[A-List] Saving Face, Changing Flags: NATO Imprimatur May Keep Spanish Troops In Iraq

[Rick Rozoff <r_rozoff@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4578197

Reuters
March 16, 2004


NATO Umbrella Could Keep Spanish Troops in Iraq
By John Chalmers


-[T]he two biggest contributors to the stabilization
force -- Poland and Ukraine -- have vowed not to pull
their soldiers back, and diplomats say Zapatero may
change his mind if NATO takes over with a clear U.N.
Security Council mandate.
-"Even this incoming Spanish government would not be
willing to...abandon Iraq, and so putting its troops
under a NATO umbrella could be a face-saving formula,"
said one diplomat.
-"Yes there is some doubt about the Spanish contingent
but otherwise the Iraq force is there," said one
[diplomat] "It will just be a question of changing
their badges and flags to 'NATO'."



BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A U.N.-mandated NATO presence in
Iraq could be a face-saving formula for Spain's
incoming Socialist prime minister as allies put
pressure on him not to withdraw troops from the
country, diplomats said Tuesday.

Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has said he will probably
withdraw Spain's 1,300 troops, who are a key component
of the 9,000-strong multinational stabilization force
in Iraq's central-south division.

This would be a major setback for the United States,
which wants NATO to take command of this division some
time after sovereignty is returned to the Iraqi people
on June 30. Even France and Germany, Europe's fiercest
critics of the Iraq war, had backed away from
challenging Washington's ambition.

"Spain's position now complicates things for NATO,"
said one diplomat at the U.S.-dominated military
alliance.

"Beyond the political question there is now a question
of whether there will be sufficient military
capability: you've seen how difficult it has been to
get forces for Afghanistan."

However, the two biggest contributors to the
stabilization force -- Poland and Ukraine -- have
vowed not to pull their soldiers back, and diplomats
say Zapatero may change his mind if NATO takes over
with a clear U.N. Security Council mandate.

Indeed, Zapatero's first comments on the matter after
his weekend election victory were ambiguous.

He repeated a campaign pledge to pull out the troops
if the United Nations did not take charge by mid-year
and promised wide political consultation before
setting any plan in stone.

"Even this incoming Spanish government would not be
willing to...abandon Iraq, and so putting its troops
under a NATO umbrella could be a face-saving formula,"
said one diplomat.

PRESSURE FROM ALLIES

Others said Zapatero would quickly realize that the
tack adopted in recent months by Paris and Berlin --
with which he had promised to restore "magnificent"
ties -- has been one of rapprochement with the United
States.

"The Spanish are going to be lent on by a lot of
people, including a lot of its friends," said one NATO
observer.

Alliance officials denied a report in the Financial
Times, however, that Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer would ask Madrid to reconsider its position:
"That's not correct, the political decisions are not
for him to make," said one.

If Zapatero fell into line with France and Germany, he
would probably adopt their position that for NATO to
take a role in Iraq there must be a request from a
sovereign government and a U.N. Security Council
resolution mandating the mission.

"The request could come on the day the government
takes office and it could be specifically conditional
on a U.N. mandate, which would really speed things
up," said one diplomat.

This could put NATO under unwelcome pressure to plan a
new operation and make sure it is properly resourced
when allies -- pleading that their armed forces are
overstreched by operations across the globe -- are
already dodging calls for troops and equipment to
expand the peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan.

But diplomats said the Iraq operation would be much
easier for NATO to resource than finding helicopters
and other costly equipment for new military teams in
Afghan provinces.

"Yes there is some doubt about the Spanish contingent
but otherwise the Iraq force is there," said one. "It
will just be a question of changing their badges and
flags to 'NATO'."






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