It remains to be seen whether this understanding will, in fact, prevent France?s fairly transparent objective in promoting Galileo ? namely, to compete with and ultimate displace the U.S. GPS system. Even if that is not the case, Galileo may prove problematic for the United States if, for example, it affords extremely high accuracy information to enemy targeteers, be they terrorists or hostile militaries.
The third meeting was the NATO summit in Istanbul. There, President Bush secured a potentially momentous commitment from the organization?s members acting as an alliance ? including, for the first time, the French and Germans ? to help in the reconstruction of a liberated Iraq. For the moment, NATO forces will confine themselves to training Iraqi security personnel. Still, the Franco-German participation in a collective effort to build a free Iraq is not only a welcome change from their efforts heretofore to prevent and undermine such an outcome. It also should cut the legs out from under Mr. Bush?s critics who seem to believe that the only international initiatives that can have legitimacy are those endorsed by Paris and Berlin.
Finally, and most important in the near-term, were the meetings that occurred Monday in Baghdad in which the Coalition Provisional Authority formally handed over power to a sovereign Iraqi government and its new members were sworn into office. It is regrettable that such an option could not have been exercised long before now; Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Douglas Feith and others now holding senior positions in the Bush Administration argued for creating a provisional Iraqi government as an alternative to Saddam?s regime back in 1998. Had that advice been taken, the liberation of Iraq could have been led by Free Iraqis and an interim administration put into place immediately thereafter, allowing multinational forces to help provide security rather than ?occupy? the country. A year later, things might have looked very different on the ground in Iraq than they do today.
As with the results of these other meetings, the prospects that this interim government in Iraq will translate into something desirable for the people most immediately affected ? the Iraqis, themselves ? for their neighbors or for us are uncertain, at best. Much will depend upon whether the popular perception takes hold that the future lies with freedom and a rejection of its enemies. If it does, the Iraqis certainly have the human and physical resources to transform their nation into a model of prosperity, civilization and opportunity in a region of the world that has known too little of these things of late.
The common denominator in each of these developments is that their ultimate outcome will have profound implications for U.S. interests and security. That means we actually must do far more than ?watch this space.? America must remain engaged directly and creatively in promoting endgames that will: preserve accountable, sovereign governments in Europe; assure vital U.S. interests in outer space; lead a reinvigorated, as well as expanded NATO; and conduce to a peaceable and free Iraq.