Sec Def Panetta has begun a five-day, four-nation tour of North Africa and the Middle East to consolidate military ties with traditional allies against the backdrop of mounting Western pressure aimed at the governments of Syria and Iran. His first two stops are to Tunisia and Egypt, long-standing US military client states and members of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue partnership program. The next two are to Israel and Jordan, also Mediterranean Dialogue members, the first the main and the second one of the largest recipients of US military aid. The two North African countries were the bellwethers of the so-called Arab Spring, a topic Panetta dwelled on at some length during his visit to Tunisia, though in relation to following Pentagon diktat, Tunisia’s Ben Ali and Egypt’s Mubarak might well still be in power for all the difference that now exists. Last year’s biennial joint US-Egyptian Bright Star military exercise was cancelled during the early months of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, but there is no reason to believe next year’s won’t go ahead as usual. Four months ago, Washington released $1.3b in military assistance to the Egyptian junta, with Sec State Clinton waiving congressional conditions introduced last year and State Dept spokeswoman Nuland stating:
These decisions reflect USAia’s over-arching goal: to maintain our strategic partnership with an Egypt made stronger and more stable by a successful transition to democracy.
The strategic partnership is one that began with the Carter-Brzezinski administration buying off Sadat in 1978 and in so doing switching the largest and militarily most powerful Arab nation from non-alignment and close state-to-state relations with the Soviet Union, under Nasser, to the US’s major military client state in Africa and the Arab world. It was also initiated to break the back of Arab unity in relation to Israel and Palestine. Because of its unique value to the Pentagon, Egypt is the only African nation not to be assigned to AFRICOM, instead remaining in CENTCOM. The latter, launched in 1983, grew out of the Carter administration’s Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force, which had been established to counter Soviet bloc influence in Northeast Africa: Egypt, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan. Similarly, and for complementary geopolitical purposes, Israel is the only Middle Eastern nation not in CENTCOM’s AOR, instead being assigned to that of EUCOM. Since the Camp David Accords of 1978, Egypt has been one of the two largest recipients of annual US aid (almost all of it military) and a dependable Pentagon ally bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip to the east, Libya to the west, and Sudan to the south, as well as controlling the Suez Canal. US warships, including nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and their assigned strike groups, pass through the Canal after leaving the eastern coast of the US en route to the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Persian Gulf and the broader Indian Ocean for air strikes in Afghanistan. Panetta, no matter what he says formally, is visiting Egypt to ensure it remains in the US political and, especially, military column. According to the Pentagon website:
The US has had a strong military-to-military relationship with Egypt since the 1970s, and Panetta said he wants that relationship to continue and grow.
En route to Tunisia, Panetta stated to reporters:
Our goal is to advance security by supporting peaceful change throughout the region. This means establishing strong partnerships with new democratic governments in the region.
He also said that the recent Syrian government offensive against armed insurgents in Aleppo will be, or will be made to be, “a nail in Assad’s coffin.” He, like his civilian opposite number Hillary Clinton (“Wow!…We came, we saw, he died”), is not noted for excelling in the powers of abstract thinking, so his comment is not to be interpreted as merely a metaphor. As though alleged humanitarian intervention was not casus belli enough, Panetta also invoked the Iraq war-style menace of “CBW sites in Syria that US planners say need to be secured.” About those exaggerated threats, he said:
We’ve been in close coordination with countries in the region to ensure that this is happening.
He also pledged to strengthen the “very close partnership” with Israel, particularly in respect to Iran. According to the Pentagon:
Iran and its pursuit of nuclear weapons technology will be a discussion point at all stops.
The defense chief added:
My view is that when I sit down with my counterpart in Israel, we are unified in our view with regards to Iran. We’re unified in the position that they should not obtain a nuclear weapon, We’re unified in our position that we have to bring every bit of pressure on them to change their ways. The more we are working together, the more unified we are in the effort against Iran, the better off we will be in convincing Iran that there is no room here for them to do anything other than to back away from the nuclear program they are engaged in.
Panetta will inspect the US-funded Iron Dome anti-missile system while in Israel. Again according to the Defense Dept’s account of his position while on the way to Tunisia:
Peaceful, democratic change has taken place since the Arab Spring, but Syria, Iran and extremism in general have continued to pose challenges.
That is, Panetta’s mission is to recruit USAia’s Tunisian, Egyptian, Israeli and Jordanian military allies to confront Syria and Iran. The Pentagon’s website cited an unnamed senior Defense Dept official affirming:
Panetta plans to lay out the roadmap for the future military-to-military relationship between the US and Tunisia.
He was quoted asserting:
The military has played a positive role in Tunisia and we want that to continue.
During the press conference aboard the aircraft taking him to Tunisia, Panetta explained what Washington understands to be both the means and the ends of so-called democracy promotion by saying:
The US continues to support efforts to strengthen Tunisia’s democracy, and the Dept of Defense will play an important role in that effort.
In Egypt, Panetta will meet Pres Mursi and Defense Minister Tantawi, who led the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces from Feb 11 2011 to Jun 30 2012. “Panetta has been in constant touch with Tantawi since Mubarak was overthrown.” In Israel he will meet Netanyahu, Peres and Barak. Then he will hold talks on bilateral military cooperation with King Abdullah in Jordan. According to the above-cited Pentagon official:
Syria will obviously be a topic of conversation, as the Jordanians are on the front line of that.
As with his visits earlier this year to South America and Asia, Panetta’s trip to North Africa and the Middle East has a concrete objective: To solidify military ties with states bordering or near the remaining handful of nations in the world not enmeshed in the Pentagon’s global network.
