Defense Department Report, December 1: NATO Ministerial; Iraq Update

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, speaking one day before the December 1 establishment by NATO of a new Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) battalion, said the move is one of several ways in which the alliance is organizing its deterrent capability for the 21st century.

The Czech Republic is leading the CBRN battalion, with contributions from 13 nations. It is an initial effort to address nuclear, biological and chemical threats that may face the alliance. The battalion will be fully operational by July of 2004.

Rumsfeld was at NATO headquarters in Brussels to attend the alliance's December 1 Defense Planning Committee and Nuclear Planning Group meetings. He said NATO is in the process of transforming itself to "some extent" to deal with terrorism. Other key initiatives include reducing NATO headquarters staff by 30 percent, deciding how to promote the deployability and usability of alliance troops, supporting the fledgling NATO Response Force due to be fully operational by October 2006, and implementing support structures for the two new strategic commands: Allied Command Transformation and Allied Command Operations.

Rumsfeld said U.S. officials are encouraging NATO to expand the responsibility of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan beyond Kabul. He also said the United States has encouraged individual countries, such as Germany, "to undertake responsibilities for Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) and they have done it." He indicated that a number of other countries are also "thinking about stepping forward."

Asked about the possibility that a future European Union defense capability might undermine or compete with NATO, Rumsfeld said, "You'd have to have a very good reason for wanting" to create anything that might put NATO at risk. "I think there's no reason for something else to be competitive with NATO," he added. The secretary expressed confidence that the whole issue would be "sorted out."

On Bosnia, the secretary said it is possible that the number of troops there might decline as the major security challenge shifts from the military to the police. "And we've always believed that foreign forces in a country are unnatural and they ought not to be there on a permanent basis. They ought to be migrating downward so that you don't create a dependency," he added.

On the subject of adjusting the size of U.S. military deployments elsewhere in the world, Rumsfeld said shifts in numbers or funding do not necessarily equate with reductions in capabilities. Citing recent examples in Iraq and Afghanistan, the secretary said: "the use of a single precision-guided smart weapon can put lethal power on targets at 8 to 10 times what dumb bombs could do."

Asked about recent terrorist attacks in Iraq, Rumsfeld said: "I think that the countries who have forces there recognize that it's a dangerous place and there are terrorists who are killing people and wounding people -- not just coalition forces, but Iraqis (too) in increasing numbers." Nevertheless, he said, the United States and other members of the coalition intend to see the mission through to its completion.

KIMMITT: RECENT ATTACK SHOWS GREATER ENEMY COORDINATION

Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt, deputy director for operations of Combined Joint Task Force 7, said 54 enemy personnel were killed and another 22 were wounded in a November 30 military engagement in the Iraqi city of Samarra.

Briefing reporters in Baghdad on December 1, Kimmitt said this attack by Iraqi insurgents is "a little better coordinated than some of the attacks we've seen of late." While some of the Iraqis were dressed in uniforms previously associated with Saddam Hussein's Fedayeen fighters, he said, "we have not established a definitive linkage between these enemy and any organization."

Kimmitt said hostile forces launched rocket-propelled grenades, fired small arms, and exploded roadside bombs when elements of the 4th Infantry Division accompanied a routine Iraqi currency exchange team into Samarra. "Our soldiers were performing a mission" when attacked, he said.

Asked about reports that some of the U.S. return fire might have been indiscriminate, Kimmitt said, "We have no such reports from either the Iraqi police service or the medical facility in Samarra" to corroborate that.

He also said no foreign fighters were found among those who died in the Samarra fighting.

Kimmitt said one enemy prisoner was detained and five coalition soldiers were injured in the attack.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)