NATO Greaterand the MiddleEast Conference Proceedings Prague, Czech Republic October 17th–19th, 2003 NATO Greaterand the MiddleEast Conference Proceedings Prague, Czech Republic October 17th–19th, 2003 NATO AND THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST Program of Atlantic Security Studies (PASS) Prague Security Studies Institute Pohořelec 6, 118 00 Prague 1, Czech Republic http://www.pass-prague.cz/ [email protected] © PASS 2004 All rights reserved. Edited by: Oldřich Černý, Corbin P. Miller, Jan Havránek Designed by: diverzity (Pavel Sláma, Tomáš Hibi Matějíček) Printed by: tiskárna TERCIE Praha Gratitude is owed to the following people and institutions for their help with the conference and its proceedings: H.E. CYRIL SVOBODA Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic HON. PAVEL BÉM Lord Mayor of the City of Prague HRH PRINCE EL HASSAN BIN TALAL NATO PUBLIC DIPLOMACY DIVISION, Brussels EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Prague INFORMATION CENTRE ON NATO, Prague EDITORS’ NOTE: In preparing the proceedings of the 2003 conference on “NATO and the Greater Middle East,” every effort was made to accurately transcribe the speeches, discussion, and comments recorded over the course of the confe- rence. However, at times, the recorded speech was impossible to discern. In these instances, a small portion of the text was omitted. In other parts of the conference transcription, a small amount of liberty has been taken to edit for content and clarity. We made a concerted effort to limit the number of changes we made and to maintain the original intent of the speaker and feel that any changes are minimal and serve only to clarify the point. We hope that that you find the content of these official proceedings as inte- resting as we did and would greatly appreciate any feedback via an e-mail to [email protected]. Oldřich Černý Corbin P. Miller Jan Havránek CONTENTS CONTENTS Contents _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _9 Foreword _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _11 Conference Program _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _15 Conference Summary Jiří Schneider, Jan Šnaidauf _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _19 The Greater Middle East and the West HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _27 Panel I: The Role of NATO in Fighting Threats in the GME _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _33 Panel I: Discussion _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _57 Civilizations, Cultures, Democracies Adam Michnik,Václav Havel _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _79 Panel II: The Role of NATO in Peace-Management Operations in the GME _ _83 Panel II: Discussion _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _111 The Road Map: Is it For Real? Cyril Svoboda, Madeleine Albright _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _133 Panel III: The Role of NATO in Democracy Building in the GME _ _ _ _ _ _143 Panel III: Discussion _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _165 The New NATO and the Greater Middle East R. Nicholas Burns _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _187 APPENDIX PASS Policy Paper: NATO and the GME – a Mission to Renew NATO? Jiří Schneider, Michael Žantovský _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _205 Biographies _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _221 Participants _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _231 Staff and Organizers _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _237 9 FOREWORD FOREWORD Michael Žantovský Today, it is already possible to say that as fledgling think-tankers, we in the Program of Atlantic Security Studies (PASS) awaited the launch of our first conference project last October with some trepidation. For all our internal debates, for all our research, for all our efforts to put together a coherent po- licy paper and an agenda, we did not know the answer to at least two crucial questions related to the topic: 1) Does the concept of the Greater Middle East, a shorthand for the vast geographical area from the Maghreb in the west to the borders of Paki- stan in the east, actually make sense? 2) Is the involvement of a Euro–Atlantic military alliance in the numerous conflicts, crises and transformation processes of a small part of Africa and a large part of Asia at all relevant, thinkable and/or desirable? Only the conference itself could start providing answers to these ques- tions and only life itself could confirm or disprove those answers. Whether it was beginners´ luck or educated guesses or, most likely, the outstanding con- tributions of the participants from 18 countries, we are now able to say that the answers to both our questions have been in some part positive. The con- cept of the Greater Middle East, albeit as controversial and contested today as it was six months ago, now plays a central role both in the transatlantic debate and in the attempts at modernization and/or reforms in the region itself. NATO has accepted a larger role in Afghanistan and although the jury is still out on Iraq, it is difficult not to imagine an enhanced role for the Alliance 11 NATO AND THE GREATER MIDDLE EAST even there. The Israeli – Palestinian conflict remains as intractable as ever and any thinking about a role of NATO or any outside party there is prema- ture at the very least. Nonetheless, the unilateral, “Gaza first” disengagement plan of Prime Minister Sharon begs the question of the kind of security arrangements acceptable to both sides after the Israeli withdrawal from the strip. At the same time, there have been developments that we did not and perhaps could not predict. The stabilization in Iraq turned out to be a more difficult and lengthy process than many of us thought six months ago. The search for the weapons of mass destruction, which constituted one of the most important pretexts for the war, has so far failed to discover stockpiles of any significance. The Road Map, which looked like another light at the end of the long Middle Eastern tunnel last fall, is felt by many to have turned out to be yet another blind alley. And, most significantly and tragically, global ter- rorism has landed in Europe with the bomb attacks in Madrid on March 11th. It is this last event which raises questions most relevant to our discus- sion. Although a member country of NATO was attacked in a most brutal manner, NATO fell strangely silent in the aftermath of the attack. Although the attack is now considered to have been undoubtedly of Middle Eastern origin, it is being treated as a national and European problem. The response to the attack, such as it is, will be apparently coordinated by the EU rather than NATO and will be of a judicial and diplomatic rather than a military nature. All of this would seem to make NATO less rather than more relevant, in spite of another round of enlargement and the ceremonies that come with it. Before the summit of the Alliance in Istanbul at the end of June where the Greater Middle East concept under it new name is certain to be the subject of some discussion, it may be worth reiterating a few truths, indeed almost tru- isms, about NATO, which resonated with such force on the floor and in the corridors of the conference last year and which may be even more relevant six months later: 1) NATO is the Western world’s organization best equipped to meet any threat aimed at its peoples, values and cultures.