US eyes Latin America's help in Iraq, Afghanistan

by Kristin Roberts
MANAGUA, Nicaragua

The United States is pressing some Latin American countries to send troops to Afghanistan and Iraq for non-combat missions as the Pentagon struggles to transition those operations from war to reconstruction.

U.S. Gen. John Craddock, who heads the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command, said discussions were under way at a meeting of nearly all the Western Hemisphere's defense ministers on how Latin American experiences might be applicable in both war zones.

Colombia, for example, may send military personnel to Iraq to help secure some infrastructure, such as oil pipelines, Craddock said. Nicaraguan Army Gen. Moises Omar Halleslevens said his country may send a team to Afghanistan to remove mines.

Craddock said Latin American countries "may see a chance to help other countries overcome a problem they have faced in the past."

The move comes as violence in both Afghanistan and Iraq has kept infrastructure improvements in many areas from progressing. Those improvements are seen as vital to bringing the combat phase of operations to an end and returning the countries to some level of relative calm, U.S. military officials say.

They may also be critical to American plans to start bringing troops home, an issue that has garnered much attention in U.S. campaigns before November elections that will determine control of the U.S. Congress.

The help sought from some Latin American countries was cast by defense officials attending the meeting in Nicaragua as an example of strong regional cooperation and recognition that the war against terrorism is a global fight.

"Most of today's threats to our free way of life transcend national boundaries, and they have no respect for national sovereignty," U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told the other defense ministers, according to a copy of his prepared remarks. "Almost every minister here this morning has attested to that fact and it's equally true that because of that, no single nation can cope with these problems alone."

According to Craddock, defense ministers at the closed-door meeting said they believed their countries too were at risk of terrorist attack. The United States discussed in broad terms the ways the region as a whole could reduce threats and cooperate in the area's defense.

Those efforts are all part of Washington's push to maintain leadership and influence in the Western Hemisphere -- a part increasingly challenged by both U.S. foes and other global powers courting Latin American nations, officials and analysts say.

Iran, for example, has built close relationships with both Venezuela and Cuba -- the two Western Hemisphere countries most hostile to the United States. Russia has become more active in the region too, recently selling $3 billion in weapons to Venezuela, while China offers arms sales and other agreements.

Craddock indicated those types of relationships underscore the need for the United States to spend money on aid and military training. "We want to be in this hemisphere the partner of choice," he said.