ABU DHABI, 18 March 2003 — Jordan yesterday urged Arab states to overcome their political differences and establish a joint rapid deployment force in the Gulf as part of a collective security step to reduce the number of foreign forces in the region.
“The requirement is for our nations together to establish the structures and procedures which would enable us to deploy rapidly an effective combined military response to an external threat to the region,” Crown Prince Faisal said.
It would also be capable of providing the “appropriate set of forces and capabilities to assist any one of our nations in responding to terrorist attack,” he told the Gulf Defense Conference 2003 in Abu Dhabi, being held on the sidelines of the International Defense Exhibition (IDEX 2003).
Collective security would entail the establishment of a coalition command center that shared critical intelligence, conventional air, land and sea forces able to deploy to pre-determined staging areas, as well as a multinational rapid reaction force consisting mainly of special forces, he said.
“I question whether those powers external to our region would feel the same need to deploy their military forces here if there was confidence that we, collectively, could speak with one voice and back our political intent with credible military capability,” the prince said. “It is indisputable that under any credible outcome to the situation in Iraq, we will see an increase in the deployment of foreign military forces to our region.
“We must achieve a proper balance with the members of the UN Security Council and, in particular, with the US. It is the deployment of external forces to our region in the well-intentioned pursuit of security which is one of the major contributors to the sense of insecurity and tension amongst our peoples.”
Prince Faisal also called for any credible measure to enhance security to include a political and economic component alongside any military response. “Until we enable all the peoples of the region to co-exist with peace and dignity in a socio-economic and political environment that is sustainable and just, we will continue to permit the development of anger, violence and instability.”
