|
30 May 2010 By Rick Rozoff On May 26 Polish news media
announced that the first American Patriot interceptor
missile battery and 100 U.S. troops were officially
welcomed by Defense Minister Bogdan Klich, U.S.
Ambassador Lee Feinstein and Brigadier General Mark
Bellini of U.S. Army Europe at a ceremony in Poland. American troops, it was further
reported, had arrived over the previous weekend from a
base in Germany to unload over 37 railway cars and
assemble the Patriots in the Polish town of Morag,
only 60 kilometers from Russia’s northwestern border
in the Kaliningrad district. Details concerning the
Patriot deployment and the stationing of as many as
150 U.S. servicemen were finalized in a supplemental
Status of Forces Agreement between Washington and
Warsaw in February. One of Britain’s major daily
newspapers characterized the development as follows:
“The mission amounts to the most significant
deployment ever of US forces to Poland, which once was
behind the Iron Curtain but is now an enthusiastic
member of Nato.” [1] At the unveiling of the missile
battery the Polish defense chief stated that “Placing
the Patriot batteries in Poland makes the country more
secure and contributes to Poland’s cooperation with
the U.S,” and, allowing for an imperfect translation,
“The more America and Europe in Poland, the more
Poland in American and European politics.” [2] The Associated Press reminded its
readers on the occasion that “The U.S military has
previously carried out training exercises in Poland,
and has also trained the Polish air force to operate
F-16 military fighter planes, which Poland bought to
modernize its military.” In fact between November of 2006
and December of 2008 Poland received 48 F-16 Fighting
Falcon American warplanes and the Pentagon and NATO
conduct regular military exercises – infantry, naval
and air – at Polish bases. What is qualitatively different
about this week’s events, though, was spelled out by
Andrew Paul, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in
Warsaw, who acknowledged “that the Patriot garrison
involves a longer time commitment than anything
before, and marks ‘the first continuing presence’ of
American soldiers and equipment in Poland.” [3] The
U.S. troops who arrived earlier this week are the
first foreign ones based on Polish soil since the
dissolution of the Warsaw Pact twenty years ago. Blaise Pascal wrote in his Pensees
that what is truth on one side of the Pyrenees is
falsehood on the other. The response east of the
Polish-Russian border was less enthusiastic than it
was on the other side. On May 28 Russian Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs Alexander Grushko spoke to a press
conference and warned that “if the Patriot missile
systems continued to be deployed on a permanent basis,
that would be in breach of the pledge that NATO made
when signing the Founding Act to the effect that the
North Atlantic Alliance nations would refrain from
stationing major military forces in the vicinity of
the Russian border.” [4] He was referring to a provision of
the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and
Security between NATO and the Russian Federation
signed in Paris in 1997, one which confirms adherence
to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE)
originally signed by the 16 members of NATO and the
six members of the Warsaw Pact in 1990. (The former
German Democratic Republic was by that point part of a
united Federal Republic.) The 1997 NATO-Russia accord
mentions that “Russia and the member States of NATO
reaffirm that States Parties to the CFE Treaty should
maintain only such military capabilities individually
or in conjunction with others, as are commensurate
with individual or collective legitimate security
needs,” and “Russia and the member States of NATO
will, together with other States Parties, seek to
strengthen stability by further developing measures to
prevent any potentially threatening build-up of
conventional forces in agreed regions of Europe, to
include Central and Eastern Europe.” The document also states that “NATO
reiterates that in the current and foreseeable
security environment, the Alliance will carry out its
collective defense and other missions by ensuring the
necessary interoperability, integration, and
capability for reinforcement rather than by additional
permanent stationing of substantial combat forces.”
[5] In short, moving NATO, and
especially American, troops and military
infrastructure into Eastern Europe, a few miles from
Russian territory at that, on anything other than a
temporary basis – and as was seen above, the U.S.
embassy in Warsaw itself identified the new deployment
as a “continuing presence” of troops and military
equipment in Poland – is an incontrovertible violation
of the 1997 NATO-Russia agreement, as it is of the
earlier CFE treaty on the reduction of conventional
weaponry (tanks, armored personnel carriers, combat
aircraft and helicopters, and artillery, to say
nothing of missiles) in Europe. The first two times Washington and
NATO deployed Patriot batteries were to Saudi Arabia
in 1990-1991 and to Turkey in 2003, in both cases
ostensibly to prevent Iraqi retaliation for U.S. and
allied attacks. No one in the White House, State
Department or the Pentagon has yet to offer an honest
explanation for the presence of Patriot Advanced
Capability-3 missiles so close to Russia’s border,
ones which even with a limited range would, if used,
intercept and destroy incoming missiles over Russian
territory. As part of what the Pentagon calls
its Phased Adaptive Approach to missile shield
deployments in Europe, especially in the east of the
continent, Poland has also been mentioned as a
prospective site for the stationing of longer range
Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors on Aegis class
warships in the Baltic Sea, in a land-based version
(Aegis Ashore) on the Polish mainland or both. “[T]he U.S. plans to deploy more
powerful anti-ballistic missiles in Europe by
2018-2020. These will probably be silo-based missiles,
for example upgraded SM-3 missiles with high runway
speeds and interception altitudes exceeding 1,000
kilometers, making it possible to destroy not only
ICBM warheads but also ballistic missiles launched by
Russia.” [6] The current Patriot missile
deployment, coupled as it is with what will certainly
be the long-term if not unlimited stationing of
American troops on a rotational basis or otherwise,
signals an advance over previous, if already
persistent and mounting, U.S. and NATO military
presence and exercises in Poland, the general Baltic
Sea region and throughout Eastern Europe as a whole. NATO opened its Joint Force
Training Centre (JFTC) headquarters in Bydgoszcz,
Poland in March of 2004. Since then it has focused on
“joint and combined training at the tactical level,”
particularly for NATO’s war in Afghanistan, and on
providing “support to the NATO Response Force (NRF)
joint and component commanders in the training and
exercising of the NRF…” [7] Regarding the deployment of Polish
troops for combat missions (the nation’s first since
World War Two) abroad, four years ago then Polish
defense minister, now foreign minister, Radislaw
Sikorski spoke of the fact that over 10,000 of his
nation’s troops had served in the Iraq war zone and
said, “They are the core of the new Polish military.
They had not been in a warlike situation for half a
century. They go out as civilians in uniform but they
come back as real warriors.” [8] Poland will soon have 2,600
soldiers under NATO command in Afghanistan, the
largest overseas military deployment in its history,
with 400 more troops held in reserve for duty in that
war zone. 23 Polish troops have been killed in Iraq
and 16 so far in Afghanistan, the nation’s first
post-World War II combat and combat-related deaths. Sikorski’s waxing militant over his
nation’s acquisition of its first battle-hardened
warriors since the opening days of the Second World
War can only be understood in the context of Poland
bordering the only two nations in Europe truly not
within the U.S. and NATO military orbit (Ukraine’s
status in this respect still to be decided): Belarus
and Russia. The Polish foreign minister (since
2007) was a citizen of the United Kingdom from 1984
onward and a resident of the U.S. from 2002-2005 where
he was resident fellow at the American Enterprise
Institute in Washington, D.C. and executive director
of the pro-NATO New Atlantic Initiative (he is married
to American journalist and fellow former American
Enterprise Institute affiliate Anne Applebaum), and
returned from the U.S. to become Poland’s defense
minister in 2005. He was back in Washington late last
month visiting several of his old haunts. While at the
State Department, Sikorski met with his American
counterpart Hillary Clinton, who described the
government her visitor represented as “one of our
closest friends and allies,” and pledged the U.S.’s
“commitment to Poland’s security.” “A statement issued by the top
diplomats said the two allied countries would look to
more closely cooperate within NATO and on the future
development of a European missile defense program.”
[9] The two foreign affairs chiefs also
discussed the war in Afghanistan and even – for good
measure, to leave out not a single bone of contention
with Russia – “Sikorski said if American companies
exploring energy resources in Poland ‘strike it
lucky,’ it would enhance the energy security of Poland
and Europe and forge new investment links between
Poland and the United States.” [10] The Polish foreign minister also
met with Pentagon chief Robert Gates and former NATO
Supreme Allied Commander and current U.S. National
Security Advisor James Jones (about whom more later)
and addressed the annual awards dinner of U.S.’s
preeminent advocacy group promoting the globalization
of NATO, the Washington, D.C.-based Atlantic Council.
Gates promised Sikorski 24 mine-resistant military
vehicles for the Afghan war and the latter told the
former, “We are there as part of the NATO mission.
We’ve gone in together and we will also leave
Afghanistan together.” [11] Given the boost in Polish
troops and American-supplied combat vehicles, that
joint departure will not be anytime soon. Over the past five years, first as
defense and now as foreign minister, Sikorski has been
a major player in the consolidation of Poland as the
Pentagon’s and NATO’s main military outpost in
northeastern Europe and, along with Bulgaria and
Romania, in so-called New Europe, in New NATO, as a
whole. In 2005 the U.S. signed a ten-year
agreement with Romania for the acquisition and
upgrading of four military bases and a comparable
agreement with Bulgaria the following year for three
bases in that country. This February both Black Sea
nations disclosed plans to host U.S. Standard
Missile-3 installations. In 2006 then U.S. European
Command chief and NATO Supreme Allied Commander
General James Jones said that the U.S. was planning to
use the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base in Romania not
only for land troops – the U.S. Joint Task Force –
East is now headquartered there – “but also for naval
and air special units.” “The general added that the east
European force [what is now Joint Task Force - East]
will significantly improve the U.S.’s capacity to
plan, coordinate and carry out operations that regard
security cooperation in Eurasia and the Caucasus.”
[12] NATO has conducted a now six-year
operation in which warplanes from several member
states patrol the airspace over the Baltic states of
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In the last-named
country the Zokniai/Siauliai International Airport is
home to the NATO air squads. “The presence of NATO
fighters represents a dramatic transformation from
Siauliai’s not-so-distant past: the base was until
1992 a Soviet facility and housed types including
Ilyushin Il-76-based A-50 airborne early warning and
control system aircraft and RSK MiG-29 fighters.” [13] The current four-month rotation
which started on April 30 consists of four Polish jet
fighters. The Baltic Sea region is the site
of near-continuous NATO and U.S. military maneuvers:
The Pentagon is reported to have spent over $1 million
recently on road construction and repairs for this
year’s Baltic Operations (BALTOPS), annual military
exercises which are the largest conducted in the
Baltic region. “[T]he U.S. military is carrying out
the entire job itself….ahead of June’s NATO military
training exercise.” [14] “BALTOPS provides a basis for
promoting mutual understanding and maritime platform
interoperability between U.S. Navy, NATO, and non-NATO
participants through a series of multilateral training
exercises in air warfare, shallow water undersea
warfare, electronic warfare, air control, air defense,
surface warfare, communications, fast patrol boat
operations, seamanship, and mine warfare.” [15] BALTOPS 2009 was led by the U.S.
Navy’s Carrier Strike Group 12. Starting on May 31 U.S. European
Command and Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO (STRIKFORNATO)
will lead military drills with Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania in the second Baltic Host operation, the
first of which was held last year in Estonia. This
year’s will be held simultaneously in the capitals of
the three Baltic nations and will for the first time
include participation by the armed forces of Denmark,
Germany, Norway and Poland. “All participants
acknowledged the ‘Baltic Host 2009′ exercise to be
very successful and agreed on the fact that it should
be established as a permanent training cycle organised
in the Baltic States.” [16] Last month U.S. troops were among
6,500 forces involved in the NATO Response Force’s
Brilliant Mariner exercises in the Baltic and North
Seas, along with 31 warships, four submarines and 28
aircraft. “Exercise Brilliant Mariner is an
opportunity to really put NATO forces through their
paces,” said NATO’s maritime commander Admiral Sir
Trevor Soar. [17] Starting in October of 2008 NATO’s
Allied Air Component Command Headquarters Ramstein
began regular air training exercises over Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania. “Launched as rehearsal for the
NATO Baltic Air policing mission, the events have now
turned into a wide-spectrum exercise training air
assets to conduct various aspects of air
operations….Previous exercises focused on improving
means of securing sovereignty of the Baltic airspace
as reflected in their former name Baltic Air
Sovereignty Training Event (BASTE). “The exercise was renamed Baltic
Region Training Event, BRTE, to highlight the broader
tasks of the third event. In the future NATO plans to
conduct such type of training on a regular basis
during rotations of every air contingent deployed on
the air policing mission.” [18] Russia, a Baltic Sea littoral
state, was not invited to participate in any of the
above exercises. It is the only nation against which
such maneuvers are conducted. The fact that regular, almost
uninterrupted, war games are held under U.S.
leadership in the Baltic Sea leaves no other
interpretation. Poland, though, is the main U.S.
and NATO military ally in the region, as Bulgaria and
Romania are on the Black Sea. As seen above, Poland received the
first of 48 U.S. F-15 Fighting Falcon multirole jet
fighters in 2006 and the last of them two years later.
The purchase was the largest military deal in Poland’s
history, one paralleled by Romania’s plans to buy from
48-54 of the same planes, with Bulgaria to follow
suit. At the time of the first delivery
to Poland then commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe
and NATO Allied Air Component, General Tom Hobbins,
represented the American Air Force chief of staff at a
special ceremony to welcome the U.S. warplanes. His comments included: “Poland’s acquisition of the F-16
cements the relationship between the U.S. Air Force
and the Polish air force for several decades to come. “This ceremony demonstrates that
Poland has become a very powerful and more vital
member of NATO than ever before. “Poland’s F-16s represent the most
sophisticated aircraft in Eastern Europe and will
serve as a military-to-military engagement magnet for
forces in Europe. “These aircraft are extremely
capable in any of the NATO roles, whether they’re
utilized in counter-air missions in the NATO Response
Force, or air defense with the International Security
Assistance Force in Afghanistan.” [19] The following year, after Bulgarian
and Romanian air bases had been acquired by the U.S.
and NATO, Hobbins said: “We’re moving in with some of
our newest NATO allies like Romania and Bulgaria. One
of the best benefits – there is the actual ability to
train with these new nations and build a long lasting
relationship. It’s being involved, their weapons
training detachments allows us to build trust and
confidence with our friends and neighbors. Poland is
another good example [of] moving east. “That’s going to bring the newest,
most modern and sophisticated fighter to that area of
the region. We will actually be able to rotate fighter
units through there….” [20] The suggestion was made by a U.S.
Air Force official that F-16s currently stationed at
the Aviano Air Base in Italy be transferred to Poland. In March of 2009 the Pentagon
delivered the first of five C-130 Hercules military
transport planes to Poland, the last expected to
arrive this summer. The U.S. commander in charge of
the transfer said at the time, “Ultimately they want
to deploy C-130s to the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
Our mission is the help assist them to become fully
operational to NATO standards.” [20] “According to Brig. Gen. Tadeusz
Mikutel, Poland’s 33rd Air Base commander, the
Hercules will be the biggest of the country’s
aircraft.” [21] The preceding month the Polish
daily Rzeczpospolita (The Republic) revealed that NATO
had allotted over one billion euros for the
development of military infrastructure in Poland. “The
modernisation of seven military airports, two sea
ports, five large fuel bases (12 are planned) and six
strategic long-range aerial radars has already been
completed.” [22] In addition, NATO will equip
“military airfields in Powidz, Lask and Minsk
Mazowiecki with new installations to improve the
logistical and defence capacity of these bases. “Air defence headquarters are to be
set up in Poznan, Warsaw and Bydgoszcz; a radio
communications centre will be located in Wladyslawowo
on the Baltic coast. “A newly built training centre in
Bydgoszcz should be fully equipped [with] computer
devices by the end of the year (total cost EUR 40
million).” [23] In June of 2009 Polish Defense
Minister Bogdan Klich said that NATO would inaugurate
a Joint Battle Command Centre in the northern city of
Bydgoszcz where NATO has run a Joint Force Training
Centre since 2004. The defense chief said, “The
Alliance has made the decision to open a new NATO
cell, a new joint regiment within NATO. According to
the decision, commanders from three regiments will be
located in Bydgoszcz. “In Bydgoszcz, we will have the
permanent commanders of [a] battalion and other
components: one of six joint mobile modules, a
security component and logistics and support
operators,” which include approximately 200 NATO
troops. Klich added “that NATO has decided
to heavily invest in Poland by modernizing military
infrastructure including air and sea bases.” [24] On the same day the same source,
Polish Radio, reported that “Poland will appoint seven
generals to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
One of them will be deployed in the NATO headquarters
in Norfolk, USA. [Allied Command Transformation.] “Poland will have twice as many
generals in NATO’s structures as a result of the
alliance’s command reform and recognition of Polish
troops who participate in NATO’s missions.” [25] In October Klich disclosed that his
ministry would “spend about 60 billion zloty (12.3
billion euro) by the year 2018 to modernize Poland’s
armed forces,” with emphasis on “14 programs: air
defense systems, combat and cargo helicopters, naval
modernization, espionage and unmanned aircraft,
training simulators and equipment for soldiers….” [26] By November the Polish Air Force
had flown over 100 missions with the first U.S. C-130
troop transport plane, and according to a Polish
military official “the entire donation of five totally
refurbished aircraft, support equipment, supplies,
training, and contracted logistics support, is valued
at $120 million and 100 percent funded through
bilateral military assistance grant money.” [27] Poland’s air bases, particularly
that at Powidz where the U.S. has conducted special
forces training, and training sites like that at
Wedrzyn where American troops have provided combat
instruction, regularly host U.S. and NATO military
personnel in support of operations that have nothing
at all to do with the defense of the host nation. An analysis of over two years ago
placed the intensified U.S. military buildup in Poland
in perspicuous and convincing perspective: “Poland will give the United States
a minimum of two things when it agrees to [a] missile
base on Polish soil. It gives the US a base from which
it can challenge Russia and a leveraged increase in
troops on the ground in Europe. “The unspoken issue is that the
United States will have a base in Poland that will fix
the Polish border and that Poland will have the United
States behind it to protect that border. [I]t puts US
troops, albeit small numbers, in the Russian ‘near
abroad’. It tells Russia, you tread on Poland, you
tread on the US. “It is a clever and cheap way for
the US to build an anti-Russian army in Eastern
Europe. Just provide the equipment and let someone
else maintain it and provide the manpower. Let Poland
worry about paying and training the troops. “The end result is that the United
States can extend its influence through a low cost
Army in Poland.” [28] By setting up a Patriot missile
battery 35 miles from Russian territory and basing
troops there, Washington is well on its way to
achieving that objective. 1) The Telegraph, May 24, 2010
http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/russian/const/founding.html 6) Russian Information Agency
Novosti, February 24, 2010
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/baltops.htm 16) Defence Professionals
(Germany), May 25, 2010 |
Add Comments