U.S. Looks at Organizing Global Peacekeeping Force
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is discussing the possibility of the United States organizing a standing international peacekeeping force that could be dispatched to trouble spots around the globe.
The force would operate outside the auspices of the United Nations and NATO and would include thousands of U.S. Army troops trained for, and permanently assigned to, peacekeeping work.
Such an undertaking would represent a major reversal by the Bush administration, which came into office deeply opposed to tying up U.S. military forces in international peacekeeping operations.
The plan would probably be opposed by the Army, which has resisted efforts to have its troops drawn into peacekeeping duties.
There are other obstacles as well. Some analysts question how many nations would sign up for such a force if it were under the control of the United States, whose willingness to collaborate with other countries is highly suspect in many parts of the world.
"It seems to me that they have now decided that this is a great opportunity for multilateralism. Who knows, maybe somebody will buy it," said retired Maj. Gen. William Nash, who commanded a tank division in the 1991 Persian Gulf War and, later, NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
With more than half the Army's deployable troops now engaged in peacekeeping and stabilization operations around the world, including Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and especially Iraq, the Pentagon says its purely military capabilities are stretched thin -- a problem that is widely acknowledged.
Senior Bush administration officials are coming to believe that the best solution is to create a standing constabulary force made up of troops from a range of countries -- but led and trained by the U.S.
It would be distinct from a proposed North Atlantic Treaty Organization rapid-response force and apart from the U.N., which has provided peacekeeping missions for decades.
"I am interested in the idea of our leading, or contributing to in some way, a cadre of people in the world who would like to participate in peacekeeping or peacemaking," Rumsfeld told a group of defense industry leaders at a dinner in Washington last week.
"I think that it would be a good thing if our country provided some leadership for training of other countries' citizens who would like to participate in peacekeeping
