisbon Summit on 19 and 20 November.

In his keynote address, he made a vibrant plea to coordinate and limit to the minimum defense cuts across Europe, which he feels run the risk ultimately of undermining economic development but endanger also the transatlantic link and therefore the Alliance's enduring purpose: "History has clearly shown that Europe enjoys more peace and more stability when the United States are actively engaged, both politically and militarily. Today, NATO is the framework of this engagement, and we must preserve its solidity" said the Secretary General.
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10.: U.S. Leads NATO Anti-Submarine Warfare Drills Off Scottish Coast

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 3:02 pm (PDT)

http://www.eucom.mil/english/fullstory.asp?article=SAILORS-HONE-ASW-SKILLS-JOINT-WARRIOR

U.S. European Command
October 15, 2010

Sailors Hone ASW Skills During Joint Warrior
Oct 15, 2010
Lt. Zachary Harrell, Destroyer Squadron 24 Public Affairs

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The high-pitched "pings" of active sonar echo throughout the ship as a constant reminder of the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) training taking place aboard guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) Oct. 15, during Joint Warrior 10-2.

Joint Warrior is a two-week, multinational training exercise that takes place off the coast of Scotland. It is designed to improve interoperability between allied navies and prepare participating crews to conduct combined operations during deployment.

ASW, one of the major warfare areas of U.S. guided-missile destroyers, plays a significant role in the exercise.

"ASW is a thinking warfare that requires a lot of quick reaction," said Ensign Shun White, ASW officer aboard Stout. "As an ASW watch team, it is important that you know more about your enemy from a tactical stand point than he does of you."

ASW revolves around using the ship's sonar to locate and track underwater contacts. Joint Warrior allows the ship's ASW operators to hone these skills in the challenging underwater environment of the Northeastern Atlantic Ocean. If executed successfully, the crew will earn its ASW certification, which is required in order to be certified overall for deployment.
....
U.S. ships participating in Joint Warrior include guided-missile destroyers Bainbridge, Stout, USS Nitze (DDG 94) and Fleet replenishment oiler USNS Leroy Grumman (T-AO 195), and are led by destroyer squadron (DESRON) 24, commanded by Capt. Aaron Jacobs.
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11.: France Sacrifices 50th Soldier To NATO's Asian War

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 3:49 pm (PDT)

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7168003.html

Xinhua News Agency
October 15, 2010

French soldier killed in Afghanistan

A French soldier was killed and another was injured following a military operation near Kabul, raising the country's total fatalities in Afghanistan to 50, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said Friday.

A non-commissioned officer from the French 21st Infantry Regiment died after being seriously wounded during an operation in the Uzbeen valley, east of Kabul while another soldier was injured.
....
The French head of state reaffirmed the country's support to the Afghan people and authorities and stressed the determination of France to continue working in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)....

About 3,500 French soldiers are deployed in Afghan territories as part of the NATO-led ISAF to help local authorities restore security and fight Taliban insurgents.
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12.: Japan To Deploy Army Medics To Afghanistan

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 3:49 pm (PDT)

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20101015p2g00m0dm005000c.html

Kyodo News
October 15, 2010

Japan plans to send SDF medical staff to Afghanistan

-Japan intends to demonstrate its personnel contributions to Afghanistan through the planned dispatch when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is expected to decide on fresh support measures in November....

TOKYO: Japan plans to send around 10 Self-Defense Forces medical officers and nurses to Afghanistan by the end of this year to provide medical training as part of Japan's support for reconstruction efforts in the war-torn country, Defense Ministry and SDF sources said Thursday.

The United States, which is engaged in fighting the Taliban, has called for its allies to provide more physical support and Tokyo has determined "it is necessary to meet such expectations," according to the sources.

Japan intends to demonstrate its personnel contributions to Afghanistan through the planned dispatch when the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is expected to decide on fresh support measures in November, according to the sources.

The medical team would be the first SDF personnel sent to Afghanistan, apart from military attaches at the Japanese Embassy in Kabul.

The team would not be placed under the command of the International Security Assistance Force to avoid criticism that it could be integrated with ISAF's military activity, which would contravene Japan's pacifist Constitution, the sources said.

The team will provide training and guidance to the Afghan army's medical staff at health education facilities in Kabul for six months. Extending the dispatch period and expanding the team will be discussed later after examining developments in the area, according to the sources.

While ISAF troops have engaged in fierce battles with antigovernment forces mainly in Kandahar Province, the Taliban's stronghold, the Japanese team will not provide medical care to injured soldiers as it could also be interpreted as contravening the Constitution, the sources said.

In 2007, Ichiro Ozawa, when he was leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan, showed a positive attitude about sending SDF personnel to Afghanistan, but then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda brushed the idea aside, saying it could contravene the Constitution.
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13.: U.S. Eyes Formally Expanding Afghan War Into Pakistan Proper

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:23 pm (PDT)

http://sify.com/news/us-eyeing-expanding-its-war-on-terror-formally-into-pakistan-news-international-kkpnEeicfei.html

Asian News International
October 15, 2010

US eyeing expanding its war on terror formally into Pakistan?

Despite the furore over a series of cross border strikes by US-led forces in Pakistan, and the subsequent US apology for the killings of three troops in one of those attacks, recent reports suggest that US officials may be eying a repeat of the cross-border incident by seeking raids into Balochistan.

According to recent reports, due to growing administration pressure to show something that seems like progress in the endless Afghan war, US military officials are looking to press Pakistan for more attacks in the tribal area, The Nation reported.

As per the reports, some officials are even advocating crossing the border with US forces and expanding the war formally into Pakistan.

Indeed the attacks would be even more controversial than the previous ones, as the earlier helicopter attacks were in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), while military officials are now seeking raids into Pakistan proper, into the Balochistan province, the paper said.

This week, the officials are heading to Pakistan with plans to press Pakistan's military over the issues surrounding its border with Afghanistan, the paper added.

It further said that broaching the subject of cross border raids is likely to be poorly met by Pakistani officials, and actually doing so will put further strain on an alliance that seems to be getting weaker all the time.

A few weeks earlier, three Pakistani army men were killed in an early morning raid in an air strike by NATO helicopters at a military post, 200 metres inside the Pakistani border in Kurram Agency.

This was their fourth aerial violation of Pakistani territory in less than a week, but the first in which soldiers were killed. Reacting to the incident, Pakistan had suspended supply convoys along the Khyber Pass route, which links Peshawar in Pakistan with Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, and lodged a protest with the NATO command in Brussels, demanding an apology.

After the standoff turned into an enormous international incident, the US had apologised last week for the helicopter attack after a NATO investigation found that the "tragic event could have been avoided with better coalition force co-ordination with the Pakistan military."

The Pakistan government had subsequently declared a diplomatic and political victory in the National Assembly, after receiving apologies from the United States as well as NATO over the air strikes in Pakistani territory.
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14.: Strategic Airlift And More: NATO Expands Operations In Hungary

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:23 pm (PDT)

http://www.politics.hu/20101015/defense-minister-presents-planned-developments-in-hungarian-nato-capabilities

Hungarian News Agency
October 15, 2010

Defense minister presents planned developments in Hungarian NATO capabilities

Defence Minister Csaba Hende on Thursday presented three main areas in which Hungary will develop its capabilities at a ministerial meeting of NATO member countries in Brussels.

Hungary's new government decided during the summer to return to a multi-national cooperation initiative involving air transport. As a result, the country will get seven refurbished helicopters and will relocate three cargo helicopters to Afghanistan from 2012.

In the fight against improvised explosive devices, Hungary has organised several training courses at a central facility in Szentendre. The country plans to set up a methodology centre for accredited courses within the NATO, Hende said.

An international paid course has been set up in Szolnok to train special operations and the United States has promised to contribute equipment to the initiative, Hende added.
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15.: Simmons Strengthens NATO's Ties With Uzbekistan

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:23 pm (PDT)

http://en.trend.az/news/politics/foreign/1766867.html

Trend News Agency
October 15, 2010

NATO Secretary General's Special Representative appreciates Uzbekistan's efforts on Afghan settlement
D. Azizov

Uzbekistan, Tashkent: The NATO Secretary General's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia Robert Simmons met with representatives of the Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Defense of Uzbekistan during his visit to Tashkent Oct. 12-13, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry said.

"The sides discussed current state and perspectives of developing cooperation between Uzbekistan and NATO. The sides discussed implementation of joint projects within the Trust Fund and Science for Peace and Security Program," the Ministry's report says.

The sides also focused on international and regional security issues of mutual interest. In particular, the sides reviewed issues of establishing peace and stability in Afghanistan, possible cooperation ways in this context, as well as the situation in Kyrgyzstan.

Simmons was informed about the initiative of Uzbek President Islam Karimov on contact group 6+3 with attracting NATO to its work.
....
During the talks, the sides exchanged opinion on combating terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking and other transnational threats to security.
....
Uzbekistan joined NATO's Partnership for Peace July 13 1994. Since 1996, Uzbekistan cooperates within an Individual Partnership Programme on basic priority directions, including training of military specialists, cooperation in science and civil emergency planning.
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16.: EU-NATO Partnership Key Element In "Global Security Architecture"

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:23 pm (PDT)

http://www.news.az/articles/politics/24655

News.AZ
October 15, 2010

EU, NATO to help partners ensure security

The partnership between the EU and NATO is an important element in today's global security architecture, the EU's representative in Baku has said.

Roland Kobia was speaking at a conference in Baku on "Azerbaijan and the Euro-Atlantic space: priorities and realities of integration".

"After the Cold War, the EU began a process of expansion and, of course, we then faced different challenges on the continent and beyond. The partnership between the EU and NATO was an element that became the basis of security not only in Europe but also amongst its neighbours," he said.

Kobia said that the world was facing different challenges including terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, cyber crime, etc.

"To this end, our cooperation with NATO is very important in responding to these challenges. In this regard, we are ready to cooperate and collaborate with our partners and with Azerbaijan as well. Practice has shown that no country alone can meet these modern challenges. The partnership of the EU and NATO is necessary and useful in the international system. Our organization, our structures are working for peace and stability throughout the world. After the forthcoming Lisbon summit, NATO will prepare reform proposals for a security system," the representative said.

"The world is changing and, to this end, NATO should change its views on some current events in the world. By using the 'soft' power of the EU and the 'hard' power of NATO we intend to strengthen their security, and help our partners in ensuring peace and stability," Kobia said.

He told journalists at the conference that the EU welcomed dialogue between Armenian and Azerbaijani political parties.

On 8 October, Azerbaijan's opposition Musavat Party signed a declaration on cooperation with the Armenian Pan-National Movement and the Georgian Republican Party.

"We realize that the Nagorno-Karbakh conflict is complex and in these circumstances dialogue is a major element in tackling these problems. We welcome these contacts and hope that they will continue in future and establish trust between these two states," he said.

Kobia said that the EU for its part was ready to help establish dialogue between different sections of society in Azerbaijan and Armenia.
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17.: U.S. MDA Chief Describes Phased, Layered Global Missile Shield

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:36 pm (PDT)

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=61282

U.S. Department of Defense
American Forces Press Service
October 15, 2010

Agency Director Offers U.S. Missile Defense Outline
By Karen Parrish

-Phase-four capability...will allow militaries to double the area they can protect, engage more than 50 missiles at once, and track hundreds of missiles at once.
-"We want to intercept those missiles as soon as possible after they've been launched," he said. "You need a higher-speed interceptor and you also need a mobile launch system that can be in the right place at the right time."
That capability will be in place by 2012, O'Reilly said.
-O'Reilly said NATO is developing its own system, known as ALTBMD: The Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense program. The program, he said, will upgrade, test and integrate NATO's command and control systems and underlying communication network to enable effective information exchanges between various NATO and national missile defense systems. It also will provide complete coverage against tactical ballistic missiles with ranges up to 3,000 kilometers, or 1,864 miles....U.S. missile defense systems will integrate with NATO and allied nations' systems to strengthen their overall defense capability.

WASHINGTON: "To have effective missile defense, you need more than one layer," the director of the Defense Missile Agency said this week.

During the Atlantic Council missile defense conference here Oct. 12, Army Lt. Gen. Patrick J. O'Reilly described the "phased, adaptive approach" policy for missile defense in Europe that President Barack Obama approved in 2009.

O'Reilly said the three layers of the approach will counter short-range, medium- and intermediate-range, and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

O'Reilly then outlined the four phases of the U.S. missile defense policy for Europe.

Phase one, to be implemented between now through 2012, he said, calls for current, proven missile systems and sensors to be deployed at sea to protect Europe and deployed U.S. servicemembers and their families.

During phase two, extending from 2012 through 2015, improved sea- and land-based systems now in development and testing will increase protection from short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, O'Reilly said.

Phase three, running from 2015 through 2018, will establish protection at sea and ashore from intermediate-range missiles, he said.

Phase four, extending from 2018 through 2020, will provide early-interception capability against medium- and intermediate-range missiles, he said, with a secondary capability to protect against intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The phased, adaptive approach is primarily designed to increase protection against medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles traveling above the earth's atmosphere, from ranges of 1,000 kilometers to 5,500 kilometers, or about 600 to 3,400 miles, O'Reilly said.

Phase-four capability, he said, will allow militaries to double the area they can protect, engage more than 50 missiles at once, and track hundreds of missiles at once.

By phase four, O'Reilly said, intercepting enemy missiles won't be a one-shot, one-kill requirement.

"We want to intercept those missiles as soon as possible after they've been launched," he said. "You need a higher-speed interceptor and you also need a mobile launch system that can be in the right place at the right time."

That capability will be in place by 2012, O'Reilly said.

"It will give you the capability to intercept medium-range ballistic missiles [and] intermediate-range ballistic missiles very early in their flight," he said. "If you miss with that early attempt, you have another opportunity to hit with the upper tier. If you miss with that, you have another opportunity to hit with the lower tier … the more shot opportunities, the higher probability of intercept."

The primary components of the approach are systems already in place or in testing, O'Reilly said, as well as the planned future versions of those systems.

U.S. systems central to the phased, adaptive approach include sensors, software, and launcher and missile components, O'Reilly said. Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense, an existing sea-based system, is slated for upgrade and expansion through phase four.

Aegis BMD incorporates computers, radar, and missiles to detect, track and destroy short- to intermediate-range missiles, he explained. Aegis BMD is currently aboard 21 U.S. Navy ships. Its future capabilities include longer range, improved early-intercept capability, increased number of ships and missiles, and an ashore capability.

The Army/Navy Transportable Radar Surveillance system, O'Reilly said, is a transportable X-band, high resolution, phased-array radar designed specifically for ballistic missile defense. It is capable of tracking all classes of ballistic missiles and identifying small objects at long distances.

The radar system, he added, provides surveillance, tracking, discrimination and fire control support for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense weapon system. The system will be augmented in phases three and four by sensor systems now being developed, capable of tracking and intercepting enemy ballistic missiles in boost phase at or near engine burnout.

The THAAD weapon system integrates launchers, interceptors, radar, fire control and communications units, and system-specific support equipment, O'Reilly said.

Flight testing of the THAAD system began in late 2005, he said. To date, the system has a 100 percent mission success rate in flight testing, he noted, with 10 successful tests and six–for-six intercepts. The system will be fielded through phase four.

The Command, Control, Battle Management, and Communications program globally links, integrates and synchronizes individual missile defense elements, systems and operations, O'Reilly explained. It creates a layered missile defense capability, he said, that enables response to threats of all ranges in all phases of flight. The program is currently in use and will be updated and enhanced through phase four.

O'Reilly said NATO is developing its own system, known as ALTBMD: The Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense program. The program, he said, will upgrade, test and integrate NATO's command and control systems and underlying communication network to enable effective information exchanges between various NATO and national missile defense systems. It also will provide complete coverage against tactical ballistic missiles with ranges up to 3,000 kilometers, or 1,864 miles.

At NATO's discretion, O'Reilly said, U.S. missile defense systems will integrate with NATO and allied nations' systems to strengthen their overall defense capability.

"Our NATO allies can determine how they want to contribute to [cruise missile and short-range ballistic missile] defense," he said. "We have the upper layer. They can effectively deploy the lower layer for an effective defense."

Missile defense will be a major topic of discussion at the NATO summit set for Nov. 19 and 20 in Lisbon, Portugal. NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen has declared missile defense a critical capability that the alliance must acquire.

At his monthly press briefing in Brussels Oct. 11, Rasmussen presented the agenda for the foreign and defense ministers' meeting held there yesterday. The meeting was a preliminary session for the November summit.

"NATO should develop the capability to defend Europe from the threat of missile attack," Rasmussen said. "More than 30 countries in the world have, or are acquiring, ballistic missiles, some of which can already reach Europe."

Given the catastrophic effects a missile strike in Europe could have, Rasmussen said, NATO can't afford not to have missile defense.
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18.: Clinton: Global NATO Must "Anticipate Shifting Security Challenges"

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:36 pm (PDT)

http://www.defense.gov/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=61281

U.S. Department of Defense
American Forces Press Service
October 14, 2010

NATO Must Adapt to Shifting Security Challenges, Clinton Says
By John D. Banusiewicz

-"Relying on the strategies of past decades simply will not suffice," she said. "NATO began as a regional alliance, but the threats it now faces are global, and its perspective must be global as well."

BRUSSELS, Belgium: To remain relevant and effective, NATO must be able to anticipate and protect against a variety of shifting security challenges, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said here today.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates at NATO headquarters during a day of meetings for the alliance's foreign and defense ministers, Clinton said terrorism, ballistic missiles, cyber attacks and the proliferation of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons are among the challenges NATO must be capable of meeting.

"Relying on the strategies of past decades simply will not suffice," she said. "NATO began as a regional alliance, but the threats it now faces are global, and its perspective must be global as well."

While en route here yesterday, Gates told reporters traveling with him that today's meetings would be geared toward reaching agreement on NATO's new strategic concept – the first update of its security strategy in more than a decade -- and on the capabilities necessary to carry it forward. The meetings here today were a prelude to NATO's upcoming summit in Lisbon, Portugal.

Clinton thanked NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen for leading the effort to develop the draft of the new strategic concept that the ministers discussed. "Today's meeting brings us closer to a final product," she said, "and the member states will continue to discuss and revise as we prepare for our summit next month in Lisbon." She invoked the words of her fellow Cabinet officer in emphasizing the need for NATO to have the capabilities it needs to meet the challenges it faces.

"As Bob Gates often says, the new strategic concept won't be worth the paper it is printed on unless it is backed up by the capabilities needed to carry it out," she said.

In a statement today during a joint meeting of foreign and defense ministers, Gates said he's pleased that the alliance agreed to fund critical capabilities as a matter of priority, and he zeroed in on the emerging threats of ballistic missiles and cyber attacks identified in the draft strategic concept as being key issues that will require action at the Lisbon summit.

"It is vitally important that we not only talk about these new threats in Lisbon, but act to counter them by agreeing to acquire the capabilities necessary to collectively defend against them," he said.

On cybersecurity, Gates said NATO is far behind where it needs to be, and that while the draft strategic concept recognizes that, he'd like to see the alliance address the issue more specifically and agree to fund it properly after the summit.

"Our vulnerabilities are well-known, but our existing programs to remedy these weaknesses are inadequate," he said. "The new draft highlights this underappreciated new threat, though the language could be sharpened further."

At this morning's meetings with his fellow defense ministers, Gates said, he urged that they review NATO's cyber policy after Lisbon as a matter of priority. "We need to identify what more must be done to protect our vital information systems," he said. "And then we need to agree to fund the capabilities that are necessary to protect these systems."

On the missile defense issue, Gates urged his NATO defense colleagues and the alliance's foreign ministers to take action.

"We can protect ourselves from ballistic missiles affordably, and over time increase protection over all parts of NATO Europe, consistent with the principle of the indivisibility of security," he said. "It is time for a decision."

During his flight to Brussels yesterday, Gates said he believes broad support exists in NATO for the phased, adaptive approach to missile defense in Europe that calls for increasingly capable sea- and land-based missile interceptors and a range of sensors to defend against the ballistic missile threat from Iran.

"The linkage with national missile defense, so that both territories and populations are covered, is really more a matter of software – of connecting the command and control of the different national capabilities," he said. That would require only a modest financial outlay beyond what already has been approved, he added.

During her news conference with Gates, Clinton reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the alliance.

"The United States is absolutely committed to NATO, which has safeguarded our freedom for 60 years," she said. "We will continue to offer whatever support we can to help finalize the strategic concept, and to implement it, to ensure that NATO will always stand as an effective and forceful alliance for its members' security.
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19.: Fw: US presses allies on missile shield

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:58 pm (PDT)

From: Global Network <globalnet@mindspring.com>
Subject: US presses allies on missile shield
To: "GN List Serve" <globenet@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Friday, October 15, 2010, 3:26 AM

US presses allies on missile shield
by Laurent Thomet Laurent Thomet
Thu Oct 14, 2010
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/natodiplomacy
BRUSSELS (AFP) – The United States urged NATO allies to invest in a missile shield and avoid harmful budget cuts at a meeting of defence and foreign ministers clouded by the war in Afghanistan.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defence Secretary Robert Gates made the plea, echoed by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, amid French reservations about the anti-missile system.
"The studies have been done, the data are well-known and the affordability is clear," Gates told alliance ministers. "It is time for a decision."
The ministers gathered at NATO headquarters to discuss a new "strategic concept" that will shape the 28-nation alliance's vision for the next decade to face new threats including missiles from "rogue" states and cyber assaults.
Gates has put the price tag to link NATO members into a common anti-missile network at between 85 million and 100 million euros (120 million and 140 million dollars). Rasmussen says it would cost less than 200 million euros.
Rasmussen expressed optimism that the missile shield would be endorsed by NATO leaders at a summit in Lisbon on November 19-20, saying it was well on the way to a "consensus" following the ministerial meeting.
French Defence Minister Herve Morin, however, expressed his "reservations" about the plan, saying Paris wanted more details about how much the system would cost and how it would work.
But he hinted that France would not block the missile shield plan when NATO leaders meet in Lisbon.
France, a nuclear-armed power, was also at odds with Germany, which backs the missile shield plan but is also pushing for nuclear disarmament, diplomats said.
"We all agree that we need an anti-missile shield if we look at the threats of today and tomorrow," German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told reporters. "We are very close to an agreement."
Clinton said the draft strategic concept recognises the need for NATO "to remain a nuclear alliance as long as nuclear weapons exist" and at the same time highlights President Barack Obama's goal of a nuclear-free world.
She also warned that plans to slash Britain's military spending could damage the military alliance.
In comments to the BBC, Clinton said in answer to a question that she was worried by defence cuts in Europe -- and specifically Britain.
"NATO has been the most successful alliance for defensive purposes in the history of the world I guess, but it has to be maintained," she said. "Each country has to be able to make its appropriate contributions."
Although Afghanistan was not officially on the agenda, ministers discussed the nine-year-old campaign which involves 150,000 international troops.
"Both Bob and I and a lot of our counterparts here in Brussels have both seen and received reports of progress that we are making on the ground," Clinton told a news conference.
Rasmussen also said the NATO-led force was willing to provide "practical assistance" to reconciliation efforts between the Afghan government and the Taliban but ruled out halting military operations against the insurgency.
NATO leaders are expected to endorse at a summit in Lisbon next month plans to begin the handover of security responsibility to Afghan forces by July 2011.
They will also sign off on the strategic concept, replacing a document written in 1999, two years before the September 11 attacks on the United States that sparked the war in Afghanistan..
The 11-page mission statement, drafted by Rasmussen, has not been made public but it is expected to touch on 21st century threats including cyber attacks, missiles from "rogue" states, terrorism and Somali piracy.
While Gates acknowledged fiscal pressures on defence budgets across the alliance, he warned against cuts that could weaken NATO and even leave it crippled.
"But as nations deal with their economic problems, we must guard against the hollowing out of alliance military capability by spending reductions that cut too far into muscle," he said.

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