World Tribune.com

Gen. Pace on UAE alliance:
'very, very solid partners'

SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Thursday, February 23, 2006

WASHINGTON — The United States military plans to widen its already extensive access to ports and military bases in the United Arab Emirates which it considers one of its most reliable military allies in the region.

"The military-to-military relationship with the United Arab Emirates is superb," Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said. "In everything that we have asked and work with them on, they have proven to be very, very solid partners."

Pace told a Pentagon briefing on Feb. 21 that the UAE has accommodated U.S. Navy aircraft carriers that patrol the Gulf region. Later, officials said, the UAE's Jebel Ali port was regarded as the safest in the Gulf region.

"They've got great seaports that are capable of handling, and do, our aircraft carriers," Pace said. "They've got airfields that they allow us to use, and their air space, their logistics support. They've got a world-class air-to-air training facility that they let us use and cooperate with them in the training of our pilots."

In 2002, officials said, the UAE became a leading Middle East partner of the United States. They cited the UAE's $6.4 billion purchase of 80 F-16E/F multi-role fighters, designed to transform Abu Dhabi into the leading air power in the Gulf.

The Pentagon expects to benefit from the deployment of the Block 60 F-16s in Abu Dhabi's air force. Officials said the U.S. Air Force intends to acquire increasing access to the newly-expanded Al Dhafra air base in Sharjah, the home of the UAE's F-16 fleet.

Al Dhafra already houses U.S. Air Force U-2 spy airplanes, KC-10 air refueling aircraft and Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles. In June 2005, a U-2 crashed in the UAE.

Officials said one option was that Al Dhafra be employed for the U.S. Air Force's F-16 fleet. They said the base could house and maintain U.S. F-16s in a joint project with the UAE.

"We have a port there [in the UAE] where they help us," Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said. "They have an airfield. We share intelligence and we have a partnership that has been very, very helpful to the things we do in that part of the world."

The Pentagon has highlighted military cooperation with Abu Dhabi as part of the Bush administration's effort to justify its approval of UAE operations of major American ports.

The state-owned Dubai-based DP World intends to acquire a British firm that operates the ports of Florida, Louisiana Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

President George Bush has threatened to veto legislation designed to block DP World's operations in the United States. Such legislation has been supported by several key Republican senators, including Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.

Rumsfeld said the Pentagon reviewed and supported DP World's bid to operate the American ports. Rumsfeld said the lead agency in the approval process was the Homeland Security Department.

"I'm told that nothing changes with respect to security under the contract, that the Coast Guard is in charge of security, not the corporation," Rumsfeld said. "The Coast Guard, of course, has the responsibility for the ports, and they should be the ones who would describe how it would be handled and why it is acceptable, because they signed off on it."


Copyright © 2006 East West Services, Inc.

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