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Rice, Gates Cite Nahr al-Bared Fighting to Urge Extension of Security-Assistance Legislation

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Written by News Editor

Wednesday, 16 April 2008

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said last year's battles between the Lebanese army and Fatah al-Islam fighters at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp would have had a different ending had the U.S. not been able to provide immediate help. "I think had the United States not been able to respond to the needs of the Lebanese armed forces for immediate military assistance in fighting the al-Qaida-linked terrorists in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, we might have seen a very different outcome," Rice told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. "In the case that we were able to respond, we saw a Lebanese army and a Lebanese government -- democratically elected government -- able to respond to that exigency," she said. Rice's comments came as she and Defense Secretary Robert Gates sought Congressional approval to give the Pentagon permanent authority over training and equipping foreign militaries, in a shifting of roles from the State Department. The two officials also urged authorization for the Defense Department to spend 750 million dollars in 2009 in helping foreign militaries. Gates told members of the committee that the foreign military assistance program is "a vital and enduring military requirement, irrespective of the capacity of other departments, and its authorities and funding mechanisms should reflect that reality." He gave the example of Lebanon and other countries to reveal the success of the current program. He said among military assistance to other countries was "providing urgently needed parts and ammunition to the Lebanese army to defeat a serious al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist threat in a Palestinian refugee camp." "We need help from the Congress to sustain this program that military leaders from combatant commanders to brigade level say they need," Gates said. Gates and Rice cast the proposals as part of a broader effort to make U.S. government agencies work together more effectively in dealing with suddenly emerging security challenges. Traditionally the State Department oversees the foreign military assistance programs as part of U.S. diplomacy, even as the U.S. military had a key role in implementing them. But since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the Pentagon has sought to be able to move more quickly to help allied militaries. Congress has authorized the Pentagon to run military train and equip programs over the past three years, but the authority expires at the end of this year.(Naharnet-AFP)

 

 

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