JOURNAL OF ITALIAN ARMY 2007 N.1 "RIVISTA MILITARE"

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JOUMAl OF THE ITAUAN ARMY FOUNDED IN 1858

March-April

Rivista Militare aims at broadening and updating the technical and vocational training of Army personnel. It is th us a means of propagating the military way of thinking and a forum of study and debate. Through the publication of articles of tech nical and scienti fic interest, Rivista Militare also aims at informing the general public on the Army and on military issues.

The Concept of War in Islam by Pietro Tornabene p. 2

The Digitisation of the Manceuvre Space: The French Model by A ntonio Peco and Marco Biagini

p, 71

llolion servicemen on duty with KFOR in onti-riot uniform. Moinlenonce of law a nd order is one of the mos t important tasks our soldiers are called to perform in the Balkans.

FOUR-MONTHLY Supplemen t to nu m bers l a nd 2 nf Rivi;:;i a 1\'liliran:: llalia n Ed i1ion

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China: Challenges and Uncertainties

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From Lances to Pointers By Flavia Russo

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IRAN SPECIAL REPORT In the Shadow of the Ayatollahs

Autho rized bv the Court of Rome uncle,· No. 994 of the Registry by Decree 7-6-1949.

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p. 93

The "Nice People" Soldiers of the Screen by Sobrino Carreras

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Assessment Centers: The Right Man in the Right Place by Ricc ardo Stanco and Daniele Raggi

p.47

Women Soldiers in Peacekeeping by Marina Catena

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by Daniele Cellamare and Antonio Ciobattini Leonardi p . 121

Summary in Various Languages p . 140

THE CONCEPT OF WAR IN ISLAM The stereotype most widespread among Westerners is that of an Islam belonging to a hostile world, blood thirsty, revengeful, adverse, fanatic, intolerant and backward. It is not so. A careful reading of the main points in the Koran reveals a very different mission, especially as regards the concept of "holy war".

wil l win and the losers will be integ rated into the Mus lim community and led back to the true faith . The Ko ran often tells that peop le do not have to fight against the enemy that desist from attacking and to be tolerant. Fight against those who attack Blaise Pascal you to defend the cause of Allah but do not go too far because Allah does not love people who go too far. Kill them wherever you meet them and drive The rise of Islam, first in t he Arabian Peninsula them off your land: persecution is worse than and subsequently in the surrounding world, took murder. Do not attack them near the Holy mosque place through the pract ice of war in a quite differif they do not assault you. If they assault you, kill ent way from other major official religions and , them. This is the reward for misbelievers but if above all, from Christian ity. they stop fighting, then Allah will be merciful and Differently from Moses, who was not allowed to forgive them (11 , 190-192). Do not spread corrupenter the Promised Land in his lif etime, Moh ammed tion across the world after people have made it entered La Mecca triumphantly and t ransformed rife. Invoke God with fear and desire. Allah is merthe Land of his fathers into his own Promised Land, ciful to those who do good works. He is the One which had been de nied to him because of his faith. who ÂŤsendsÂť the winds to herHis first fol lowers , differently ald His infinite mercy. When from the Israe lites and the , , they bring a heavy cloud, we Christ ians, were not persecuted The Koran expressly inwill lead it to a dead land and by a hostile government (at least vites people, several times, we will seed it so that it will rain for a short time). Their self- not to fight an enemy who and water will make fruit grow. . awar eness sprang from the does not attack or desists In this way we will bring the memory of a rapid and steady from attacking ,, dead back to life. Maybe, you advance w here leaders of false will reflect on this (Vll, 56). and out dated religions had been Even when the Koran exhorts defeated and where the humiliapeople t o fight against the infidels it always tries to tion of the enemy had paved the way for the final keep a door open t o moderation and reconciliation. triumph of the Muslim faith. The Mus lim weapons After the sacred months have passed, kill these asspread the Word of God across the world and imsociates wherever you meet them, capture them and posed the divine law on all people. set up ambushes for them. If they repent of their The Prophet often had to fight against the oversins, say a prayer and pay the tithe, let them go. Alwhelming forces. On these occasion s he urged his lah will forgive them because he is merciful. If an asfellows to fight without fear becau se they were led sociate seeks shelter, you give him it in order that he and protected by God . This is described very well can listen to the Word of Allah and then let him go. in the Koran and precise ly in the verses (ayat) that People like them do not know anything. How could a talk about war. They were written by Arabs and pact exist between Allah, His m essenger and polywere aimed at putting a st op to the fratricidal war theists except for those who negotiated an accord that lots of Arabs fought believing that their faith

Human beings are neither angels nor beasts and unfortunately the one who wants to be an angel acts like a beast

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Title pages. Istanbul. the Blue Mosque.

-Left. Mecca packed with believers.

commit for their gods and you do not commit any sin against Your Lord God. These words sound extremely harsh and show that the analysis of sacred books must be done in a careful way taking the historical context into consideration and avoiding absolutist positions.

MILITARY THOUGHT

with you in the Holy mosque? Until they behave well towards you, behave correctly towards them. Allah loves those who are God-fearing (IX, 5-7). The Old Testament discusses the topic of war in even harsher tones : the King of Ai was captured and led to Joshua. After Israel had finished killing all fighters from Ai in the country, in the desert and in all the places they had been pursued and after they had been put to the sword, the Israelites overflowed into Ai and slashed at people with swords. On that day, 12 thousand people, men and women, die. Joshua did not withdraw the hand that brandished the spear until they had exterminated all inhabitants of Ai. The Israelites obeyed the orders God had given to Joshua and kept only livestock and the booty of the city Uoshua 8,23-27). In another passage the Old Testament gives some rules to follow in a war: when you approach a city to attack it, at first you will offer it peace. If it accepts peace and opens its doors, its people will pay tribute to you and serve you. But if it wages war on you, you will besiege it. When Your Lord hands the city over to you, you will kill all men with sword but not women, children, the livestock or the booty of the city which will become your prey; you will eat the booty of your enemy that Your Lord God has given to you. And so you will do in all cities that are very far from you and are not cities of these nations. Only in the cities that Your Lord Cod leaves you as inheritance will you kill their populaces: the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, as Cod ordered you to do in order that they do not teach you all abominations they

Military thought was initiated, together with the rise of Islam and the Arab-Muslim state, in the 7th century AD and with the passing of t ime it spread across the Muslim world. Since power uses strength as an instrument for pursuing ethical and religious aims (keeping alive the Muslim faith and spread ing it across the world), political-military thought, which rationalizes this strength , has deep re lig ious significance. The doctrine of «jihad» was formulated during the conflict t hat led Mohammed to im pose himself over the polytheistic tribes of La Mecca and it became a fundamental part of military thought and of the prevailing doctrines that were developed by Muslim scholars during the centuries VII-IX AD (the Abbasside era). Not on ly did Mohammed permeate t he religious ideas of the Arab community, but he was the leg islator, the politician and the strategist setting a perfect example of «Holy» behaviour (in th is regard there is a vast anthology (hadith) of sayings and examples of Mohammed's behaviour). The shape of military thought was determined by the Islamic war in order to legitimise the organization of the state according to the re ligi ous principles of «Sharia>>. The military authority is the Caliph (or Imam), who performs po litical, tactical and strategic functions at the same t ime. The Imam is the supreme «executive» authority of the state and hi s figure is linked to the concepts of «sovere ign ty», «authority» and «power». The fundamental concepts, which have influ enced the military Islamic thought up to now, can be summarized in the following way: «conflict with those who are different from me», in accordance with the concepts of unity and universality of Islamic society; a «religious» feature that characterizes each armed conflict, in accordance with theocracy and ethicalness of Islamic society. This means that in the Islam ic world a war is legitimate only if it is fought for religious or defensive reason s; Th e supreme authority of the state (who was rep-

resented by the Caliph until 1258 and subsequently by t he Muslim monarchies) plays a prominent role in taking political, tactical and strategic deci sions because it is imposs ible to separate political power from mi litary power.

JIHAD Etymo logically, «jihad» means «effort to achieve a clear aim» and in the Koranic expressions it is us ually accompanied by the following phrase: «on the path of God». «J ih ad», which is trans lated as «ho ly war» in Eu rope, is a masculine term that actually means «effort». In Arabic the term «war» is muqatala, which derives from qital «struggle». /jtihad is the effort that the j urisconsults make to fin d a jurid ical solution, whereas mujahada is the effort everyo ne makes to improve one's religious life. Jihad is considered as minor struggle Uihad Asghar) when it is waged by the community to make j ustice and moral virtue 1ot exis triumph and it is cons idered as a · ide~, i major struggle when the indi vid ual makes an effort to be- 0f eop e lsl come a good Mus li m. The term «holy war» exists neither in the Koran nor in the hadith, according to which no war can be defined as «holy». In addition, it rules out resorting to force to convert people to Is lam. There is no compulsion in religion. The right path has indeed become distinct from the wrong. So whoever rejects false worship and believes in Allah, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. And Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing (Sura II, 256). Traditionally, in the West because of free translations of the Koran, the jihad has been recog nized only as «armed struggle to spread Islam» according to the following Koran ic verses (XLVII , 4-6): When you meet in battle those who have disbelieved, smite their necks; and after the slaughter fasten tight the bonds, until the war lays aside its burdens. Then either release them as a favor, or in return for ransom." When ye encounter the infidels, strike off their heads till ye have made a great slaughter among them, and of the rest make fast the fetters. And afterwards let there either be free dismissals or ransomings, till the war hath laid down its burdens. Thus do. Were such the pleasure of Cod, he could himself take vengeance upon them: but He would rather prove the one of you by the other. And whoso fight for the cause of Cod, their works he will not suffer to miscarry; he will vouchsafe them guidance, and dispose their hearts aright,

'The term

war a·me

and he will bring them into the Paradise, of which he hath told them. A close analysis of the text shows that t he ultimate aim (When you meet in battle those who have disbelieved) is to put an end to the fighting (And afterwards let there either be free dismissals or ransomings, till the war hath laid down its burdens) and to make the battle as less b loody as possible ... and after the slaughter fasten tight the bonds, until the war lays aside its burdens ... without taking reprisals against those who surrender or are taken pr isoner ... fasten tight the bonds. The issue of jihad is extremely complex and it rarely fought under the slogan «God wants it» which had been invented during the first crusade (launched by Pope Urban II d uring the Counci l of Clermont in l 095). It must be emphasized that at first the effort, the jihad, was o nly a war against the Arab tribes, who did not convert to Islam, to free t he Ka' ba, (al-Ka 'ba al-musharrafa, t he honoured Ka'ba, which was a cub ical building situated in the midd le of the Great Mosque in La Mecca, where the «Black Stone» was set in a corner) and make it a new center of the Arab world, which had been changed by Islam, as it is high lighted by t he sura VIII 38 - 40: Say to the Unbelievers, if (now) they desist (from Unbelief), their past would be forgiven them; but if they persist, the punishment of those before them is already (a matter of warning for them). And fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah altogether and everywhere; but if they cease, verily Allah doth see all that they do. If they r efuse, be sure that Allah is your Protector - the best to protect and the best to help. The concept of «Holy War» can also be found in the Bible: Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. Then th is term was used in the West afte r the battles against t he Muslims and it came into common usage afte r the speculation of g reat phi losophers from whom Saint Thomas D'Aquino stood out. In Christian ity, t he express ion «Ho ly War» re ferred to the wars waged by the Christians in the Iberian Pen ins ul a against the Muslims and subseque ntly it was used durin g the first crusade. T he m il itary society, which had established itself in the West after the Barbarian invas ions, never lost its own combative spirit and t he Catholic Ch urch , which could do very little to curb t hi s ruino us tendency, tried to channel the kings' energy into wars from which it could have obtained cons id erable benefits. A new concept of war was developed: a

Rivista lvfilitare English Edition n 1i 2007

The naval victory of Leo IV over the Saracens at Ostia. (The Vatican, Raphael Stanze).

war that was fought to safeguard t he Ch urch's interests. T his kin d of war took on the meaning of a «holy war». The aims t hat the Churc h wanted to ach ieve were cons idered to be saint. Conseque ntly, the means that was used to achieve them was saint. In the midd le of the 9 t h ce ntury Pope Lion IV (847- 855) declared that whoever died in battle wou ld receive a reward in heaven. A few years later Pope John VII I (872 - 822) def ined t he fal len in a holy war as martyrs. As wel l as the concept of «holy war» that was fought to achieve a sacred ideal, the Catholic Church formul ated t he concept of «fair war» that would be deve loped by Saint Thomas D'Aqu ino. According to him, war cont rasts w ith charity but in some cases it can be justified. War was fair and legitimate if it was declared · for a good cause (defence of one's country or of laws, recovery of possessions, peacekeeping); · out of necessity, because it was t he only means to remedy an inj ustice ; · by a legitimate authority to defend fa ir interest s t hat we re t hreate ned by another state, in case it was the o nly poss ible means to achieve one 's objectives.

Accord in g to th is doctrine, in order that a war cou ld be considered as a fair and leg itimat e war, t he military operations had to be conducted following clear rules : • the aims of war had to be proportional to t he hu man costs ; • war had to be fought through means that enab led them to practise d iscrimination against civi lians ; • there had to be realistic chances of victory. T he concept of «holy war» is actually unknown to t he Is lamic culture where the Koran and t he sharia impose a set of r ul es for the behaviour of bel ievers. The term «holy war» has always been linked w ith a se nse of anguish because for a long t ime it was generally believed t hat the spread of Is lam and of the Muslim power across Europe was inevitab le. For thousand years, from the first landing of Moors in Spain to t he second T urkish siege of Vie nna, Eu rope was unde r constant th reat from Is lam. European popu lations used ethn ic- geographic terms instead of re li gious terms to describe the Muslims in order to dim in ish the import ance of the enemy. In this way t hey expressed the ir fear of Islam. The Mus li ms were never «Muslim» but, according to t he period of history, they were Moors , Saracens, T urks, Tartarus. The stereotype of Islam as an opposing world that is bloodth irsty, vind ictive, hosti le, fanatical, intolerant and backward is, stil l today, very common in the West.

pose was achieved there could theoretically be no During the colonialism these stereotypes were peace, though truces were permitted which in efaimed at exerting a powerful influence on public fect and duration did not greatly differ from the op in ion to justify po litical and military decisions, peace treaties that from time to time punctuated invasions and occupations. After the European the almost continuous warfare waged by the colonialism, the Islamic world started to react aprinces of Eu rope against one another. When the gainst its stereotypical image that the colonial Muslim power went into gradual decline, at the powers had bui lt up. They created a new image for th end of the 1 7 century, the use of jihad was inthemselves that was aimed at re-evaluating its hiscreasingly rare because it did not meet the intertory and recovering its cultural heritage that had ests of that moment but th is did not mean excludbeen trampled on by the co lonial subjugation, ing it altogether. through studies concerning the doctrine of «jihad» According to the Muslim teachings, even though and highlig hting its defensive nature and of peacethe jihad is an obligation God has imposed on all ful propaganda. The modern arab authors oppose the Muslims through the Revelation , it is not innumerous western orientalists, who have interpretcluded in the five main prin ciples of Is lam. This ed the «J ihad» as a war aimed at spreading the rehighlights the real nature of Islam, which is the lig ion of Allah with the use of weapons and they pursu ing of an aim that God has chosen between have tried to explain that the fighting «on the path these aims . The main aim is the spiritual self- eleof God» involves the peaceful spread of the Truth vation t hrough profession of faith, charity and propreached by the Prophet Mo hammed . Originally, bity of life. the «Jihad» was t he effort that each Muslim had to «Little Jihad» is a collective duty. make to strugg le within themselves (the so-cal led According to the Sunni conception, the duty of «Great Jihad») and around themselves («Little Ji«J ihad» is based on the un iverhad») to make Islam triumph . sality of the Muslim Revelation: «Jihad» has two clear but correlated meanings: jihad means ' ' In the course of history, the word and message of God devoting all the efforts to de- the practical application of are addressed to all mank ind fending Islam, that is to say jihad has changed according and it is duty of those who we lcome them to fight ceaselessly «armed conflict», and devoting to the historical and social to convert or, at least, subjugate all the efforts to spreading Is those who do not welcome Islam , that is «peaceful re lig ious conditions , , lam: there is no space or time propaganda». limit on this duty which must be These meanings orig inate carried out until the entire world welcomes the Isfrom the fundamental principle of the un iversalism lamic faith or submits itself to the power of t he Isof Islam, according to which this religion must be lamic state. This interpretation is not univocal. For spread across the world irrespective of the means: example, the Shia claim that in the absence of Iby sword or by peaceful propaganda. mam the duty of «Jihad» is cancelled tempo rar ily In the past, according to the Koranic interpretauntil he goes back or appoints someone else as his tion war was a means to spread faith. Recently, t he delegate l<oranic concept of war has changed. It gives much In some cases , the jihad can become an individ more importance to the defence of real religion. ual duty imposed on each male adult when the terThis new view of war is based on the teachings of ritory of Islam is attacked by t he enemy. the Koran wh ich all ows people freedom of choice The concept of «Shah id» is linked with that of «Jiwith regard to religion. Consequently, the lack of a had». It refers to the believer who dies fighting for deep religious conviction does not constituite real the cause of God. T his term is commonly translated expansion of Islam. Therefore, war must aim at as «martyr» but it keeps the original meaning of conquest not in order to force individuals and «witness» and it refers to the person who has proved populaces to convert but to spread the word of Alhis faith on the battlefield. «Shahid» is a believer who lah and help people to find faith in Allah. By conenjoys the greater favours of Allah because he dies t rast, the most radical view is that jihad is a state not to salvage his pride or to win earthly glory but to of permanent war wh ich concerns the sphere of find divine love. Spend ing a day in the fighting is action of the individual and imposes a type of milmuch more important than observing a 30- day fast itancy that could involve the ultimate sacrifice. In and prayer because «Shahid» will be spared by the the course of history, the practical application of Last Judgement and he will be the first one to go to jihad has changed according to the historicosocial Heaven where he wi ll sit next to God. conditions. «T he division of the world in two parts» is a conIn principle, this war had to continue unti l all cept that is closely linked with the doctrine of <~imankind either embraced Islam or submitted to had»: the «Dar-al-Islam», which is the «Home of the authority of the Mus lim state. Until this pur-

Rivista Militare English Edition

Ankara: th e Kocatepe Mosque.

Islam» where Muslim power and Is lamic law prevail, and the«Dar- al-Harb», which is the «Home of War», includi ng the rest. For the Mus li m believer the world outside Islam is chaotic and consequently it is fair to fight on those grounds t o bring «Is lamic order» and to convert t he populaces who live there. There is a state of war between the two parts, which is moral ly, legally and re ligiously necessary until the final and inevitab le triumph of Islam over unbelief. When a part of the «Dar- al- Harb» was conquered by the Muslims, its inhabitants were offered t he following alternatives: · convers ion to Islam ; · payment of a tax to be ab le t o continue to profess one's faith; · death (with sword). The Mus lim law distingu ishes between four types of behaviour t hrough whic h the believers can ful fil! the <~ihad»: through sou l, word, hands and sword . The first behaviour is defined as «Great Jihad» and involves a spiritual activity, wh ich is a strugg le Within onese lf in order to suppress one ' s bad

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intincts. It aims to control every action and, above all , to stifl e the w icked passion wh ich is conside red as being worse than the act itself. The other attitudes do not concern the individual sphere: • <~ihad with word» involves encourag in g what is right and correcting what is wrong in t he surrounding social world; • <~ihad with hands» involves the adoption of disciplinary measures from the ho lders of power, which aim to prevent people from commiting crime or vio latin g the Islamic rule; • «jihad wit h sword», wh ich is traditionally defined as «Little Jihad», involves fighting against the infidels to spread the Is lamic re li gion across the world. The aim of the «Little Ji had» is t o purify the social order of unbelief whereas t he «G reat Jihad» aims to purify the spirit fighting against its evi l aspects and exercising strict discipline over t hem in accordance to the Divine Law. The two principal dimensions of jihad (combative and contemplative) each have some aspects of the other. In the armed strugg le each fighter pursues the promise of Beatificat ion in an afterlife perfoming his duties. In the spiritual struggle each fig hter looks fo r the divine presence in his so ul

Knight Templars.

CONCLUSIONS We should wonder whether the Islamic values are totally incompatible with those of the West; whether the political- strategic conception of Is lam is entirely different from that of Christianity and whether it is possible to follow a common path . Socio-economic und erdevelopment has often re garded as a distinctive feature of a religion. Actu ally, each religion, including the Ch ristian-Catholic religion, is characterised by conservatism which tends to in hibit the development of free thought and social dynamics. In the West, social dynamics and the development of free thought have been linked (amo ng lots of other factors like cultural ones) with economic development. After the Industrial Revolution the econom ic development has brought a strong, competitive and dynamic West to modernity. There is nothing to stop this from happening in the Is lam ic culture. This has already happened in the most developed Is lamic countries (Malaysia, Turkey), where following the Path of God. Both of t hem purify the middle class, which is more and more respon themselves and pursue only spiritual objectives. sible and aware of its potential, is intensifying its The Jihad is a constant effort, on the path of efforts to produce a change and build an egalitariGod, to fulfil the divine will and to spread the Isan and free society. lam ic word. The idea that there is a unique truth The process of secularization does not refer to for all mankind and that those who know it have the religion that is secularized , but it springs from to reveal it originated with Christianity and then the economic development and from an increase emerged with Islam again . Christianity and Islam in the im portance of the midshared an innovative and revo dle-class. lutionary idea: being the only In the West, techno logical possessor of divine truth. The â&#x20AC;˘' Christianity and Islam progress has increased cultu ral Muslims and the Christians shared an innovative an forces that have changed our were convinced that what they revolutionary idea: that ot society not only materially and possessed was the ultimate di externally but also internally. vine truth and consequently any being the only possessors o In this regard we should emthe entire divine truth ,, subsequent faith was necessarphasize that in 1683 (the siege ily false and harmful and cannot of Vienna) the expansive dybe tolerated. namics of Islamic society was comparable to that In this context: of Western society and only at the last moment Vi ¡ in t he Christian lands Islam was not accepted and enna was saved from a terrible siege . when the Muslims surrendered (in Spain, in Porl 00 years later the situation had been completetugal and in Sicily) they had no alternative but to ly reversed and in l 798 the expedition of emigrate or convert to Christianity; Judaism was Napoleon to Egypt proved the overwhelming supethe only religio n to be tolerated (because it was riority in means, procedures and military skills revealed before Christianity) even though it was over those of the Ottoman Empire. What had hapsubjected to some forms of persecution; pened? What had altered the de licate balance be¡ in the Islamic lands apostasies from Islam were tween the two cultures? The most logical and cornot to lerated; the faiths that had been revealed rect explanation is that the Industrial Revolution before Islam were tolerated and their followers had forced a drastic change on Western society. had to pay a tax (gizya). Keeping dialogue alive, tolerating each other and Being repositories of d ivine truth meant feeling choosing between democracy and laicism without the need to convert people to Islam or Christianity any prejudice seem to be the necessary conditions through an intensive missionary campaign with the in order to allow, motu proprio and without any use of weapons.

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Jerusalem, meeting place of the three religions. Jean-Leon Jerome: Napoleon in Egypt.

external imposit ion , the process of development that is aimed at freeing all economic and cu ltural possib le by the fact that scholars of a soc iety felt energies Islamic society has, safeguarding tradithe need to learn from the scholars of another sotional religious beliefs that are still today extremeciety. The Latins were faced with an inevitable ly important. All too often the religious vocabulary choice: learning from those has deepened our understandwho were better than them or ing of experiencies of privation, social oppression and political ' ' Behind today's apparent remaining inferior for ever. So , they chose to learn from them corrupt ion. lack of communication it is and translated as many Arab ic The mixt ure of religion and vipossible to notice a com texts as possible into Latin . o lence, as Juergensmeyer has plete ignorance of the hisEven the Arabs, during their pointed out, is linked with the tory, culture and religion of astonishing conquests in the social tensions of this historical 7th and sth centuries, felt a period, wh ich call for an ulti«the others» ... , , profound lack of their own sci mate so lution, with a fee ling of entific literatu re and started to personal humi li ation felt by translate Greek text s about science and Eastern those men who aim to restore the integrity they philosophy into Arabic. have lost through global, political and social If the Muslim scholars had thought they did not changes; but this does not mean that religion does have anything to learn from the Greek pagans, the not have a role to play any more . «big movement» of medieval trans lations would Religion meets the need of hope and provides not have developed. This would have made histopeople w ith patterns of behaviour that clash with ry poorer and it would have slowed down scientifthe use of violence . Re ligion can give energy and ic progress . vitality to public life and establish principles to Behind the current apparent lack of communicacreate a correct moral order that can show the tion it is possible to notice a complete ignorance ruling classes the way to handle the worldly of history, culture and religion of «the others» and things of life properly. Turning one's attent io n to the main reason the violence that disguise itself as the weak and the disadvantaged is common to re ligion seems to triumph is that pride, arrogance both religions. The Mus li ms and the Christians and excessive self-confidence (the greek hybris) share lots of values (benevolence, respect for in are the major features of the «non-dialogue» bed ividual) and for this reason they should channel tween the West and the East. their energy into quel l ing the violence using re l iThe Mus lims look up to the West and, in particgion as a means to elevate moral and spiritual ular, to Europe and are disposed to im itate it provalues. vided that they are treated as equals and are alModern technology, which is the pride, the glory lowed to meet their legitimate aspirations to affluand the obsession of the West , comes from scienence in order that they are able to quell the viotific trad it ion which originated in ancient Greece lence. and in Hellenistic society and developed within Islam ic society. It was established in Europe at the Pietro Tornabene end of the 12th century and rightly it can be deColonel, fined as the «greek-arab- latin» science. Head, Movement & Transport Office, The ach ievements of these three societies set a Army Logistic Command perfect example of multiculturalism that was made

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CHINA: CHALLENGES AND UNCERTAINTIES A giant with feet of clay or the future leader-nation of the planet? An intriguing and worrying question that remains unanswered. To read the future of this incredible Country through its contradictory reality is a titanic job that no Western politician or economist seems capable of accomplishing.

the world leader any more. In 20 years, Brazil w il l According to recent statistical data that th e surpass Italy with regard to GDP but not w ith re OECD (Organization for Economic Co- operation gard to per capita income. On and Development) has gathaccount of the low growth ered, the 21 st century wi ll be ~, At the moment, in this rate and popu lation ageing, the century of the «Middle Kingdom» China. A study con- enormous subcontinent there the great European democraducted by a group of econos a positive coexistence of the cies wi ll count exact ly as Bel gium counts within the EU mists who work for Goldman egime with a free capitalist- today. Surely, they wi ll be Sachs Bank (American Investrich and have strong government Bank) has revealed that type market economy,, ments but wil l not be able to the new protagonists of the influence po litical and ecoworld economy wi ll be China, nomic decisions. In 2050 China w ill become auInd ia, Brazil, Russia in a little more than 40 years nique democracy, if it cont inues combi ning cen(precisely in 2050). The United States will not be tralized and market economy.

CHINA IS CLOSER THAN EVER

China is working to build a better wor ld than that of the industrialized countries . A few mont h s ago, Ch i na has ranked fifth among the economic powers in the G8 list and has surpassed Italy. In about a ye ar it i s likely to surpass even Fr ench and Great Britain. At the moment, in this enormous subcontinent there is posit ive coexistence of regime with free capitalistic market economy but if you p ush a situat ion too far, something's got to give. In future , China will be likely to

Title pages. Beijing, Tienanmen Square.

Left. The Chinese dragon has always been the symbol of the «Middle Kingdom».

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reach a cr1s1s point. In this case, the situation will explode when the two socio - economic systems turn out to be incompat ible or after a rejection crisis. In a sense, there are some conflicting aspects in the thinese real ity. On the one hand, there is strong and authoritarian capitalism which has developed rapidly in the last 20 years, on the other, China seems like a rich gian t not able to ensure a fair distribution of wealth between town and country, east and west. Inequalitie s of wealth could lead to conflicts and difficulties which would call for the in tervention of the UN. Therefore , in the not too distant future the redistribution of wealth and the rational izat ion of the development will be the new challenges. With regard to the three economic sectors , the service industry has i ncreased from 31 ,9% to 40, 7%, whereas the pri mary and secondary sectors have dropped from 52,9% to 46,2% and from 15 ,2% to 13, 1% respectively. It means that the impulse that has prompted the development in th e service sector has resu lted in a reduction in the ind ustrial activity and in the further i mpoverishment of the poorest sector.

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ALL TOGETHER TO FACE NEW CHALLENGES It is difficult to th ink about what could happen if t he «marr iage» of communism and capi talism turned out to be extremely t ight with the passing of time. What would happen to the market economy of the Western countries, especially the United States, burdene d with a foreign debt which is mainly sustained by the Chinese economy? China , whose population dens ity is the highest in the world, has to deal with lots of difficulties that all its citizens want to overcome together. We Westerners should learn a lot of things from China. For in stance , how to turn econom ic growth into human progress, how to ensure social stability, how to combine technological development with labour costs, how to improve the living conditions in the inland areas of the continent, which are poorer than t he coastal zones, how to make cities grow by control ling immigrat io n from rural areas, how to attract new foreign investment, how to tackle pollution by usi ng less coal and more oil (wh ic h China buys from Iraq , Sudan, Indonesia and elsewhere, but not from the US), how to double the GDP by 201 0, quadruple it by 2020 and ensure that it continues to grow in the following years. It is not an easy task, but the present ruling class and the entrepreneu rs have funds, t ech -

President Hu Jintao.

nolog ical reso urces and, i n addition, they are hard workers. However, this situation will probably push the richest nations to promote innovation, cooperation and exc hanges.

A DEMOCRACY FOR EXPORT On the occasio n of a visit of Presiden t Bush to the Middle East , some people said that the proposed itinerary «was meant to comb the Chi nese areas». However, the main aim was to «caute rise» the difficulties President Bush would encounter on the internal front. In Kyoto he said that when a ray of hope filters through the door of liberty, you cannot shut that door, der>1ocratisation would be in the best interests of Lhi11-::s:.:· power: Taiwan sets a perfect example since it liberalized the economy and then democratised the country respecting the individual rights. The Occidental diplomacy must consider important factors carefully. This type of democratisation seems to be an export democracy. For instance,

in Egypt a religious and political sect, which was founded in 1928 and is now known as «Muslim Brothers», managed the most extensive network of the Islamic fundamentalism. In Iran the Western powers have legitimised Ahmadinejad; for this reaso n we could see bin Laden assume power in Saudi Arabia. The short-term memory of the Westerners has prevented them from drawing a le sson from the events. Recent history has not taug ht anyth ing . The political re-establish ment of the «Muslim Brothers» in the Seventies resulted in the assassination of Sadat in 1 981 and the outbreak of terro rism . The political legitimation of the FIS (Islamic Salvation Front) in Algeria in the Eighties meant death for more than 1 SO thousand people. The Western intervention in the Middle East meets with criticism not for its legality but because it is considered «shortsighted». It is the case of Libya, with the re-establishment of Colonel Gaddafi's regime, and of Tunisia led by Ben Ali.

FORMAL DEMOCRACY AND SUBSTANTIAL DEMOCRACY

Ours seems to be a «forma l» democracy that has leg itimised forces showing open hostil ity towards the «substantial» democracy. The exploitation of formal democracy will lead to formally democratic regimes which will be substant ially dictatorial , illiberal and libert icidal. Th e «Muslim Brothers» fol low a pol it ical programme involvi ng loyal ty to democracy and, at the same time, allegiance to theocracy. On the one hand it exalts the right to life of the Mus lims, on the other hand it sentences the ene mies of Islam to death. Women, ethnic and re lig ious minorities, intel lect ua ls, the silent majority of Arab population have paid dear for the «short-sighted le gitimate interests» of the Westerners. Formal democracy puts the security of many States at risk. In particular, Israel attracts the ideological hatred of lay and rel ig ious

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Left.

A shopping centre.

Right. The Great Wall of China, which dates back to the Ill Century B.C., stretches for more than 6000km.

Arab and Musl im dictators hips . Everything must be based on the respect of human life or else democracy is just a dangerous forma l ritual rather than a healthy substantia l process .

REVERTING TO THE MIDDLE KINGDOM

In China it is no longer true that «every hour of work pays the individual and the country more than the same hour pa id under the ineffi cient and oppress ive Commun ist regime». It wil l take China much longer t o improve pension system , social safety valves, health care, to re duce working hours and to have longer holiday time, but th is will not make them less competitive in the international market. Like i n other systems, both people and the state will increase their prof its . When ltalo - America n Alberto Alasina was asked how the Western world would be able to defend itself against t he rampant As ian capitalism, he answered that there wou ld be a historic turn ing point, a redistr ibution of power and wea lth at a g loba l level without precedent in the course of hi story. According t o him, this process will not be instantaneous, but it w i ll take p lace over a per iod of several decades. It will not be due to «military event s» the world has prevented a bi llion and a half but it w ill spring from economic and demopeop le from taking part in g loba l competition. graphic ones. This will resu lt in an inevitable decline of the West. Our soc ial structure has changed and has A CHINESE ECONOMIC UNION? enjoyed of a booming economy since the Second World War. Al l peop le have lived in afflu China is growing day by day. A few years ago , ence , not on ly the upper Taiwan proposed creating a classes . Lots of factors have federation which could un ite led to this privileged situation. ' ' The economic integration the two Chinese territories, In the past, Europe and the US between Beijing and Taipei granting each of t hem full were the birthplace of civi l izaseems to speed up, and is sovereignty . T his proposa l tion and represe nted «a beaimpl ied the acknowledgement con of orientation». Neither so fast that it is difficult not of Taiwan's sovereignty from China, nor Ind ia, nor Japan to imagine a peaceful solu Beijing; this is the reason why were able to escape their ap - tion to the age- old prob- it met with little success. In peal . In addition, after the lems ... ,, March 2002, t he Vice - Presiconflicts between nations Eudent of the Taiwanese nation rope cou ld put all its energy alist party, Vincent Siew into the economic development. After the war Wang - chang, proposed creating «an area of damage, first there were economic miracles in free trade and common market» between t he tGerman and Ita ly, t hen in England and in Spa i n. wo countries. The aim was to cooperate ecoFinally, the spread of the Commun ism across nomically preserv i ng one ' s economic i nde-

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YELLOW CLOUDS LOOMING OVER THE BLACK CONTINENT

A strange fate lies in store for Afr ica . Differently from other co ntinents , it is still an obj ect of en vy and exploitation . Since the Europea n colonizat ion t hat followed the Arab invasio n it has been easy prey for the big world powers. In fact, t hey want to promote their socio- economic develop ment and Africa represent s an important source of inexhaustib le raw materials . Left to its fate, Africa has been likened to a woman who is loved and deserted by everyone in the constant search for someone able to give he r certainty and stab ility. Even the re lationsh ip between Asia and Africa is strange. Historically, t hese two co nt inent s have shared a common destiny: the Western co lonization. Whereas the former is rapidly developing, the latter cont inues sinking into poverty wit h its arms folded waiting for things to fall into its lap. In addition, it is strange that the Chinese have penetrated into Africa for the umpteenth t ime . Distant and different from each other, Africa and Ch ina do not have anyth ing in common . The Ch inese and t he Africans have never shared life and historica l experiences as the Africans and the Eu ropeans did . Th is does not mean that there has been absence of re lations. According to Marc Aicardi of the Overseas Academy of Sciences , they first est ab lished cont act with each ot her at the time when t he Arabs and the Europeans undertook expeditions to Africa. It was a dark period in the country' s history because of the slave trade . Through Egypt, Afr ica and Ch ina developed trade relations before t he Christian era when Is lam had already spread across China under the Sui dynasty. After Mao Tse - Tung assumed power in l 949 and after the Conference of the so- called non aligned nations in Bandung in Indones ia (1955) , which brought 29 Asian and African countr ies t o gether, new relat ionships between Africa and Asia began . China has often supported African countries in the struggle for independence, espec ially the lib erat ion movement. For ins t ance, it provided A lgerian (FNL) , A ngolan (MPLA and FNLA) and Mozam bican (FRELIMO and COREMO) liberation movements with mi litary, substantial and economic aid . Dur ing the Seventies, immediately af ter t he independence of the majority of those countries, re lationsh ips bet ween China and Africa were regarded as an expression of solidarity and friendsh i p be cause both of them belonged to the same developing world . The Chinese were then seen as tech nicians w ho had come from distant places in order to help the friendly countries of Africa wh ich had j ust been freed from the Western colon ial rule and to contribute to their development. Even the European colonial powers have come in for cr iticism from the present Asian economic power. To revive its image and to enhance its rapid economic deve lopment , Ch ina had to cu ltivate close and stable re lations with African countries. This is t he reason beh ind the first Chinese- African summit that wa~ held in Be ijing in 2000 . As well as about 45 African countries, lots of internation al and privat e o'rganizations participated i n it. T his event led to important consequences . China arr ived at the dec ision to write off a good part of the African cou ntries ' public debt which stood at l O billion dollars . As the columnist Pier Fr ancesco Galgani has pointed out , China has cemented its

ties with the African nations by cance!ling their public debt and by giving them technological support and loans. This has enabled the Ch inese to exp loit the ir soft power resources with in a broad -

er st rategy. In addition, th is conference has st ressed that Ch i na wa nts to promote South - South co operat ion, to improve the relationships between North and South throug h d ialogue and to establish a long - term partnership between the two sides. Fina lly, it has emerged that Ch ina wants to help African countries to lift them o ut of poverty. Anot her summit ÂŤChina- Afr ica Cooperat ion ForumÂť (CACF) was held in Addis - Ababa, in Ethiopia, in November 2003 . The Ch inese Prime Min ister, Wen Jiabao, was committed to increasing the vol ume of development aid, promoting t he democratisation of international relations through permanent consultat ion and harmonizing conflicting op inions to reach an agreement on world trade . As the jo urnalist Pierre Antoine Braud has written , at every bilateral meeting the Ch inese leaders have t ried to convey the ir view about a fair and democratic world order t hat brooks no int erference in other countries ' i nternal affairs . Since it is the biggest country of t he Third World , China wants to suppo rt the struggle against poverty beca use it seems to see the development of Africa and the in ternationa lisation of Chinese companies as complementary processes.

The current policy The relat ionships betwee n Africa and Asia have always been unstab le. In the last few years, China has tried hard to est abl ish lasting relationships with lots of African count r ies . The constant vis its from Chinese leaders t o Africa underline the ex istence of a political w i ll that is based on key pr incip les: sol idarity, friends hip, common deve lopment, equity, cooperation . After having im proved its relationships w ith the wor ld powers, such as the US and the countries of t he EU, China does not want t o lose African raw materia ls. On the contrary, the big Asian country wants to secure energy resources making Africa the third area for its oil companies through African oi l in Su dan, Angola and Nigeria. As well as the Africa n oil, China also intends to exploit other important raw materia ls in order to foster the competitive development of its economy . As far as Africa is concerned , lots of African Heads of State often went to China in search of invest ments. Pract ically, China aims to conclude bilatera l and sound agreements that ca n allow it long - term

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access to African raw materials necessary for the development of the national economy. With re gard to Africa, Chinese i nvestme nts will be able to help Africa take its fi rst steps towards a socioeconomic development, without any infl uence on the process of democrat isation and the respect of human rights . The investments

China's economic policy in Africa is based on financial aid, investments and Chinese companies. The two countries strengthened their relations in the Seventies with a shower of investme nts, in terms of loans (about 723 million dollars). They concerned Sudan, Egypt, Somalia, Tanza nia and Zambia. During the years 72 - 73 the countries situated in the francophone area (Zaire, Senegal, Rwanda, Cameroon, Benin, Tunisia, Togo, Ivory Coast) received Chinese loans. Commercial trade grows every year. Between 2000 and 2004 Chinese - African trade reached 60% (about 30 billion dollars). The numbe r of Ch inese companies is increasing disproportionately i n Africa, if you draw a comparison with African countries' interests. Between 2000 and 2003 it increased from 500 to 640 and investments rose from 660 to 950 billion dollars. In 2005 there were 820 companies in 49 African countries (Analysis, 2005). Many of them invested in the oil industry, power stations, industry, transport, and agriculture. For the Chinese economy African countries represent the potential market where they can sell t he ir products at a low cost providing those populations with food products, textiles, household appliance, medication and vital commodities. Another aspect of t he Chi nese-African cooperation con cerns professional training. In fact, at the end of the second ChineseAfrican summit in Addis-Ababa, China was committed to training 1 0 000 African technicians in different sectors of economy, industry and tertiary industry. The commercial and economic strategy

The Chinese expansion into the Black continent is neit her humanitarian, nor charitable. China is not a good Samaritan towards Africa. It is not motivated by a desire to help a country that does not have the wherewithal to manage enormous resources, a country that is not able to pick itse lf up and shape its own future in a world that is ruled by in tense competition. With regard to Africa, it does not see Ch ina as an instrument for getting r id of the Western «trusteeship». The Black Continent does not want to replace the Western «trusteeship» with another, in the hope that they can promote a rapid econom ic development l ike China. Of course, African leade rs must continue believing i n China's good designs to side together in defence of the African cause within international organizations. They also be lieve in the investments and economic aid the Chinese have always given to the m, especially during the wars of independence. Sudan and An gola set a perfect example. From its point of view, China is working towards a specific goal. It aims to exploit the oil and mineral wealth of the Black continent and to invest in different social and economic sectors. Its strategy seems to be a new model of partnership where the inte res t of each member is calculated at 50%. In fact, China states belief in a capitalist policy which launches the Asian giant on the African market and the sources of raw materials. Their continuing economic and political presence in African countries allows Chinese leaders to sign agreements, projects and declarations with the African government authorities in order to exploit and import oil from Sudan, Angola, Nigeria and Gabon, as well as important raw materials such as gas, cobalt, gold, uranium, coal, bauxite. At this point we should wonder if these relationships will last and if African government leaders '-".ill use the Chinese investments as an ins t rument for encouraging the develo pment of their nation. In addition, we should wonder if means of funding and investments will be real ly used for the African development. Without any doubt, as Marc Aicardi wrote, until China integrates Taiwan and finds other energy resources suppliers, nobody knows if these two conditions will be met. However, China continues harbouring its ambition to become a great power and Africa can rely on a f~iendly relationship with China which will allow it to receive solid diplomatic support at internat io nal conferences and development aid in return for raw materials. The Chinese investments will come in useful only if the African leaders are able to plan long-term programmes and to enact laws aimed at favouring the social and economic development of the country which should be based on its own resou rces rather than on an external intervention of a foreign country. The development of African countries depends on their will and determination. They must concentrate all their efforts on the socio-economic development with Western and Asian support. Western and Asian countries show a greater w il lingness to help African people to lift them out of poverty. Nicodeme N'kashama N'Koy

Africanist, Expert on international politics

Soldiers in training.

pendence. Peking has given this second pro posal much more cons id eration than the first one because it concerns a mere economic union and it would not cause any disagreement between the two sides. T he economic integrat ion between Beijing and Taipei seems to speed up and it is so fast that it is difficult to find a peaceful solution to the age - old problems facing them. Data indicates that 45 thousand Taiwanese companies have invested in the People's Republic of China 40 billion dollars up to now and as many as 54 thousand Chinese com panies have been established with Ta iwanese

capital. The Beijing Government has started to turn pub lic corporations into limited companies quoting the best ones and making t he insolvent ones bankrupt. Actually, this change i s bri nging about radical transformations in the job market resulting in an increase in unemployment. In this regard, the reform of the Welfare system and the reorganization of t he banking a nd fi na ncial system, where the gross political interference and the relat ive lack of ind ependence of the Central Bank are still in contrast to an excess of domestic credit, appear to be extreme ly important. Promoting cooperation means according equal status to both of them. If Beijing re - established friendly relations with Taiwan, it would become fu lly integrated with

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the rest of the wor ld and it could aspire to be a world lead ing state.

EVERYONE NEEDS CHINA All Western countries look at China. Even the Is lamic countr ies, at the moment only the most moderate ones, loo k at China . It will take China a long time to impose a new model of democracy. Despite being very different from the American democracy, it will deve lop a form of market that is typical of Western countries. The Chinese democracy seems to offer future generat ions t he possib il ity of living, moving and working without fight ing , as free and productive men in all situations. It is a ÂŤnewbornÂť democracy, where what appears to be good to day can be rep laced with something better to morrow, and it wil l be kept separate from re li gion and secu lari sation. Even if there i s not yet equality between all people, the ruling c lass is enforcing those rules of the game that are es sential for democracy. A balanced compromise between social order and individual freedom is already self- ev ident. It is insp i re d by Toquevil le, Churchill, Norberto Bobbie, but actua lly it is not the democracy of any of them. With regard to re lig ion, China cou ld need t he Vatican, as it happened to the US in the past. In l 969 President Nixon, together with Pope Paul VI, t ried to lay the foundations for the cooperation between the US and the Vatican that would he l p to fi nd a solution to the hoary ques tion of the Cold War. Although Nixon was Protestant, he saw the Pope as an essent ial interloc utor in order to shape an international policy of appeasement ' .. although and stabi lity. Th ey talked about ic process appeasement, disarmament ,:,rogressl the and mediation in Vietnam, Bi the new afra and the Midd le East. We could witness an inter- world develo esting change in in te rnational relations if China and t he Vatican begi n a closer d ialogue .

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A NEW ECONOMIC MODEL It wi ll take them a long t ime to establ i sh t his type of democracy. The new capitalist- communist system can produce the same resul ts as the western political system . China shou ld not use the military conquest as an in strument for making the economy flour ish. Free trade and economic integration can lead it to build a

peaceful and affluent soc iety. Chinese people have never been in fluenced by t he Occidenta li sm and ant i- Americanism t hat spread across the world at t he beg i nning of the 20 th cent ury. At the moment , everyone works hard. They exce l in sophist icated ma nufacture and are able to develop remarkably cheap products com pared with other European and American coun tries . So the western companies have lost ground in every secto rs (shoes, furn ishings, textile sector) . A short t ime ago , Beppe Severg nini wrote a report from t hose far-off lands:

now China is an exciting and provisional coun try. The problem is that nobody knows what will happen and when it will take place: so everyone tries to have a good time, do business and not think about it. This changing China is the America of the East. CONCLUSIONS People say that each object of desire becomes a need, each need a right and each right a cred it with tec hno logy. China has enough technology to recogn ize all rights its inhabitants w ill claim. A lthough the Chin ese have not freed completely themselves from the Marx ist legacy , th ey have learned the modern production met hod s, they do not have to face the costs of European soc ial models and, above all, they are keen to work and grow. We Europeans do not have this e nthusiasm any more, also because we have the i mpression that events ru n faster than we do. Lots of quest io ns remain unanswered. In 2050, what kind of democracy wi ll China have with a national inthe democrat- come one third higher than that of the US7 Wil l it develop ¡~ s ill greater sens itivity towards the Cou t enviro nm ent? How many funds ac or will it channe l into the mi litary men system? Will it want to partici pate in the G8 summits which impose str ict cond it ions on the integration? Freei ng itself from the Communist legacy wil l not be easy and maybe t here is no will to do it. In any case , although th e democratic process is st ill in progress , Ch ina is one of the new actors of the wor ld development. It is important that in that subcontinent the intel lectuals can find a significant ro le again cherish ing the hope that political freedom can be combined with econom ic liberalism.

Giovanni Bucciol

Major General (ret.)

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JOURNEY INSIDE THE SOMALIAN HELL Destructions and massacres have been going on for years in that remote area of the Horn of Africa, drawing an apocalyptic picture. In the clash that is taking place, hundreds of thousands of people are con sidered geostrategic variables, goods that can be bartered, simple pawns of international political and economic interests.

In 1949 the Un ited Nations approve the indeof the strategic Gulf of Aden, Siad Barre ' s dream pendence of the former Italian colony, which remains the creation of a "Great Somalia", i.e. the takes the name of ''Te rritories of Somalia" and, reunification with the 350,000 Somalis inhabiting together with the former British the r egions bordering on protectorate of Somali land, in Ethiopia, Kenya and Dj ibouti. l 960 forms the Soma li Repub- ' ' ... Siad Barre's dream re Taking advantage of t he lic. Less than t en years later, on mains the creation of a Ethiopian crisis of 1977, MoOctober 21, 1 969, a military ÂŤGreat SomaliaÂť, i.e. the re- gadishu's regular troops supjunta led by General Maxamed unification with the 350,000 port t he Somali rebels in the Siyaad (trained at the Italian Ogaden province, who have Military Academy and Army Somalis inhabiting the re- long been f ighting against AdCommander since l 965), bet- gions bordering on Ethiopia, d is Ababa. ter known with the name of Kenya and Djibouti ,, However, t he direct intervenSiad Bar re, se izes power with a t ion of the Soviet Un ion and coup d'etat and once again SoCuba, which are sid ing with the malia changes its name , becoming the Democramilitary in power in Ethiopia, and the reservations tic Republic of Somalia, a socialist state that rap shown by the internat ional community towards an idly proceeds to dissolve the political parties and aggressor Country, isolate Somalia politically and nati onalize al I t he most important economic acmilitarily, forcing it to pu ll o ut of Ogaden in 1978. tivities, also with serious damages to t he Italian Neverth eless, Somalia does not withdraw its supinterests, which have been present in t he Counport to the local guerrillas who are fighting against try since 1889. hated Ethiopia. The new Constitution (1979) reaffirms with force the Somali an solidarity with the l iberation GENERAL SIAD BARRE'S HEAVY LEGACY movements, causing as a consequence an enormous flow of "political" refugees, who are joined At the head of the Supreme Revolutionary Counby thousands of farmers hit by a very bad cil and with Soviet and Chinese financial support, drought. In 1980 the refugees are about Siad Barre t ries to prevail over the tribal divisions 1,200,000, and this means an in ha bitant out of of the Somal i population (nomads still constitute four, in a population already severely h it by war 65% of it ) and fight the ill iteracy widespread on the and economic crisis. entire territory. President Barre, anxious mainly to overcome Even if the price to be paid is the installation of the international isolation, makes a close alSoviet missile bases (later dismantled) on the coast liance with the People's Republic of China (military and economic aid) , but he neithe r cares about th e unach ieved national unity (he must Title pages. execute the authors of an uns uccessful coup Italian paratroopers guard a checkpoint in Mogadishu in 1993. d'etat) nor about the very serious food cr isi s that

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fare among tribal groups , and a famine of biblical dimens ions in an already starving Country, kill over half m illion people.

HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTIONS AND BIRTH OF A TRANSITION GOVERNMENT

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torments the Country. The crisis is only mitigated by aid from the United Nations, which has drafted a report placing the Country among t he poorest in the wor ld. Despite t he ext ens ion of the state of emerge ncy (it is revoked on ly in 1982), the National Somali Movement (NSM) contin ues its policy of opposi tion to the dictatorial regime and , after rej ect ing a project for a democratic Constit ution, in 199 1 the armed groups of the "Congress of Somali Unity" and the "Soma li Patriotic Movement" enter Mogadishu and Barre is forced to flee. The non -official appointment of new President Ali Mahdi (of the Abgal clan) is immediate ly con tested by Genera l Farah Aid id (of the Aberghed ir clan), starti ng a bloody civi l wa r among the opposed factions for the contro l of Mogadishu, which is by now an almost completely destroyed city, at the end of its strength and lacking any kind of efficient publ ic institution . While the lssak ethnic group proc laims the secession of the northern regions (Soma li land , governed by Islamic law and not recognized by the international Commun ity) Gene ral Barre in 1992 tries in vain to reconquer Mogadishu, but must repair to Kenya after his defeat by A idid ' s militias , wh ich are by now organ ized and well consolidated in the Capital and are somehow the heirs of t he complex and difficu lt legacy of the deposed Pres id ent . For 16 years Somali a remains without a real Government, while a vio lent and bloody guerrilla war-

The situation, which has by now become un bearable - the humanitarian organizat ions can not operate because of the violence - prompts the UN Security Council to order the dispatch in 1992 of 800 Blue Helmets (UNOSOM), but the persist ing crisis induces the Counc i l (Resolu tion 794) to entrust a mandate to a US- led Coalition ("Restore Hope") and subsequently to go back, in 1993 (Resolution 8 14) , to a direct Command of the Un ited Nations of the forces in the theatre ("UNOSOM II"). Considering t he objective d ifficu lty of managing the cr isis (UN Coa l it ion - UN) the Secretary General of the United Nations, Boutros Gal i , dec lares t hat "Peacekeep ing is not a so ldier' s task, but only so ldiers can do it". T he Peace Forces manage to estab lish a minima l k ind of order on the territory and perm it to resume the assistance to the populati on , but the environment rema i ns so host il e (there are bloody attacks of suspected te r rorist orig in linked to Osama bin Laden) that no rea l change occurs in the intricate ethnic-po litical situation. Aft er the withdrawal of t he last contingents ( l 995), the Co untry falls again a prey of the harsh conflict between the Warlords, once more Farah A id id and Ali Mahdi, w ho both proc laim themselves Presidents of the Somal i Repub lic. The first land ings of Ital ian troops , command ed by General Rossi, start in the morning of De cember 23 , 1992 : operation "Ibis" has beg un. The "Folgore " Bri gade and the 9tfl "Co l Mosch in" Batta lion of Assault Paratroopers , to gether with the "San Marco" Navy Riflemen and detachments of the Operati ona l Ranger Com mando (24th Naval Group of the Navy, with the "Vittorio Veneto" cruiser and the "San Giorgio" amphibious ship) and w ith the support of the Air Force (C- l 30s, Boeing 707 T / Ts, G- 222s and HH - 3 F hel icopters) take our flag back on Somalian land, after the mandate carried out on beha lf of the United Nations from l 950 to 1960. T he It al ian cont ingent - some 2700 men - is dep loyed between Mogadishu (Airport, Old Port and Ital ian Embassy) and Bula Burti, along t he road that leads to Ethiop ia, covering also p laces difficult to reach . The guerrillas do not lay down the ir arms and our soldiers start a mission marked by high r isk and many fire clashes.

Mogadishu is divided in two by the "green line", ical project towards independence or towards the the territorial border between Aidid's and Mahconstitution of a unitary State. di's militias, which have become bloodthirsty And, as always, the heated rivalries of the fragclans given to plunder and indiscriminate viomented and bloodthirsty clans stand in the way of lence against the civilian population. Despite the the first attempt at nat ional reconciliation (Djiattacks, often made even against escorted conbouti, 1999) fostered by UN, Europe, Arab League voys, our Contingent manages to carry out many and !GAD, the Intergovernmental Authority Deve lh umanitarian interventions of assistance to the opment, an intergovernmental body of regional population. cooperation consisting of Ethiopia, Eritrea, DjiThe militiamen can exploit the advantage of a bouti , Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Sudan . guerrilla warfare conducted right in the middle of In 2000 a worse fate awaits the nom ination of inhabited centres, and on June 5, 1993 - during a t he ad - interim President (Abdigassim Salad Hasmopping up in the city, in the zone of the "Mani san, Siad Barre's former deputy Prime Minister), fattura Tabacchi" - Aid id's forces attack a Pakistani whose transitory Government is not recogn ised by unit. The unit suffers the loss of 26 men: the surthe "Warlords" , who co nstitute a parallel govern vivors are saved by an Italian armoured column, mental body (Somalian Restoration and Reconcili which succeeds in carrying them to safety without ation Council, SRRC) and resume the fight with reso rting to weapons. greater vigour. Le ss than a month later, during another mopping One must wait until 2004 - after a weak truce aup made by our soldiers (in the "Pastificio" zone, mong the leaders of th e various factions - in order Check Point "Pasta", July 2, 1993) the militias atto see the birth of a provis ional Parliament, which tack our units also with antitank rocket launchers inaugurates the first legislature of the Country, afwe suffer t he loss of three men , during what is ter 13 years of total anarchy. considered one of the heavier combats fought by After two years of work, t he "Conference of Recour soldiers after the end of WW2. onciliation" - which opened at Eldoret in Kenya on As the differences with "UNOSOM" (the UN ComOctober l 5, 2002 and closed in Nairobi on August mand of the mission) and with 29, 2004 - passes a federal the US Command (a different Constitution and the new Parconcept of the use of force and ~, Somalia remains a Country liament (275 members selected on the conduct of negotiations) bathed in blood, and nothing by the participating heads of become more marked, the UN and nobody succeeds m the clans) and elects, w ith 189 Deputy Secretary, Kofy Annan, votes in favour, the Head of the goes as far as asking the re- containing the dramatic es State: former Colonel Abdullahi placement of the Commander of calation of violence , , Yussuf Ahmad. the "Folgore" (Ge neral Loi) makAhmad is a tribal chief - acing charges, which are later tually, a former "Warlord" and withdrawn, that concern a supposed and improbalso the President of Puntland, one t hird of the able cove r offered by our Contingent to the superterritory - who, at the age of seventy (nicknamed wanted Aidid. ''The Wolf", is married, has four children and three The Italians leave Mogadishu i n August, moving grandch ild ren, besides having undergone a liver to the northern regions of the Country and t he transplant) turns into a politician: I have been "Legnano" (General Fiore) , reinforced by other trained in Italy, at the Infantry School of Cesano, components, replaces the "Folgore" Brigade. then in Moscow, at the War College. After my comAfter the American unsuccessful attempt mission as an Officer of the Somali Army I was (Rangers and Delta Force) at capturing Aidid - with asked by General Barre to participate in his coup the loss of 19 men -the Italian Conti ngent leaves d'etat. I refused: a choice I paid with six years imSomalia on March 25 , 1994 (25th Naval Group, prisonment, from 7969 to 1975 [. .. ] but when in with the "Garibaldi" aircraft carrier) and will return 1977 he launched the war against Ethiopia he aponly a year later for the definitive evacuation : the pointed me Commander of the southern front. In UN Mission decrees its failure officially. nine months I penetrated 350km inside the Somalia remains a Country bathed in blood and Ethiopian territory. Despite this, Somalia was denothing and nobody succeeds in contain ing the feated. It was at that time that some of my Officers dramatic escalation of violence. tried to overthrow the dictatorship. The coup In 1998 also the northeastern region of Puntland failed and I had to take refuge in Nairobi. But I had declares its autonomy, followed in the successive started the civil war in Somalia, and since then I years by other regions (Bari , Nugaal and Mudug), have been continuing to fight without a break. which constitute separate governments, always on Today, even if strongly supported by Ethiopia ita tribal basis, without expressing an ampler politself, the President remains in exile in Nairobi,

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 112007

1993: Italian soldiers making friends with some Somalian children.

Kenya, precisely like the new national Government and its Prime Minister, Ali Mohammed Gedi, a veterinarian and former academ ician. In order to allow him to return to his homeland, the African Union and IGAD are ready to d is patch a military Contingent (Uganda is ready to send 2000 men ) but without including Ethiopi a, which Egypt and Eritrea consider capable of exerting "too strong an influence" on Somalia. Among the voices of the opposition there is also that of an ext remist Islamic leader, 42 year- old Sheik Sharif Ahmed: Holy War against the Government if it dares to set foot in Somalia and Holy War also against the foreign troops that dare to come here to protect it.I The transition Government must be content with Baidoa, a litt le town in the hilly hinterland, 250km west of Mogadishu.

THE ISLAMIC COURTS The voice t hat "thundered" the call to the Holy War is not an isolated one .

Somalia has apparently become the new base of Islamic terrorism, because several leaders of al Qaeda' s are now living permanently in Mogadishu. A recent UN report denou nces that thousands of terrorists com ing from Yemen , Eritrea, Syria and Libya have been living there already since 1998, after the attacks on the US Embassies in Nairoby, Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, for wh ich alQaeda claims responsibi lity. Adan Hashi Aeru is one of them. He is the guerrill a responsible for many attac ks against the American troops during the UNOSOM operation , and is now directly under Osama bin Laden's orders , after some operational training with the Ta liban. Anot her is Abu Talha Ass ud an i (alias ''The Sudanese"), who is charged with re cruiting men to be emp loyed against the Western interest s in Somalia and Africa in general, and is moreover the alleged responsible for the profanation of the Italian cemetery in Mogadishu, restructured by our soldiers in 1993, during Operation "Ibis ". On January 18, 2005, a Tuesday, bands of militiamen destroyed it completely, with the justification that the Country could not accept cemeteries other than Islamic ones. The witness of a BBC reporter is appalling : tombs pul led up, gravestones destroyed and hundreds of remains of our dead scattered about the

Guerrillas of the Islamic Courts.

the rather reluctan t Somalian suks, the commercial activities already harassed by the racket of the Warlords' militias. In addition , arms arrive effortlessly by sea from Yemen - historically a leading Country in the regional weapon trade - and by air from Erit rea, in view of its historical opposition to Ethiopia, which supports the transition Government. Thus, Som alia is completely abandoned to its fate. Even huge airplanes, suc h as two llyus hin 76 , can land on t he territory controlled by the Courts to unload eighty tons of weapons and dozens of Eritrean military advisers (source Bground and made objects of play and scorn by BC, July 2006) and no vo ice rises to condemn, the Somal i ch ildren . at least verbally, the violation of the embargo The al liance of terror - drug traffickers and Isand Asmara's heavy interference in helping an lamic extremists - is by now ready to materialize organization of strong Islamic inspi ration and on the coasts of Mogadishu, afte r having been openly against the Somalian transition Governforced to leave Kabul's dust. ment, recognized by the international commuWith three different offensives, launc hed from nity. February to June 2006, the Islamic Courts beIn order to see an end to violence, to t he corcome masters of the city and of a large part of ruption and impunity of the profiteers, as well the Somalian territory. as the oppression of th e Warlords, the populaWith surprising rapidity, about 8000 Islamic tion even welcomes Allah ' s fighters and accepts fighters riding hundreds of ''Teknicas" Uapanese the imposit ion of the Islami c law. pick.ups equipped with heavy weapons) put the But soon Mogadishu realizes that the price is Warlords' militiamen to flight and put up their too high. The new Somalian Taliban have only black flags, with Arabic inscriptions exalting the one simple government programme: the Koran. Prophet, on the buildings of the Capital. Most school are closed (children are harThey are called "Shabab" (Ynessed with cartridge -bel ts outh), and are almost all young and recruited immediately) Asian Jihadists, joined by fun - ' ' Somalia has apparently and for the ones remained damentalists and moderate become the new base of open the new Shari'a reg ulaSomali religious men, firm options provide for separate posers of the Tra nsition Gov- Islamic terrorism, because classes for males and fe ernment, and also bands of several leaders of al-Qae- males, and also little girls some Warlords who are oppor- da's are now living perma- must wear the blue veil. tunistically supporting the new nently in Mogadishu ,, Somal i women - who have Caliphate of terror. always been fond of gorgeous Moreover, there is no lack of dresses of coloured mousse financing. The Islamic Courts - federated in a Uline - mu st wear the rigorous plain Muslim veil, nion that assembles ideologically both t he exwhich covers the entire body, excepting only tremists connected with al-Qaeda and the modthe face. erate clergy who follow the Egyptian ideolog ue The "Police of Morals" forbids dancing and Sayyed Qtub, hanged by Nasser in 1966, as well shuts down dancing halls and cinemas. It is alas the Islamic Somalis who, in spite of all, do not so prohibited to watch t elev ision (including like t he intrusion of external elements - can football matches), listen to Western music and count on the Saudi Monarchy, the Arab Emirates chew kat, a light stimula nt very popular among and many Arab Gulf sheiks, besides some rich young people. and powerful Somali "tradesmen ", who consider Alcoholic drinks are banned, and in the little th e Islamic militias a compliant instrument for town of Bula Buti the new Mullahs go as far as their more or less lawful trade. threatening death to whomever does not reMoreover, the Courts can also rely on the Isspect the Islamic law of the five daily prayers. lami c "tax system" , i.e. the tax collected from T11e Courts seize the residences (villas, apart-

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 112007

ments and fortified prem ises) of the Warlords, and in their propaganda films show to the population the level of corrupt ion reached by t he former "regime": bottles of Scotch whisky , gin made in Ethiopi a and b¡ee r cans , together with v ideocassettes and Wes t ern magazines. But the Islamic law wears also a mask of ho rror. Yussuf lndh adde, one of the most impo rtant sheiks of the Union, declares solemnly that to cut a hand or a leg, to flog or execute a criminal to punish a crime is perfectly legal. lndhadd e was a soldier under former President Barre (h is men had an important ro le in the battle of Mogadishu). Today he is a very r ich man of forty- eight, who o fficially runs the import of the profi t able Japanese p ickups , but in fac t he has been included in a UN report as Somal ia's biggest arm trafficker : the population called us because they wanted us to stop thefts, kidnappings and racket, and al l this w ithout t he i nternation al Commu ni ty r ising a protest. Actually the "Holy Men" (the definition was used by Premier Gedi to ind icate Isl am ic fundamental ists) succeed in ensuring some social order for t he exhausted inh abitants of Mo gadishu: less th efts , less levies and less risk of losing one's property and life, in exchange for blind obedience to the law of the Koran.

THE WAR During t he first days of the month of December of 2006 the tension between the Islamic Courts and the trans iti on Government skyrockets. Wh ile the clashes only 40km from Baidoa are worsening, the UN Security Council autho rizes the constitution of a Peace Fo rce , consisting on ly of African Countries, to be sent to Somalia with the task of protecting the Federal Government of Nationa l Trans ition and promoting the negotiations with the Courts and the Islamic Tribunals. But the new leader of the Cou rts, Sheik Hassan Dah ir Aweys (he is on the list of international terrorists drawn up by the UN), who has replaced the more moderate Sharif Ahmed , rejects th e proposal of the Security Council, saying that it is imposs ibl e to think of a presence of foreign troops i n Somalia, not even if th ey are African or Muslim. But wasn't he precise ly the man who launched the Jihad against Eth iopi a on October 9, 2006, having it followed afte r a few days by a call for "a ll the Islamic fighters of the world" t o partici pate in the Holy War? And moreover: aren' t perchance h is own the Courts fu ll of t housands of

Islamic t errorists coming from Yemen, Eritrea, Syr ia and Libya7 The frail trans ition Government is by now barricaded inside Baidoa , besieged by th e Islamic Courts and t he sk irmishes become vio le nt fights. President Yussuf's def ence is provided by Ethiopian troops (a few thousands according to the observers , but only a f ew hundred armed mil ita ry advisers accord ing to Addis Ababa) and on December l 2, 2006 the Council of the Islam ic Courts launches an ultimatum to Eth iopi a: ei ther the troops get out of Somalia with i n seven days or "this will be Doomsday fo r the Eth iop ians and mark th eir destruct ion ". The spectre of a direct war - t he Eth iopians acknowledge officially the presence of troops on Somalian territory - is rapi dly materia lizing. After an umpteenth attack carried out on the periphery of Baidoa, Eth iopia - supported by the United States and backed by the African Union dec ides to intervene. Four tho usan d so ldi ers, two hundred t an ks and dozens of armoured vehicles raise the siege of Bai doa and force th e Islamic mi l itiamen t o a "strateg ic retreat". Simu ltaneously, targeted ai r raids strike th e in ternational airport of Mogad ishu and the mi litary airport of Baledog le, destinations of the flow of arms, munit ions and fo r eign fig hters for the de fence of th e Kora n on Somalian land . Lackin g an effective army and an antiaircraft force, the Courts fal l back towards Mogad is hu , where they are likely to create an Islamic stronghold, which would be much more d iffi cult to conquer. The spokesman of the trans ition Government, Abdimahran Dinari, does not seem to see this danger: When everything is finished, we shall enter Mogadishu peacefully. But we will take no revenge. On the contrary, we offer our pardon to the militiamen that will lay down their arms. Menes Zawari, the Eth iopian Pre mier, expre sses the same opinion: We don't wan t Mogadishu. We are going to withdraw soon. The objective of the offensive underway is to eliminate the forces of international terrorism; and particularly the Eritrean, who back and support them. Now the Eth io pian soldiers are 20,000 and the air force employs constan tly its fighte rs (Sukhoi 27 and Mig 23) to cover the advancing troops and, despite Zewari 's assu rances, t he Eth iop ian presence becomes now too burdensome (the Et hiopian Armed Forces are con si dered <!11 ¡10, ~;;; the most powe rf u l in Africa) . Fo ll owing a request presented by Qatar, the UN .Security Counc il tries to fi nd a compromise for the withd rawal of the Ethiopian troops (untimely, for the United States an d Great Britain). Also the African Unio n is recons id ers its initial posi-

tions, and through its Sec retary General, Alpha to Mogadi shu (December 29, 2006) , escorted by a convoy of twe nty- t wo vehi cles , six of which Oumar Konare, demands th e immedi ate with armed with heavy weapons (mo re than one hu ndrawal of Addis Ababa's soldiers. But the Eth iop ian t anks have already entered dred men between loyalist and Ethiopian forces). He announ ces that martial law will be imposed Mogadishu and are dep loyed in defence of the international airp ort (most of the contin gent, for three months: to end anarchy and re- estabin clud ing tanks, remains ou ts ide the city), while lish security. Somalian General Nur Gal , who had helped to the Somalian troops patrol the area o f the port. T he feared battle for the cap ital di d not take overthrow Siad Barre's dictators hi p, tries to rep lace and the rem aining Islamic troop s - of th e g ain control of the city: he recommend s that th e Eth io pian troop s stay outside Mogadishu in or20 ,000 mi litiamen t here are only a few t ho usan ds left - with d raw towards Kismayu, wher e der to leg it imate the entry of the Government's representatives (but also to avoid incid ents) , and th e power is still in th e hands of the fund amen tal ist group led by sheik Hassan Turki , the id ehe also gu arantees the defence of th e Italian Cemetery, which had become the headquarters ologue of ltti hat, th e Som al ian branch of al Qaeda. of the fanatical Shebab militias. But why there was no fi ghting in the capital? The political problem of Ethi opia's prese nce is According to Sharif Ahmes' statements to th e of no little account. press we have left in order to avoid carpet As a matter of fact, the struggle for power bombings, since the Ethiopian forces are perpewas decided by a military interve nt ion from trating genocide of the Somalian people. outside, as if Somalia had been under the proBeyond the forced exaggeration of the real ity t ecto rate of its powerful and bellicos e northern of the war in progres s (the losses of the Islami c neig hbour. Courts total 3000 fallen and Even if for Ad dis Ababa's 5000 wounded , and the civilian Govern ment may prove d iffi victims are at the moment 1 50, ' ' The struggle for powe cult to carry in depth and in among the refug ees crowdin g Nas decided by a mihtar) time its military offensive the barges headed for Yemen), the effort for transporting and ntervent10 from out d many m ilitiam en - mostly Issustaining the troops o n the lamic boys and young men t ak- as if Somalia had been un l ine has not been a neg ligible en from workshops and schoo ls der the protectorate of one, and it is al so neces sary and bell an d compelled to fight - have nowerful to garrison with attention the take n off the ir " uniform " to reborder with Eritrea - in the .1orthern eighbou , , turn to their former activities or eyes of Somalian pub lic opinto enlist with the old Warlords io n, President Yussuf and Premier Gedi may appear as puppets handled by w ho are again in control of Mogad is hu. In fact, one of the f i rst persons to go i nt o the Ethiopia. city is precisely th e notorious Genera l Aidid who, In fact th ey might not enjoy the regard that, with his retinue of warriors, leads the new lootsomehow or other, had been shown to the Is ings in villas and pa laces, where the extremists lamic Co urts, wh ic h have foug ht w ith the only had lived until the day before, and takes po sse sforces at thei r di sposal, an d have maintai ned the sio n of the strateg ic po in ts (main streets , social presti ge that defeat has not compromised. squares and crossroads) to regain control over On the contrary , it has perhaps even increas ed it. the territory t hat had been seized from him. But Cert ai nly Addis Ababa's Government does not th is time he is even stronge r: his son Hussei n is help to create a more transparent image of the the new Minister of the Interi o r ( 1). operation: why are the names of t he fou r Ge nerWhile the majority of the Mogadishu populaals who have led and coordinated the mili tary int ion receives the news of the mi litias' f light w ith tervention not made pu blic? joy and satisfaction , there are also doubts (and Du ring the press conference given by Somalian protests) fo r a new Government compl etely un Premier Meles Zenawi (December 28, 2006) an known to the inhabitants: will it be abl e to keep abso lute utmost reserve was maintained o n the co ntrol of the Ca pital - that so mehow the Courts identity of the Generals w ho have won the had assured - or will there be again the same blitzkrieg against t he Courts and organized the long period of violence and ha rassm ents from t rai nin g camps for the Government's sol diers, t he Warlords? with part icul ar attention to anti - guerrill a tech While the army of the transition Gove rnme nt niques. and its Ethiopian allies install themselves in the Apparently t hese Generals are now engaged in former US Embassy, Prime Minister Gedi return s hunti ng down the gu errill as who are fighting a-

Rivista Mililare English Edition n. 112007

A ''Teknica " of the Islamic Courts.

gainst the reg ime in Eth iop ia ("Oromo Li be r ation Front" and "Ogaden Peop le's Liberation Front") bu t have their bases in Somal ia, mostly in Mogad ishu. The Genera ls are also trying to capture the Eritrean d issenters who had been fighting with the Islamic Courts . Their names are not made known because they are probably Officers from the Tigre region, and this could create a certain embarrassment for both Eth iopia - where the Government is accused of being formed only by persons from Tigre, although they are only a 7% minority - and for Eritrea itself, where the T igre peop le represent 52% of the population. And what if they were not even Muslims? In th is case the Islamic Courts wou ld be right in affirm ing, as they did, that it was a "Crusade" against Islam! But what has become of the Islamic Courts? They have gone back home, t o the ir hist orical base on the Ras Kambon Island, in front of the Somalian coast of Kismayu, but much nearer to the Kenyan border. Disconcerted by the loss suffered , the Union of the Courts seems still incapab le of reorganising itse lf but, rather, anx ious to start negot iations that cou ld avo id the arrest and sent ence of it s leaders.

Besides the joint statements ("We have been de feated but we have not lost the war. On the contrary, we will do what we have promised to do . we will strike anywhere and withdraw, until all the Ethiopian tanks and armoured cars will be thrown out of the Country'), apparently t he Islam ic mi litias have divided themselves in three different groups. According to indications gathered by Western In te lligence, the f irst group, loyal to Hassan Turki, decides to remain at Ras Kambon to organize t he promised guerri ll a warfare, and the is land is cal led "Tora Bora", as a t ribute t o t he Afghan mountain chains, where Osama bin Laden took refuge during t he Ame rican bombardment s in the war against the Tali ban . The second group, li nked to sheik Hassan Dahir Aweys , chooses clandesti nity in the mountainous and th ick ly wooded Bassa Shabelle region, determ ined to prepare and organize the ''terrorist" resistance to the new regime . The third group, cons isting of the fo ll owers of Sharif Shek Ahmed, a moderate, is t rying to repair to Kenya and ask for political asylum. But !'Jo'!irobi's Government has already deployed thousana:, c :soldiers and po licemen along the l 500 km of the border, without counting t he massive patro ll ing of its coast s: ref ugees are we lcome, but no entry for Islam ic ext remists. In any case , the Islam ic Co urts are stil l dreaded: revenges , retaliatio ns, and attacks can take place

A Somalian farmer.

CIA (inte lligence support, without direct intervention) to the Warlords, in order to hold bac k the advance of the Islamic Courts and , after th e fai lure of the operation, it has been deemed suitab le to entrust the "Somalia file" to the Department of Defence . At present, the Is lam ic Courts are somehow surrounded by the troops of the Mogadishu Government and by the defensive line of the Nairobi Government, and their hideouts are by now quite known. And it is precisely between January 7 and 8, 2007 that four laser- guided bombs officially announce the return of the United States in Somalia, after the disastrous experience of "Restore Hope" in 1993. The AC-130 "Spooky" - a four-engine propeller aircraft derived from the C- 130 "Hercules" - can produce an impressive firepower: 40mm Bofors gun (l 20 rounds per minute), 20mm GAU-4 Vulcan machinegun (l 800 rounds per minute), 7.62mm machineguns and a l 05mm gun. The aircraft is 29 .8 metre long, has a range of 2407km (about 8-10 hours of flight), a crew of 13 men and can carry l O tons of armaments and mu nitions, with sophisticated radars (for navigation and with indicators of moving targets , for night vision and for following the trajectory of the rounds fired), a Centre of Control of t he accuracy of fire , at any time: only the time for wounds to be healed. with instruments for infrared vision and sensors They don't know yet that the American aircraft for protection against offensive m issiles. carrier "Dwight D. Eisenhower", leading three more The "Spectre" strikes Haya and Badmadow (Ras warships for intelligence and antiterrorism operal<ambon), while American helicopters (Delta tions, is sailing from the American base of ManaForce?) attack Bankajirow and Bade!, the places ma in Bahrein and is slowly approaching the area. where the Islamic mi litiamen, fleeing from MoNor do they know that in the gadishu, have taken she lter. American base of Djibouti an According to Pentagon AC- 130 "Spectre", called "flying ' ' Probably the war has not sources, two of the three sugunboat" has started to taxi. ended yet: the ability to per-wanted terrorists, belongThey also ignore that President ing to t he al - Qaeda group (AbYussuf has declared that the U- control the territory and dullah Mohammed Fazul, Conited States has the right to take the stability of the Gov- moro Islands ; Abu Tacha, Su action on its own to strike the ernment have still to be dan and Ali Saleh Naban, terrorists wherever they are. verified ,, Kenya) are killed, even if their Since 2003 Djibouti has been names are not made known, the base of the American Task together with about ten more Force ("Camp Le Monier", about 1600 men) and in equally important t errorists. Bahrain is stationed the 5th U.S. Fleet (about l SOO The US attacks, although authorized and supmen) w ith the wider mission of "locating, hinderported by the Somalian President, are censured by ing and defeating the transnational terrorist t he new UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon , by groups that operate in the reg ion", according to a the European Union and, particu larly, by Italy. Directive issued after September 11, 2001 (Donald On January 22 , 2007 the UN confirm the reports Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defence) within the wide s(disclosed by the BBC) that the Somal ian leader of trategy of the Pentagon for counter-terroris m opthe Is lamic Courts, Sharif Sheik Ahmed, has surerations on a global scale. rendered to Kenya' s front ier police, near the little According to the "New York Times" Uanuary l 3, town of Wajir and the intransigent Hassan Dahi r 2007) Washington has given the collaboration of Aweys has apparently the intention to ask for asy-

Rivista Militare English Edition n 1/ 2007

lum, still in Kenya, to the UNHCR, the UN Agency for the refugees. But in Mogad ishu the situation is not pacified yet. The Ethiopian troops, still deployed in defence of Villa Somalia, President 'i'ussuf's residence, are still shelled by the mortars of the Islamic militiamen; according to Western intelligence, in the Capital th ere are about 3000 men. Therefore the "young" Mogadishu Government still needs help and military protection. Although t he UN has authorized the formation of a cont ingent of Peace Force made up of African Countries, in order to contribute to Somalia's stabilization, the game is now i n the hands of Kenya's President, Mwai Kibaki, and of the Ethiopian Premie r, Meles Zenawi. Both Governments agree on speeding up the implementation of the peacekeeping operation. Ethiopia, criticized for its military intervention, has declared that it will leave Somalia within a short time and does not wish to see its efforts made fruitless by a fresh outbreak of terrorism. Kenya which is seriously worried by the presence of Islamic extremists along its borders - holds now the presidency of IGAD and has received the mandate by the African Union to coordinate the entire operation. Even if the ana lysts believe that the time available is too short (more than 8000 men are needed) the greatest unknown factors are coming prec isely from the African Countries. Uganda has already sent (March 1, 2007) a logis tic battalion to Baidoa, with the task of organizing the deployment of the military contingent of the African Union, and a furth er l 500 Ugandan soldiers are due to arrive, besides 850 Nigerians, together with units from Ghana and Burundi. Angola has offered its willingness, but South Africa, Tanzani a and Nigeria are still hesitant. Even if t he assent of Malawi is certain - while Mozambique is engaged in preparing a contingent to be sent to Darfur, within t he "Amis" mission - it seems at the moment impossible to achieve the envisaged total of 8000 men, also due to the African Uni on's evident lack of fu nds for financing the mission. A "Confere nce of Peace and Reconciliation" is programmed for t he end of April 2007 (the place is still a secret: Puntland or Mogadishu?), in the hope of obtaining funds from t he United States and the European Union. The Itali an Government,

represented by the Fore ign Minister, has already expressed its favourable opinion. ¡-At present the good intentions of Ugandan Pres ident Yoweri Musaveni should also be remarked: albeit his men do not have the task of disarming the Islamic militias, there remains the firm duty to defend the Somalian Government and the pledge to rebuild and trai n the police and t he Somalian Army. The Ugandan troops (o n special trains and sh ips from Kampala to Mombasa, and then on to Mogadishu) will find the support of the Somalian so ldiers, already deployed in order to avoid incidents

Partial view of Mogadishu.

with the population and clashes with the Islamic militias. The short- term objective is also that of bringing back to Mogadishu the leg it imate Government and its political and administrative institutions. Probably the war has not ended yet: t here is still a good number of analysts who have serious doubts about the actual possibility of the African Forces to bring peace and security; besides, their ability to control the territory and the real stability of the Government have still to be verified. But did t he 22 years of President Barre's dictatorship, and the 16 years of bloody civilian violence, not suffice to revive the national sentiment of the ancient and proud Somalian people?

Daniele Cellamare Lecturer

of History of International Relations

COUNTERINSURGENCY Non- conventional conflicts require a correct approach, adequate met hodo logy and personnel well trained to operate with flex ibility. Only in th is way w ill t he "flea war" be won. Significant reflections on the past can help to understand these complex problems.

In 1962, at West Poi nt - t he temple of t he US m ilitary - President J. F. Ke nnedy, ad d ressi ng an audien ce of you t h in g rey un ifo rms, exp ress ed hi mse lf alon g these li nes: This is a new type of war, new in its intensity, but old in its origins g uerr illa warfare - subversive, the onset of as sassinations, a war of ambush es rather than combat, of infiltration and not aggression, where victory is loo ked for in the erosion and exhaustion of t he en emy an d n o t in the battlefield. It's t h e ideal f orm of war.. for undermining the will of the n ew and poor countries that are struggling to main tain the peace t ha t they ha ve f i na lly achieved. I t nurtu res economic un certainty and ethnic conflict . ... Words that in tend ed to expl ain t he co nt in ued pres ence of the Title pages. French soldiers on an Algerian plateau. Un ited States i n Vietn am but which can now equal ly be a ppl ied t o t he war on ter ror ism. Like Above. Personnel from the U.S. I Ith Cavalry Regiment disem now, two different worlds are opposing each barking in t he Philippines in 1902. othe r , se parated by how to l ive in peace and how to int e rpret t he war. Sh rewdness and stealth against state of the art technology . Heroes - ma rtyrs - again st mach i nes. If t he re ex ists a 'west e rn ' way o f f ig hti ng , ju st as o ld in its t i me of war t o a war of att riti on. The lo ng er it orig i ns, it limits in t he deci sive conflict - the fitakes to end the operations the greater t he nal batt le - the ra ng e of t he war. T he confl ict chance of defeat. Victory for t he i nsu rge nts is mu st ta ke p lace qui ckly a nd w it h all t he pos sise en i n t he ir own dai ly ex isten ce - it ' s enou gh ble forces t hat both sides cou ld m uster. The that t hey exi st to prove th e inadequacies and in efficiencies of t he oth ers . greater the commitment, the After t ime, space. Th e d imen fa ster t he co nclu sio n is re ach ed . Th is approach , ' ' The conflict must take place sion "space" is the geog r aph though, i n its direct li ne of quickly and with all the possi - ical place of conflict. It com t houg ht, doe sn't always r eap p rise s t he t errain , t he urban t he d esi r ed results, and a bove ble forces that both sides are as, t he co untryside and al l it cou ld create concep t ual could muster , , forests that all have their inlimits when the o ppositi o n fl uen ce on t he ch o ice of tac fo l low differ ent ru les . Th e t ics, but really it ha ppe n s in 'u nco nvent ion al' en emy moves in a mode simit he peop le. T he st ru gg le is concent rated in t he lar but not identical to the 'conve ntional' ene "souls" of the people, who can st rike fear, who my. (1) can convince th em . No o ne at al l is un der illu In terms of t i me - th e d im ens ion of "t i me" - it sio n , i nstead prag matism rul es, t he r eg i mes becomes impossible to confront the enemy on will change, the arm ies wil l move on b ut life will eq ual terms . As time ticks o n it moves fro m a co ntinu e. Th e symbol s of " pro paga nda" are

Rivista Mili/are Englisli Edition n. 112007

T he Philippine War lasted three years from 1899 to 1902, and the Briti sh intervention in ,Malays ia was comp lete d in 1960 after 12 years, forming a clear methodological reference point for anti - guerri l la tactics . In the first cas e, paradoxical ly, the success can be attr ibut ed to the scarc ity of the t echnology that was ava ilab le. The absence of 'flying fortresses' and the non use of artillery avo i ded 'collate r al d amage' and ob liged th e Amer icans to conduct a war based on th e spreading out of small highly mob ile units armed lightly, and able to hel p the Phil ippin es catc h t he enemy guerril las . It was the n the hostility and ind iffere nce of t he majority of the popu lation , defe nd ed and protected by t he government in la rg e sett lemen ts , that r esul ted in the phys ica l and ideolog ica l isolation of t he Above. A British patrol crossing a stream in Malaya .

Right. French legionnaires relieving an injured child in Algeria.

stronger than batt alions and br igades . For some it ' s to expresses ''c iv i lisation", for others "wea kn esses" - but either way opportunities to hit home with efficient effect . Propaganda ha s the power to c hange the perception in the minds of t he populace in regards to politi cs, to the milita ry activity and d istanci ng the people and the enemy soldiers. And iso lation is the start of the abandoning of the strug g le. Th e lan guage that they use changes accord in g to the listener; it's "h igh ly-c ivilized" to the world in general as it expla ins the conflict, but becomes "d irect" when it deals with th e popu lace fluctu ati ng betwee n flattery and threats. Operating in the t hree dimensiona l space so out li ne d allows one to see that t he socia l , economic and political development becomes more imp orta nt th an its simple d estruct ion and above al l that t he " low i ntensity conflicts" are not fou ght in a "classical war" mode . But this is nothing new or revo lutio nary . In th e o ld American Army manuals o n "Sma l l Wars" it was al ready confirmed that t he use of brute fo rce was counterproductive because .. a Command that has achieved its objective without shooting as ingle person, in a tiny war, has achieved a victory much more worthwhile than one wh o had had to have recourse to use arms .(2) a nd also ; in small wars tolerance, sympa thy, kindness should be the watch words of our relationship to the local populace (3). And this ai m doesn't change even when the sit uatio n does co me to blows. Otherwise th er'e would be the lo ss of cred ib ility for the intermediary.

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guerril las. T he army avoided the big opera t io ns, and learnt to max imise t he use of ind ige nous ' scou ts' and 'p a ra m il ita ry' forces to strengthen and support t he decentra li sed pa trols, he lping the popu lation use the schoo ls , the hospita ls and i nfrastruct u re of t he country and i n so doing destab ilizing the legitimacy of the insu rg ents complaints abo ut the regime, who meantime , organized th em selves into po litical parties aga i nst t he regi me . In short supplying them the possibility to become legitimate . The Briti sh , in a simil ar mod e, lay th e success of the ir campaign i n thei r ability to have cap ture d the 'h ea rts and mi nds' of t he peop le (the famous phrase coming from th i s campa ign it se lf) (4). In effect they gained the support of the vi II ages by simply reaf f irmin g that what was in their bes t in terests was peace and stability. Th ey introd uced large scale p ubli c p rojects w ith the aim of improvi ng life in t he small vil lages

fo r the count ry) and its co mpl etion special units and so depriving the Mal ays ian Commun ist Parwere required (CIMI C cell - Civil Military Coo pty of its core support; th e pe asant s. It was a seration). The se were given th e task to work wit h trategy in three parts; a military campaign to ag encie s, governmental and non - governm en cut off gu erri l la supply l ines; iso lating th e com tal , in the local ar eas i n order to optimise t he munities from t heir in fl uence , propaganda, and avail ab le resources for the co mpl etion o f proj th e infi ltrati on of t he party into the soci al fabects. In summary th e operatives of CIMIC rep r ic ; the carry ing o ut of pub l ic works for the atresent ed the interface between the military tai nmen t of public suppor t . contingents, t he ci vil population, t he local au It was not hing new for the Uni ted Kingd om tho r ities and the hum anita rian operatives. In (5), but simply the app lication of a po l itics d ethe French experience in Algeria (6) a simi lar rived from many years as a colon ial power t hat body was called the Section Administrative had de mon strated t he val id ity of an integrated Sp ecial isee - SAS (Sezi on i Ammin istrat ive Spe "military- civ i l" , bas ed on the pre mi se that the ciali) (7) . They had t he responsibi lit y of re- es confl icts were not only m ilitary problems . T he tab l ishing the stab ility of t he French au tho rity con trol , in the wider politi cal se nse , of the eam ongst the local po pu lat io n an d t he care of merge ncy was given to c ivilia ns . When the units the reconstruction of local democratic institu became em ployed , above all in the early phastion s. In effect th ey m a naged to reform t he loes , it strived for flex ibi lity. It match ed itse lf to the situati on and gave control to th e g round ucal gover nm ent, to in stall a sust ainable public sanitary system , aid public ed ucatio n, monitornits as a standard form of procedure of man ag ement. Thi s model , however, suited th e army ing a sc ho lastic programme an d commun icatwith its strength in the 'reg im ents ' and its 'proi ng , across t heir p ri v ileged ch ann els , th e pr infessional sold iers'. Th is was t hanks to t he hociples of democracy. The SAS detachment acted mogen eity of r ecruitm ent - that coul d be d eas a police fo rce a nd th e 'ha rkas' - the nat ive fin ed as 'tribal' - in which soldi ers and officers, police fo rce - was special ised in loca l matters, i n the main originating fro m the same area, but were also equ ipped to take a more offen sive role . Tha nk s to the frequ ent and well supserved tog ether fo r lon g peri ods of ti me and ported contact with t he local giv ing cred enc e to p ub li c popu lat ion they became imsupport and verti cal lines of portant collect ion pots of locommand . The 'a rmed pro- ' ' The operational proce cal information from the popfess ion s' al I servin g long pe - dures in low intensity con ulace. In the final p hase of the riods, and as such knowl - flicts differ from the norm. A war both th e French and the edgea b le of the r isks , gu aransmall scale tactic that if givteed a h ig her leve l of public Alger i ans cons i dered these en time can make differ- periphery d etachm ent s, noracceptance . Th e support and p rotection ences in the environment ma ll y headed by a captain o r of the population w as based and socially and above all in lieu tenant , as t he most i m po rta nt and well m anag ed re on the substanti al contri bu - it final failure rate , , tion t o t he development of the source again st the guerrill as . nation, on the bas is of mutual Thei r pol it ical and social imres pe ct w ithin society, on t he conservat ion of pact was felt for a long tim e afterwards . resources, and the return to active product ion. Th e protection t hey gave an d ma naged to the It was w id e- ' r ange'ing and embr aced various people and to t he space in which the people sen si t ive sectors. And it contai ned everyth ing . lived were vital activiti es. Thi s, as w ell as sup With regard s to the public works prog ram, esplyin g th e most natural ne eds of secu rity , pec ia lly the imm ediate needs o f water and eleclooked to set the cond it ion s for the se paration tricity, it passed ove r to t he state th e finis h ing of the gu err illas from th e pop u lation an d built off of the program under a cloak of protection. an impo rt ant defence ag ai nst their p ropagand a The Ambassador became 'k ingpin' in t he 'mil iand their preac hing . The measu res that were tary - civi l ' integrated system. He was a guaranmost useful again st in creatin g such a defe nce included se curity measures (c heck po ints , patee of the governm ent, at th e highe st leve l, to trols, etc) and the li mi t ing of movement (re the co - ordination of troops al r eady deployed on the ground and t he whole milita ry contin stri cte d zones of movement, bl ac kou ts etc) and indi rectly t he su pport of the secu rity force s (in gent. In su ch a system t he su cces sfu l compl estruction, info rmat ion , logistical su pport, etc) . t ion o f t he pub l ic works re q ui r ed a consensus Anot he r interesting experimen t in thi s field was of op in ion and synergy of resources and f iin Vi etnam (8). T he 'Comb i ned Action Program nan ces . On the part of th e gen eral mili tary plan (CAP)' was an in novation from the Marine Corps (as opposed to t he long term development plan

Rivista Miiitare English Edition n. 112007

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Algerian soldiers and FLN volunteers in training.

on the ground . It comprised of a t eam, at gun ner level , coupled w ith a native p latoon. T his 'combined' force was posted inside t he vil lage of the same platoon and was responsib le for combating the Viet Cong and a iming to restore order and the law. The operational procedures in low in tens ity conflicts differ from the norm. A sma ll scale tactic that if given time can make differences in the environment and socially and above al l in its final failure rat e. Not d iscounting the 'policy' adopted i n t he choi ce between protect ion and mobil ity . The sens e of security that cou ld be given by a 'base' and 'vehic les' potentially protect , but for such reasons are not as fast and usefu l and can become ta rgets. In such circumstances th e need for a ba lance in the d ec isions taken have given rise to "paralys is' i n units and t he consequent loss of te r ritory and inhabitants. With a bo lder but appropriate for-

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mula, t he 'Sov iet-Afghan' war was defined by 'mobile bunkers', which meant that basical ly the Red Army managed only to secure con trol of th e big bases and lines of communicat ion. In the rest o f t he territory the guerr illas moved with ease taking advantage to the bes t of t heir abil ity the mounta inous terrain to neutra li ze the Russ ian tra n spo rt col um ns (9) . The news of the war reminds us of the so ldiers holed up in the ir cocoons of steel. They felt we ll protected. In rea li ty they were blind a nd immobile and lac ked space a nd visib ility, t hey were too late to hide when the enemy app roache d and had th eir movements in the ir vehicles stifled . In th i s way t he 's he lter' became ' trap ' . T hen the attention in gene r al became focused on finding ways of i ncreasi ng security for those soldiers who can th en ex p lore new horizons. Fo r the personal protection of the body sold iers started to wear ant i- proj ecti le jackets, shoes with protective soles (conta ins metal parts) , li ghtened helmets with 'ba nds ' etc for avoid ing trauma for contact, from sport t here is al so t he use of knee

and elbow protectors. With a heavier organizawith the task of guaranteei ng the se cu rity via a tio nal struct ure that can bu ild advanced bases mixture of static pos itions and mo bile patrols. A mobile reserve made of elite un its, mecha with landing strips, entrenched camp s, check points and protected observation points and ni zed, parach ute and the Fo reign Leg ion, was protection barriers that run for hundreds of kp laced to support the forces in situ . These forces co u ld wherever and qu ick ly both to rein il ometres . It was in th is way t hat t he Fren ch i n Algeria (l 0) tried to sea l the borde r with force the forces in situ and t o i ntervene against Tunis ia. The 'Morice Line', a fortified barrier identified objectives. But the true key to sucthat extended for over 250 km and intended to ces s came from the capac ity of the French inte ll igen ce to su pply quickly, with in hours of cut t he umbi lica l cord betwee n t he gue r r il las d i scovery, t he critical information that would and their san ctuary. Such an im pressive system allow the reach ing and striking of objectives. has the disadvantage of costing a lot and ab The guerrillas posse sse d, by their very nature, sor bing hundreds of soldiers for its operations. the ant id ote to es cape t he b ig ope rat ions but Not bei ng impe r meab le - noth in g is so - it en d ed up being bypass ed . they are, paradoxically, vulnerable to themselves, or better, to the type o f actions that Different, bu t comp lem entary, are t he activi ma ke it so threatening and efficient. From this ties regarding ' prevention' and 'repression' co nve rt ing the mi litary du ties i nt o pu b li c o r der point on the tactics agai nst the g ue r ri ll as be came the guerrillas' tactics themselves. duties. The aim, t ime and modus for develop'Methods' but also 'me nt ali ty' explai n the im ing one or the other are m ade of such diverse portance of the employmen t elements that 'special' forces of mi li t ary traini ng a nd par ahave to creat ed. Preve ntio n is above all based on the ele- ' ' Different, but complemen- military recru itm ent of the loment of visibi lity, but not on - tary, are the activities cal populace. Among st the ly, of th e troops i n patrol in ments conducted with regarding 'prevention ' and texperi the w ay that si mp ly th ey are he local m ilitia is that do ne seen to be passing through 'repression ' converting the by the US Army called "Prothe population and places of military duties into public g ram for the Pacification and habitation. The aim includes order duties ,, Long -Term Development of South Vie tnam ( PROV N Ssound ing out the attitudes of tudy)" ( l 2) that's based on the local popu lace but also showi ng the availability and propensity to be t he ex per ience of t he Special Forces in the organization, training an d man age ment of the open for dialogue. With regards to repression 'Civ ilian Irregu lar Defe nse Groups' (C IDG). In the foc us is o n a str ictly mi litary p la n, w hich essence the CIDG, which compr ised militia u dusts off the old princ ipals of combat. Surp ri se, speed and concentration o f force, measures nits and g roups of ethnic m i norit ie s were stationed in the mountai n and border regions, aimed to neu tralize the oppo sitio n. The retu rn to mob i le co lumns but above all t he use of ai r and w ere also t o conduct mi li tary offens ives, support / helicopters, an d if so de si red airdrops defend their own bases, im pede the movement of Viet Cong and r eg ular North Vietnamese of sold iers are an option for the rapid dep loyment of troo ps. The object ives are hand picked army soldiers. Not that different, in theory, was via an 'observat ion netwo rk'. Pe r manent ob ser t he Sovi et vi sio n of the use of nat ive fo r ces (1 3) vat io n posts, g arriso ne d in isolate d cel ls, con in small combi ne d operat ions in the Sovietstitute a 'fi xed' system. The personnel in these Afghan war. However in certai n circumstances posts have to be ab le to survive in difficu lt sit they made t he error of placing the m il itia only uations and get used to the idea of being left in the most dangerou s areas and t asks . For ex exposed to t he enemy. A 'm obi le' system based amp le t he Sov iets rese rve d for the ' protection' o f the villages doin g the 'minesweeping' or aro und the activities of small cells and patrols specializing i n areas on t he outlook for ele'flushi ng ' out of soldiers from forests ins tead ments of host ile act ivity. Physica lly more in of the Af ghans would have he lped cement t he al l iance . Instead it just u nderm ined any tru st vo lved th an p revi ous o pe rations it has th e ad vantage of only offe r ing the adve rsary 'mov ing' between the two sides and led to the suc cessive failure. targets, d ifficult to spot and therefore difficult to hit. A co rrespond ent to this operation mode Guerrillas and contro - g uerrilla fo rces face was the syste m 'q uadrill age' (1 1 ), adopted by eac h other above al l in th e arena of ideo logy the war of the ideas - where fl exibility and the Frenc h i n A lgeria, that d ivid ed the country into four different areas of operation and to agility of thought are t he keys to persuade the opinion poll s, the public and the sold i ers. The each one was as signed a 'guarnigione' force

Rivis/a Militare English Edition n. 1/2007

first observation concerns communication. The information channels used to communicate are substantially different, as d iff erent and diverse as the sources themselves. T he ' i nstitutio nal ' commun ication, that o·f meeting the peop le's needs through t he newspapers etc, as opposed to those ' alternative' means . The possibility of direct access with the press would presuppose the existence of privileged re lationships between the military forces and the recipients. It' s reasonable to think so, bu t in rea lity things are different; in fact at times it's the complete opposite. There is a heavy prejudice aga inst men in uniforms , in other cases there is an incapacity on the part of the mil itary to communicate , other times there is simply a lack of interest; there ' s no news. For t he guerrillas the argu ment is different. T he secret and inaccessibility of the sources make desirable every bit of in formation regard less of what its content may be . The relationship w ith the media cou ld have a fundamental influence on the outcome of the conflict. T he journalists that exerc ise their 'le gal r ight' to report t he facts and tell the stories from all parts, Commanders and pr ivates. The ex - Chief of Staff of the US Army, ( 14), General Eric Shineski had said " If we don't speak for the army, they will." T h is affirmation in its d ra matic obviousness confirms a certainty; the med ia will write their art icl es with or w ithout the mil itary speeches. T he availab ility of the com manders to help can make the difference be tween good and bad results. NO g ua rantees ex ist that the act ivities in which t hey take part w ill resu lt in their words coming out as planned or obtained the results des ired, only the opportunities ex ist that can either be taken or let go. More u ni nhibited - and efficient - is the mode of commun icating across the world by the guerrillas, having the ir messages recorded and transmitted by te levision or through the internet unedite d. A multitude of sites (1 5) spreading the messages , g ivi ng orders and strategy guidelines to fol low. The sensitive messages are encoded in 'innocuous' sites. Domains based all around the world enable access to these sites via a series of links. The magazine On - line keeps analys is , communicat ions and interviews with its leaders . The internet al lows the widespread diffusion of thei r communication without trace . It's eno u gh just to send details and video recordings to the preferred host site. For the production of video cassettes all t hat is needed is a camcorder, editing fac il it ies and a machine to copy tapes. But al l the attention has been focused on the 'combat camera' which have had t he most success. Across these various means

An «Alpini» patrol controlling a road in Afghanistan.

have come various i mages; traInIng , proclamatio ns, and above al l recruitment videos. Moving the specific to the general; • relations w ith the loca l pop ulat io n and with their efforts at stabilization, reconstruction and communication covering all important fundame ntals • The contro-guerrilla to be effective must adopt procedures similar to the guerrilla. • The rapidity of the response requ ires a high leve l of readiness and organization that facilitates a rapid reception of critica l info rma t io n. When it is based on a network of observation this could include personne l with an e levated abil ity of survival. • The operational difficulties cou ld be exaspe rated by the environmental cond itions; breathing d iffi cu lties at altitude (an estimated thirty during the American air drop in operation 'Anaconda' due to insuffi cient t ime for acclimatization), harsh temperatures o extreme heat in a desert etc This is all to say t hat al l those who are cal led into action should be in possession of the abil ity and expe ri ence to survive , for lo ng periods, in desperate situations and extreme climates. A reference point for the level of ability that we

tion and i nfrastru ctu re of such cases). The basic menu of this first phase was the course ' dead wood ' (effect ively i n mounta in with all equ ipment) over distances rang i ng from l 0- l 5km. Additio nally the re was the use of personal armour with the use of precis ion shoot i ng (with all should want for al l our soldiers. By definition train i ng i s a reflection of the type of mission, to supplied arms) as well as l ive shooting (especial t he spec ifi cs of the en vironment an d concerns ly usefu l for gauging reaction qua lity). For in creas ing the im pact of real wounds som e solall, and in consideration of all - no on e excluded - al l are possible targets . d iers w ere trai ned in 'basic life support' (BLS) By way of examp le we ca n review what hapfro m NATO and nat ion al o rganizations, while others - the majo rity - had d one spe cifi c trainpen ed i n 200 3, in ' Operat ion Kite' in ing in fencing and bayonets Afghani stan. T he operatio n fixed to the ir rifles. For these was developed at home t hen sol diers they were forced to carried out in th e zo ne of op- ' ' Guerrillas and countereration . It was based on the guerrilla forces face each use and survive on what cou ld overco m ing of individual, team other above all in the arena see m to be d iscard ed it ems, becoming true to life targets . and unit barriers that had been of ideology - the war of the With the help of trained inclearly o utli ned in the phase 3 a company of of 'combat readiness', be ing ideas - where flexibility and str uctors ready for goi ng operational. At agility of thought can be fus i liers completed a 'stage' that involved being able to headquarters particular atten - pivotal ... ,, tion was being placed on t he acros s part icu lar ob stacl es; Hi bility to survive in mountainma layan bridges and then when was fol lowed by a furthe r period of co nd i ous conditions and an environment of physica l tioning in hig h altitu de co ndi t io ns (Val Pusteria) and menta l stre ss . So ch ecking both the changes to phys ical res istance and operation al capabi lity i n wh ic h the personnel were put to the test at in light of slee p deprivation while trying to comthe ir ability to survive in low temperatures . p lete physica l tasks , and t he suitabi lity of life in Th e ' Key Leaders' were subs eque ntly ta ken to cond it ion s differing from the no rm (in general a confer ence organised for officials o nce back the corimec (16) livin g conditions and org ani zain Afghanistan. Vietnam. American soldiers protecting South Vietnamese ch ildren during an attack by North Vietnamese regulars.

Rivista Mi/itare English Edition n. 112007

Particular interest came from the Brigade Command (Britain) of the ' Roya l Marines' after a tour of operations of almost six months in Bagram , and an American team of 'Navy Seals'. In both cases they were ¡examin ing the effect of conducting of operations at high mountain altitude and the tact ics and operational procedures of possible enemies. Other conference goers, for a wider audience, had brought their own experiences. Team training by the General Staff had as usua l the 'stage' where troops were tra ined in acclimatization to local culture, environment and resources, and where appropriate mine awareness. Passing continual assessment, that had the aim of monitoring and if required correcting the progression and the leve l of the training achieved at team, team and patrol level with particular emphasis on the performing on technical and procedural aspects regard i ng ambush response . Combat in built up areas , mine clearing modes, and negotiat ion techniques were examined as well as competitions with American units based in Italy (specifically US SETAF) in order to achieve a leve l of interoperabil ity designed to guarantee, in case of ne cessity, the abi lity to utilize US Army proce dures. In the case of combat in built up areas extremely practical solutions - such as white bands along the ground to ind icate spaces, the entering of houses and flats, allowed a leve l of coordination 'between and amongst' team of an exceptional level. In this period there was also practicing 'on fire' of relevant departmental arms (60mm mortars , 12.7mm machine guns, Milan missiles, panzerfaust rocket launches etc) and in sma ll units. Completing the picture there is the successful landing of a he licopter on to plane type CH 47 (also in a night flight using night vision gogg les) and type AB 412. In con clusion it was the completion of exercises of the hardest order with regard to difficulty and duration. Continual activity in large amounts to test the newly assigned materials and to check the operat io na l procedures 'espec ially ' of those most recently ass igne d, li ke mine sweeping of caves, small built up areas, and 'antisniping'. Part of the training time was dedicated to crowd control with the use of 'antiriot' equipment; shields and batons and also in this there was the validation by a commission of the Brigade. As a complement to the exercises 'on fire ' at a lower leve l. For the groups at a lower leve l it was reviewed, with an eye to da i ly occ urrences and from the American magazines, the lessons learnt from Afghanistan, in particu lar those re lated to 'Operation Anaconda by the American l oth Division. It was subject to serious review and even the test imonia ls from the Soviet-

Afghanistan. An Italian soldier near the village of Pashtun - zargul.

Afghan war, and as a case in point the art icl es re lated by Lieutenant Colonel Lester Grau (l 7), of the Soviet Frunze Academy (the body dedi cated to the study of Red Army warfare experi e nces) , and from various authors like Jason Vest (18) and more recently, related to 'anaconda' from the Federal News Service (1 9). These all comment and give treatments on the operational activities that have already been discussed here. Also in Afghanistan there were a number of activities aimed at look in g at the acclimatization of personnel to temperatures and also to how teams blended. The USA requested the verification and validation of the FAC (Forward Air Controller) procedure, the reconditioning of personnel transport carriers, heavy artillery and vehicles, for the use with American carriers such as Black Hawk and CH4 7. T he dependence of the American Command resulted in the study and adoptio n of a variety of procedures t hat can le ad to the deployment of its forces by he licopter and vehicles , for t he intervention in case of 'mass casualties' and for the protection of personnel i n case of mortar and rocket attack on encampments. The object of attention was also on the creation of the orders of operation (standard USA) comprehensive from the appendix of 'backbr ief' and 'rock dril l' (20). From a practical point of view, the putting into

on proj ects of stabili sat ion an d reconst r uction a nd availab il ity of the m ilitary prese nt t o operate in a fl exible m ode in smal l group s that ca n offer a plausible alternative to th e 'classica l war (b ig wa r)' (2 3) whe n fig hting the 'con ventio na l war (sm all war)' . Cl audio Berto Col onel, Head, Pub lic In formation Office, Army General Staff

NOTES

Afghan Mujaheddin during the Soviet inva sion.

action of d ifferi ng capac1t1es CIM IC, in prevalence as a m edica l st ructu re, showed a goo d leve l of cooperati on a mon gst the all ies . A mong st the combined activities, beyond the recognition an d formal presentations to the nota ble lo ca ls, th e refini ng of t he tec hn iq ues of 'village asess men t' have al low ed th e co n tinuation of good re lat ions w it h the local population with ou t creating interruptions to the substitut io n. At the Transfer of Aut hority (TOA) th e pro cedure happen s with gu ards an d patrol s mixed across t he ' left seat - right seat' . A symbolic representation of the defensive operat io ns and sta nce occu p ied (21 ) . In concl us ion, th e g uerr i ll as f ight t he 'War of the Flea' (22) and its mi l itary enemy suffers the disadvantage of the dog; too much to defend, an adversary pres ent everywhere , and too small and agil e t o be ca ptu re d. If t he war co nt inue s long enoug h - so says t he theory - the dog wi ll be overcome by the enemy and die through exhaustio n and an aem ia, without ever havin g so met hi ng t o clos e it's j aws o n or root o ut with its claws . The War of t he Flea lasts longe r in contrast to a conventional war. In t he near future it ' s poss ib le that adve rsaries wil l on ly r eso rt to t erro rist w ar s. Fortun ate ly however , recent his tory has shown u s that w ith t he ri gh t approach and suitable methodology even the 'War of the Flea ' can be w on. A maj o r emphasi s

( 1) The terms 'guerilla warfare', 'war of subvers ion ' and 'insurgency' are used, for the sake of simplicity as synonyms. The correct definitions are; In surgen cy, organi ze d upri si ng aimed at overturnin g t he current o rder or government wi t h the use of subversion and armed conflict . War of Subversion, form of struggle, conducted w ithin a nat ion by its citizens, w it h o r w ithout external he lp, with t h e aim of over t urning t he gove rn ment or institut ions , or at least paralysing their actions and function s, normally stems fro m guerrilla warfare as a m ilit ary action w it hout r ecourse to more t radition al modes of warfare, but cou ld occu r i n times of conven tional war. Guerrilla Warfare, a form of struggle particularly as sociated with military and pa ramilita ry organizat ions , in te rritory contro ll ed by t he enemy, with at least t he p art ial su pport of th e populat ion . It is signified by actions aggressive and rapid and without warning aimed at weakening the morale of its adversary. ( 2) 'Small Wars Man u al ' - United States Marine Corps - l 940 Edition swm l -1 0 pag l 8. 'The aim is not to develop a belligerent spirit in our men but rather one of cau tion and stead in ess . Instead of em p loying fo rce, o ne strives to accompli sh t he purpose by diplomacy. A Force Commander who gains his objective in a small war w i thout firing a shot h as attained fa r g reater su ccess than one who resorted to t he use of arms. Whi le en deavouring to avo id the in flictio n of physical harm to any native, there is always the necessity of preventing, as far as possible, any casual t ies am ong o ur own troops.' (3) 'Small Wars Manual ' - Un ited St ates Marin e Cor ps - 1940 Edition swm 1-1 7 pag 32. 'In major warfare, hatred of the enemy is developed among troops to aro u se courage. In sm all war s, to lerance, sympat hy and kindne ss sh ou ld b e t he k eynote of ou r r elation sh i p with the mass of the popu lation.' (4) Rich Lowry ' Been There, Done That' National Rev iew Edito r, 18 Jan. ' 0 5. (5) Lt. C R. M. Cass idy, 'The Briti sh Army and Coun terinsurgency; The Sal i ence of Military Culture.' "US Arm I Milit ary Revi ew" May-June 2005. (6) Lou Di Marco, 'Los ing t he Moral Compass: Tor-

Rivista Mi!itare English Edition n. 112007

A patrol of the U.S. Afghanistan.

s2 nd

Airborne Division in

ture and Guerre Revo l utionnaire in the A lgerian War". (7) Gregor Mathias, "Les Sections Administratives Speciali sees (SAS) en Algerie entre ideal et realite" . (8) Robert M. Cass idy " Back to t he Street without Joy Counterinsurgency Lessons from Vietnam and other Sma l l Wars". (9) Lester W. Grau "T he Bear Went Over The Mountain : Soviet Tactics and Tact ical Lessons Learned during their War i n Afgha nist an ." (l 0) Lou Di Mar co , 'Losing t he Moral Compass : Torture and Guerre Revo lu t ionnaire in the Algerian War". (l l ) Lou Di Marco, 'Losing t he Mora l Compass Torture and Guerre Revo l ut ionnaire in the Algerian War". (12) Robert M. Cassidy " Back to the Street without Joy: Counterin surgency Lessons fro m Vietnam and other Sma ll Wars". (13) Major S.D . Pomer "Don't Follow the Bear; The Soviet Attempt to Bu ilt Afghanistan's Military. " 'US Army Milita ry Re view' Septe mbe r - October 200 5. (14) Capt. David Connolly "The Med ia in the Battlef ield". (l 5) Maurizio Picciri l li "Le Quag lie di Osama" Edi z ione Memori - Blocknotes "Maktab al Jihad - uffic io comunicazione de ll a guerra santa". (16) Taken from the name of the firm that supp l ies nearly all clothing for every theatre of operat ions.

(1 7) "The Soviet War in Afghan istan: History and Harbinger of Futu r e War?" "22 Ground Combat at High Altitude" 'The Campa ign for the caves the battles for Zhawar in the Soviet- Afg han war" "Whither t h e Taliban?" 'T he Sov iet- Afghan War, Breaking the Hammer and Sickle. " "Art ill ery and Counterinsurgency: T he Soviet Experie nce in Afghan istan ." " Beate n by the Bugs: The Soviet-Afghan War Experience" 'The Other Side of the Mountain: Mujaheddin Tactics in the So vi et - Afghan War." (1 8) "Mou ntain Warfare is not th e o nl y thing slowing down th e U.S. Army" (19) "Background br iefing on the report of the batt ie of Takur Ghar". Tra nscriptio n prepared by the Federal News Service Inc, Washington D.C. Federal News Service is a private company. (20) Simulation on p last ic of the capacity of warn in g and ha ndling sudden situations following military activity of t he enemy. (2 1) Name ly wh at brings the end of the f i xed timetable for the t ransfe r of responsibility, t he mil i tary in the posit ion of the 'left se at' fo ll ow the devel opment without havin g respons i bilit y , and â&#x20AC;˘hose on t he 'right seat' have t he respons i bi l i ty , wh 1i e , ,,;:;; occupy th e ' left seat' unti l the last moments of their turn. (22) Robert Tab er "In The War of t he Flea: Guerri lla Warfare in Theory an d Pract ice". (23) American En t er prise Institute for Pub lic Po li cy Research 2003.

A very high mobility range and highly ·standardized logistic.

ASTRA VEIC0LI INDUSTRIALI S.P.A, VIA CA0RSANA, 79 - 29100 PIACENZA - ITALY

ASSESSMENT CENTERS: THE RIGHT MAN IN THE RIGHT PLACE The operating experiences teach us that we should know in depth the qualities of the personnel at our disposal in order to be able to employ them correctly. Through activities of vocational guidance, based on methodologies of work psychology, on t he one hand we can optimise the man -job pairing , on the other we can obtain full awareness of our resources.

Ca reer guid ance sets itse lf am biti ous objec app raisal of the potential and the dynamic tives w h ich at the same time are inescapable process focused the future of predicted charac obj ectives for t he future su ccess of eve ry firm, terist ics" (Fertona ni). the ability to match t he right pe rson to t he ri ght On this subj ect, whil e we are considerin g the individual , the military organization has the ajob. For t h is to be possible we must refe r to a cliched outlook that the man and the job are as bility, via its characterist ic documentation and important as each other. Let's beg i n with the system s to be in a situation that all ows it to man. measure in an analytical mode diverse factors that it considers valuable in the assessment of Let's suppose we have to ask ourselves before starting a di et what is es sen tia l. Th e res ponse pote nt ial, and it would need to ass ig n the in di would co me st raight back as; a good doctor, vidual a numb er of d ifferent and d ifficu lt tests correct analysis, an iron will. . . reas onable anto fi nd their perfect field. This is plainly unreaswers but not very exact. The fundamental so nab le; one can not ask a person to pi lot a hel th i ng, that we must not leave icopter as a test run if th ey out i n such a situation, is a are unab le to fly. Obviously si mpl e, mechanical, banal, ' ' .. . an effective and cor- and imperatively safety must object: the scale s. Without a rect management of human be co nsid ered wh e n the se real and objective way to resources must do so tests are bei ng imposed ; measure any changes the sucthis protected environ through means of assess - from cess of the procedure be men t comes a forecast, i n th e com es arbitrary; at th e end of ing the value of the i ndi - analogous se nse as happe ns the d ay for all the medical ad - vidual in terms of perform - with the weather or in intellivi ce , ana lys is of t he body and ance and potential , , gence, it takes the form and the iron will the person need s structure throug h the obserto know if they are losing vation of what is ha ppen in g. weight (Figure l ). It seems evident that the valuation of perform We co uld argue th at an effective and co rrect an ce offe rs a good objective app roxi mat ion, management of human resources mu st do so but the proced ure of ass ess ing pot entia l need s through means o f assessing t he val ue o f t he ina standard i sed procedure that runs of risk of dividual in terms of performance and potential. being very su bject ive. And in every sense hides If performance rep res en ts t he way in whi ch the problem com mon to all organizat ions th at of p igeon hol ing t he individual before they are the individual carries out the task s of their current position, then potential represents t he hyable to develop their potential, and the sol ution pothetical abil ity to carry out a differe nt role of whi ch depends on t he valu e of subseque nt challenges. from the current. In such a sen se the in it ial valAl r eady today the maximum care is taken in uation is one of "a synthes is of the pas t, the th e recru itment of officers, non - commi ss ion ed offi cers and vo l u nte ers, t hat arrive at their fu Title page. tu re tasks after i ntensive t r aini ng courses, To employ personnel in the correct way, it is necessary qualifications and spec ializations. Th e A rmed to know their qualities.

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 112007

Forces offers the opport unity to grow throug h a varie ty of operational experiences and training activities; in other words the indiv idua ls arr ive at the i r posts able to grow from the ir initial placement into pos it ions of greater responsibility and interest to them . From these people come accurate val uations of their activities in service from their line command, and such va luations can be key in assessing how best to meet the potential of each person. T his is to say that nowadays the deve lopment of and evaluation of human resources is a fundamental operation within the army. However i n the world that the Armed Forces live in today there are continual changes that are forcing the army to keep up with changes and be equipped to change . Ope rational expe rience teaches us that there is a need to protect the structure, the operationa l proced ures and the allocation of human resources that are nec essary to keep the ability to spot changes and solutions already whi le things are changing . It's vital therefore to know we ll the people on who you are counting, to be able to use them in the best way possib le. Via career gu idance and the met hodo logy of workplace psychology one is

Fig. 1 "If you don't measure resu lts, it's impossible to distinguish success from failure"

~-

spot successes, it's impossible to reward them"

"If you don't spot failures, it' s imposs ib le to correct t hem

"If successes are not rewarded and failures not corrected, then one ends up reward ing fai lures and corre cting successes"

able to draw on cognitive elements of the personnel that from one side allow them to opti mise the best relationship between man and post and from the other side allows a greater understand ing of all the resources at hand .

MODEL OF COMPETENCIES For a long time the entrance selection process was heavily in fl uenced by who was considered 'able', and suc h a term was underst ood in a re strictive mode in respect to the true lexical mea ning . In fact 'ab il ity' is not only descriptive

of who is prepa red but also who has the capacity and expertise. In reality ability is often only c-onsidered in its finished form (in other words as something that is professionally and techni cally held by the person) and so the selection processes were always geared towards who al ready had the knowledge and capability and not who had the capacity to have the capabi lity. This type of approach did not guarantee the best resu lts because already knowing some thing doesn't guarantee that the performance will be excellen t. It's noteworthy to think that Einstein wou ld not have been t he best profes sor of mathematics at a high school, but he wou ld have been a better university lecturer, provided that he was able to communicate effective ly w ith his students . The modern notion of competenc ies embraces a w ider meaning and can be considered through "a way of being and thinking t hat is re peated in a convincing way in diverse situations and over a significant length of time " (Gion). Competencies, as defined in the celebrated mode l introduced by the psycho logist Dav id Mclelland, are defined into 3 fundamental factors (knowledge, capac ity and experience) and exist on ly to combine to produce the perform ance. The great strengt h of the mode l is that it divides the i ndividua l baggage of the individual into pract ical components that the same person can then dea l with . In this sense it was a revolutionary step in that it put the attent ion not on the ind ividual but on the position that the indiv idual wanted to fill. Every individua l therefore became the focus of what the job requ i red to have carried out, given that every task was suppl ied w ith its own viewpoint, and according to the difficulty imposed some would be proportionally more predisposed to the tasks than the others. The eval uation of every human resource is therefore relative to the uniqueness of t he bas ic job description required to be filled; such assessment keeps each appointment ' relative' and not 'absolute' in terms of the job that needs to be done. The new and important focus on the task can be seen in the funny anecdote from Spencer and Spencer that 'it's possible to teach a turkey to climb a tree but it's better to use a squirre l' . Where the act requ ired in the job, the climbing of the tree, is better done by who is better 'suited' and therefore more ' com petent' than the others . Moving towards the more practica l and con crete world of capacity, we notice that the gap between this and knowledge is as big as the sea , that in t he traditiona l opinion we are stuck in the middle of, between 'doing and saying ' ; by capac ity it is meant the abi lity to do, to take ac-

The 34 detectable behavioural capacities of an individual can be divided into the following areas:

..

mander, not only in t erms of technical co mpetency, but that they offered a natural sense of leadership and an ability to be trusted. To resea rch and get ev idence of th e spec if ic capac it ies of leade rship amongst these futu re head s of the army t hey employed for the first time t he use of simu lated role p lays of true to life sce na rios that th e real heads of army would face. Great Britain

T he f irst application came in 1 94 2 when Wil fred Ruprecht Bion (l) conducted the selection proce ss for those hoping to ente r with Br iti sh War Offi ce Sele ct ion Boards. (W.O.S.B .). Fig. 2 The system available until then had not bee n tion, to put into place certain behaviour. It's im able to discriminate with sufficient accuracy cerportant t o distinguish betwee n capacity and be tain personal 'characteristics'. The systems and haviour. Be haviour is natural, observable and eq uipm ent the n i n use showed that nearly all th e describable, while capacity is category created total candidates were not suitable for future re to co llect all possible behaviours. Th e ca pacity dep loym ent into ope rative units. Clearly a sys tre e (fig ure 2) gives an immedi ate picture of the tem th at was n' t functioni ng accurate ly . The sysfirst five fundamental classifications of capacity. tem of analysis was put und er scrutiny and all The capacity of the area of emotions (for ex areas of uncertainty were deleted. In practice th e ample se lf-control and manag ement of stress) system t hat was in pl ace was not 'object ive' . is foun d at th e base of the tree, and is its staThat's to say it was not very objective given that bility and is possible to give solidity to the w some of the intervi ew was based on interviews ho le structure. Without a solid emotion al base regard ing cultu ral backgrounds and levels of eall th e ot her possible areas are prone to uncerducat ional and socia bil ity. A further criteria to tainty and faltering. measure character of a candidates was of such The capacity of the area of man agem ent (for thi ngs as 'un usual acumen' (2). exampl e the managem ent of othe rs) and rel aIt was de cided t herefore to abandon the systions (for example in negotiations) serve as tem t hat had been i n use until that point and to support and cement for the immediately put into practice area of intellect (fo r example the new Asse ssm en t Ce nters. probl em solving). ' ' The Assessment Center T hi s system wou ld attempt to The capacity o f t he area of has its origins in the mili 'de d uce' objectively the po innovation (for exa mpl e fl exi - tary research conducted tential 'ca pacity' of an officer b ility) appears instead un con from a number of observa by German psychologists tions nected from the others which regarding h is behaviour is why it is thought th at a between the wars, in order as he carried out tasks. T he 'weak' pe rson in other areas to improve their officer re - simul at io ns set th e cand idate co u ld sud den ly em erg e with a cruitment selection sys specific tasks to complet e. new idea or perspect ive of tems ... ,, The method aimed to deterseei ng thi ngs. mine certain be havi our pat terns, that would come from ce rtain precise potent iality, that would deterORIGINS AND PURPOSE m ine th e su ccess or not of placing the ind ivid ual back into certa in organizat iona l po siti ons. Germany The exercises used included ; ¡ Leaderless group exercises . This type of exerT he Assessment Center has its o r igi ns in th e cise revolved aro und the solvi ng of a proble m m i litary researc h cond ucted by German psyi n a specifi ed time . They cou ld have free roles chologists between the wars, in order to im or defined roles. The character of the discusprove t heir offi ce r recruitment sele cti on si on could be cooperative or com peti t ive de processes then in use. T he problem that was pe ndi ng o n the obj ectives that were assig ned sti r r ing up t heir int erest was related to the ato the test. bili t y of trustin g and counting on one's corn â&#x20AC;˘ Selection t ests. This exerci se s could be subdi -

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 112007

The United States

· The system was f irst used in the Second World War by the O.S.S. (Office of Strat egic Service) to select suitable recruits fo r the collection and analysis of information. Fo ll owing the war the Assessment Center was exported into the private sector ; in particular it was employed on a m assive sca le by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T), who used it to select the numerous line manage r s of the company . Addit ionally it was employed by Standard Oi l Oh io, IBM, and Sear and General Electric. The principal differences between USA and Great Britai n was in the application of the sys tem, in the ' weighting' of various parts of the test; in GB the importance was given to the gro u p exercises w ith leaders assigned, to group discussions and to the long written exercises , wh i le in America more emphasis was pu t on exe r cises such as in-t ray (3), group exe rcises with roles assigned and two person role play (4 ).

Italy

Wilfred Ruprecht, amongst the first to implement the Assessment Center.

vided into; ••Aptitude tests, for the measurement of the ability and capacity to carry out, potentially, certai n tasks. ••Personality tests, tests that assess the candidates character in terms of emot ions, sociability, motivation, interests and attitudes. · Individual interviews The three type of exercises mentioned were conducted by a team of th ree, an 'old' office r , and officer of a sim ilar level to the candidate and a psychiatrist. This system resu lted in an improvement balance in spotting which officers cou ld be deployed in operational un its and which ones shou ldn't. Af ter the Second World War the system was used again to decide the selection process for entry into the civil service. A variant of the same idea was also used to help the selection process for entry into the Armed Forces.

The arrival of the Assessment Center didn' t follow the usual path of new organizat ional management trends, coming via the multinational s or the lar ge consulting compan ies. The first use came at the end of the Seventies by Montedison which saw the system as a good device to he l p them choose their managers. The need arose from the 'managerial' crisis that was made wo r se by t he competition in the chemica l industry. And created a system that would win out over al l ot her options and techniques, both in the pr ivate sector and the public sector for choosing the leadership of tomorrow. In 2002 the Italian Army, wanting to improve its selection procedures , adopt ed the principals of the Assessment Center. It was able to spot, with notable precision, the person with the charact eristics , or capacity, greatly suited to the position for which this form of select ion proced u re, or caree r guidance, was aimed at. Current ly the career guidance procedure is used for; • Fut u re managers of t he Armed Forces t hat are applying to j oin the l stit uto Superiore di Stato Magg iore l nterforze (ISSIMI); • The l ines of command for the lstituti di Formazione , the Train ing Institutes (Military Academy, School for Non-commisioned Officers, and Volontari, Nunziatella and Teulie reg imental t rai n ing)

• For the Speci al Operations Force s • Inform at ion Research Unit • For those peopl e w ho wish to be added to the list of reserves for th e Armed Fo rce s

DESIGNING OF AN ASSESSMENT CENTER SESSION With reg ards to t he motivation t hat push es an organization to apply su ch method ology to their huma n re so urces o ne can note a su bstan tial d iffe re nce i n the needs betwee n public and private companies. For the forme r the Assess ment Center normally answe rs to i n st rumental needs, co mparab le to an i nvest ment in hu man reso urces . For the latter it represents a criteri a of evaluation and development of the h uman reso urces. Whichever th e motivati on for want ing to use an Asses sm ent Cen ter, it ca n be see n in figure 3 t he phases in w h ich a session of evaluati on follows. The ana lys is of t he w ork , and the parameters that outline t he eval uation is a com ple x process t hat offers a number of possibi lities. In fact the re are num ero us te chniqu es to study posi tio ns and variou s interlocutors to consider. Equal ly as diverse are the options for delineating an d weight ing o f the critical di me nsions rega rding the var io us ins t ruments and t echn iq ues t hat are avai lab le. The choice o f tec h niques de pen d s on t h e contingent conditions in relation to the orga nizatio n, for exampl e t he amou nt of ti me available. In the process of d efin ing t he role it wi ll be necessary to outline and choose the capac ities that in respect to the positio n under sc rutiny cou ld be used to define t he most i m portant fea t ures and t hat r epres ent the 'key capacities' . The problem of choosing the evaluators (observe rs an d coordi nators) - w ith regards to ra in ing these employees in techniques of ob se rvatio n a nd recording of behaviour patterns, constitutes on e of the mo re urge nt an d sensi t ive aspects of all t he Assessment Center im ple men tati o n . All th e va r iou s auth ors are of u na nim o us accord t hat on ly those eval uato rs t hat have rece ived t he right training coachin g i n assess me nt are ab le to grad e the performan ce of th e pa rticipants , and so give any value to the process as a whole and any judgements made. Differen t me thods are used for different eval uators ; t he mo st comm on consists of putting val ues for exercises that are done in certain se q uence s, discu ssi ng the n the process with an ex pert g uide, in such a way to unders tand in a deeper manner t he exerc ise a nd t he i ndicato rs that such an exerc ise cou ld offer. Ofte n these

exe rcise s are r ecorded for future evaluatio n an d pl ayback and discu ss ion afterwar ds. Another method consists of making the eval uators take pa rt in other As se ssme nt Centers in the gui se of an obs erver to th en be abl e to famil iar ize and u nderstand t he phas es and the con te nt of activities and the p rob lems of eval uat ion . Bot h types of train i ng would be cou pled wit h classes in th eoret ical understand i ng. T he task of the observers is t o not e the behav iour t hat th e pa rtic ipants use in th e grou p and individual exe rcises and , subs eq uently, to correla te it to the objective capaci t ies o ut l ined in t he questi onn ai re. T herefore t he pri mary objective of an obs erver shou ld be t he abi li ty to t ra nscribe with swiftness and pre ci sion what is said and done du r ing an ex erc ise by th e pa rti ci pants in an Asses sment se ssio n. T he f irst step i n the trai ning of an observer is how to record with the best fi delity the action s, assertio n s and attitudes of t he observed . The prin cipal t hat t he obse rve r -

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PHASE l Identification of the professional figures of reference, analysis of job and highlighting of critical factors. /

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PHASE 2 Choice and training of evaluation, definition of the tools of observation, organization of the programme, elaboration of results and evalu ation feedback.

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Use of results and profiles, quality control of the Assessment Center in terms of the forecasted predictions of placement into positions. 1,1

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should follow is that of delayi ng j ud gem en t, because th e j udg ement should com e at a later t i me, a ti me separate from t he actions bei ng recorded, for a more balanced judge ment. Th e seco nd abil ity of a g ood observer co me s i nto pl ay w hen the ob se rver is recording t he data observed, and is based on the principle s of 'beh avioural psych ology ', accordi ng to what is sci entifica lly significant , to only re cord what is co nsid ered 'object ive ' . Name ly what is to be recorded sho uld be what is sai d, what is done or what is shown and wh at is forb idd en is any in te rpretation of a subj ective nature . Expres se d actions can be r ecorded but not so easily stat es of mind. To put into effect an Asse ssm ent Cen ter session it is necessary to have the presence of a co-ord inato r that facil itate s the smooth run-

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ning of the session for the observer. T he reafaced and are ext reme ly valuable (with a success rate of 80%) in choosing the correct capacsoning for such a presence are found whenever one observes a smooth running Assessment ity for being su itable to the fi nal t ask. Such tests create circumstances in wh ich the subCenter. A session requires that someone has jects have to manage cha ins and resources, made e nough cop ie s of all the activities and take decisions, fo llow results; the aim being of other administrative tasks . They can pre - orwh ich is to simu late the behaviour in t he subganize the pairing off of observe rs and partici ject si milar to the possible rea lity. The exercis pants. And addit ionally it is extreme ly useful to es are divided in to group and individual, the have someone avai lable for the genera l manformer being tests or working in groups. agement of the session , that brings all the materials (exercises, questionnaires, forms etc), firmly controls the timings , exp la ins the correct A CASE STUDY: PROFILE OF THE APPOINTMENT procedures for t he comp letion of the quest ionOF AN OPERATOR FOR THE INFORMATION REnaires and forms, as wel l as being able to reSEARCH UNIT. spond to all the queries th at the participants could ask . Fin ally, what is also important is in the group T he evo lution of the international scene has discussions that has a number of objectives for forced the army to adopt a process aimed at the observers is that the d isc ussion runs sacquiring the latest operat ing capacity at the moothly. And the co-ordinator doesn't just highest leve l of special ization, ready even to be have t he role of simply being a moderator but sent overseas. In this context t he Infor mation Research Unit with the capacity of humint (Hu also and above all of methodology and instigaman Inte lligence), is one of the key priorities tor. Th e co-ordinator shou ld have the profes that the Armed Forces has intended to achieve sional author ity to supply ass istance and supin t he short term . port to the observers , even in the course of This unit, in particu lar, m ust develop the catheir work to help them w ith data collection and pacity humint both in terms elaboration during and sof training and in the operatraight after the exercises. The coordinator therefore ' ' ... only the evaluators ... tiona l mode of info r mation collection and selected operhas to have a good under- are able to assess the per(5), in terms of the stand i ng of the methodology, formance of the partici - ations an alysis , the p lanning , the have a solid record as an ob server and a good memory, pants ... ,, tra in ing and coaching of i ndividuals and 'team operatives'. every time, of al l the exercis The career guidance act ivies used, as we ll as the charties are developed via the study of the defin iacteristics of each exercise utilized. And to tion of the reference profile of the humint Opknow by hea rt the object ive capacities being erato r . Specifically, in order to define the role, assessed and the connections between them. the col laboration of experienced Officers and That in essence is the respons i bil ity of man Non-commissioned officers in the releva nt secaging the whole of the Assessment Center ses tor was requested and they were interviewed sion, the preparation of the sess ion and mateindividually in a structured fashion (6). T h is rials and the comp letion of the work right up to group constituted the 'Champ ions of Referthe final co llection of data. ence' for what the post enta iled . In this phase At the moment the Ital ian Army has 34 qualipart of the i nformat ion required to ' underf ied Assessment observers and coordinators. For the assessment of the capacit ies one must stand' the required capacities of the operator use the tests , choos in g those tests that are the was supp lied. Another step was getting togeth most suitable for verification of the capacities e r the personnel to participate in a focus group that would mean someone could fi ll for real the (7) to discuss 'Activities and competencies in the humint environment' . Finally all the inforpost that they are being assessed for . Among the tests most frequently used in the Assess mation was col lected and a document was written outlining the specific f unctions, train ing, ment Center inc lude the Leaderless Group Dismodus operandi in var ious env i ronments and cusson (LGD), t he 'In Basket' , the 'Business in formation gathering techniq ues. At the end Game', 'Interview Simulation' , Presentations, there was the choice of the relevant technical 'Fact Finding ' and the aptitude tests and situainstruments (in order to simulate realistic scetional tests. na r ios) for assessing the highlighted capacit ies In particular the last tests supply realistic and to define the procedures for correctly cartests for the actual situations that are to be

rying out the career guidance stage. At the end of t he te sting period all the information and results co ll ected wer e compi led t ogether, and the individu als were compared to the champions o f reference i n re lation to t he act iviti es deem ed important to role of the Operato r. Schematical ly these activities can be di vided in the fol lowi ng mod e ; • Abil ity to effectively com m u nicate verbal ly • Easi ly ab le to keep inte r perso nal relations with any type of interlocutor • Able to appreciate and manage correct ly differences i n race , cu lture, statu s etc as tes t ed • To be ab le to se parate data from i nfor mation in a preci se man ner On th e basi s of such activit ie s d escribed above a cha racter profil e (aptitudes and organi zational behaviour) was ab le to be created fo r the carryi ng ou t of the j ob function in questio n . T he n th ere were ide ntified t he fo llowin g eight apt itud es (8); · Verbal reason in g ; comprehen sio n of co ntent and se nsitivity of lan guage in verbal ex pres sion · Abstract reasoni ng; perce pt ion of all as pects of a situation rel evant to a situation in re -

The Army has adopted the Assessment Center principles for the selection of its personnel.

gard s to si m ila r it ies , d iffe rences, casual conne ction s. • Open m inded ; interes t in keep i ng an d acqui ring knowledge . Ab ility to see situations from more th an on e viewpoint. • Memory; retent ion of verbal facts and the fol lowing organ izat ional behaviours •·Ve rbal communication; ca pacity to ex press w ith cla rity and t o simp lify facts and con cepts to any type of i nterloc uto r, ta kin g care of what i s being said ••Avai labi l ity in interpersonal relation sh ips: capac ity to understand the perceptions, th e needs, t he attitudes of others and utilize them in a const ructive way • •Co l lect io n an d el aborat ion of inform ation ; ca pac ity to research, com pi le and make ex pl icit data and facts avai labl e from th e re levant environment and hidden in co m plex representation s of reality • •O r ientat ion of resul ts ; capaci ty to direct on eself and ot hers co ntinu ally in t he pu r -

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petencies (in terms of knowledge, capacity and experience) of the i nternal resources . A nd in so doing taking away the financial and managerial reli ance on external companies and limiting the cultural resistance from w ithin; i n this style of Assessment Center there isn't the judgement of people but rather the judge ment of relative performance to an ind iv idual post; the final profi le, that desc r ibes the final capacity required to be put into act ion , is able to state who is ready now and who is not. • Beneficiaries; it's presented as a tool of evaluat ion but it 's also for deve lo pment, in this sense that it can appreciate the strong points of someone and those that are needed to be improved in the context of the organization. Beyond the nature of the test, there are problems to resolve, it represents a intellectual challenge to those who participate, to what comes out - which is i nevitable when t he CONCLUSIONS playful side is engaged - even to those who are resistant to such career guidance. The inThere exist undeniable difficulties with t he volvement of t he simulat ion s pushes the parindiscriminate use of Assessment Center ticipants to 'put into play' their capacities, methodology, connected to reasons of culture even if their egos are opposed to the notion. and finances . In fact the use of such a method• The value of observation; it uses tools that di ology is expensive, especial ly if based on the rectly observe behaviour. absorpt ion of resources from Mu lt iple observat ions allows within the organization. For such reasons it's not infre - ' ' The situation tests sup- the escape from the two steriquently passed over to spe- ply realistic conditions for le traps t hat can be falle n in, namely the clai m of objeccialist consultants . the simulation of actual to tivity ('there is only one t ruth') Also undeniable - and there situations and permit a re- and that of subjectivity ('I am are a good number of factors the only truth'). And thanks to not in its favour- are the liable evaluation of the ca the observations, in variou s number of benefits of an As- pabi I ities scrutinized .. , , gu i ses with differing obsersessment Center, such as has vers, it' s possible to achieve been created in the Armed the objective of an authent ic inter-subjectiviForces, has int roduced to the process of career ty ('the truth is a human system shared out by guidance four fu ndame nta l areas for future refour definitions of reality') . Observi ng the erence; photos (on the following pages) of the same · the plurality of techniques of evaluation; the street from two different ang les. The design use of numerous techniques to cross referen is the same ... but they appear completely difce diverse observations to create one eva luaferent from the po int of view of the observer. tion. In effect this reduces errors in t he final T hanks to the t ec hnology of Assessment, we decision. It helps to clarify, strengthen and would be able to ta ke advantage of a t hi rd harm onise against any eventual discrepancies party's viewpoint on the situation to gai n a among t he viewpoints. The qua lity of the evanew perspective that wou ld help to dispel any luatio n is assured by means of ' strength of uncert ainty about what it is we are observing. numbers', the rat io of observed to observer as As i n the operational real ity, the crossha ir of one to two. the marksmen must rest on the right objecti• The operators. It's seen that the observers ve. In summary this is t he synthesis of the should be subject to the direction of line madifference with other methodologies in how it nagement that have a training content, but is a sophisticated system designed to cancel specifically, that t hey have an interest in the out the preju d ice s of the observer, which is problems of development of staff. Emphasiinevitable in every human, that cut across sing that t he fundamenta l role in such a sen other methods. sitive area as career guidance could be carrie d In conclusion, taking the metaphor already used, out at the ' front line', inviting t he use of corn -

suit of the objectives previously formulated in a nature coherent with the objectives themselves. From the examination of results and the in formation col lected it facilitated the choice of which instruments to use (aptitude tests, group exercises, questionnaires and interviews), the mode of interpretation (observation models , models of interview evaluation and matrixes of behaviour related to area under observation) and for the measuring of organizational behaviour and breakdowns on subjects. From 2004 to today the re have been 1 2 in ternsh ips , a career guidance project involvi ng 172 Officers, Non - commiss ioned officers and volunteers in permanent serv ice hoping to be assigned to the Information Research Unit.

it can be said that the As sessment Center is a way to tak e a photograp h fro m many di fferen t angles. And as always when one re- sees t he p roblem one can be more or le ss satisf ied t hat now t hey are viewi ng the re al sit uation ... b ut i t will continue t o be difficult however to not r eco g n ise one sel f in the photo , t hat rep re sents o u r ' balanced' se lves and t he point at which we must le ave off for deve lo p ing each h u ma n reso u rce.

Riccardo Stanca Major, Professional Orientation and Development Office, Personnel Employment Department, Army General Staff Daniele Ragg i Captain, Professional Orientation and Deve lopment Office, Person nel Employment Department, Army General Staff

NOTES (l) Wilfred Ruprecht Bion (Muttura, India 1897 - Ox -

ford, UK 1979) arrived late into the psychoanalysis profession . After a brief period in childhood spent in India he arrived in England aged 8. After finis hing grammar school he en listed as an officer and fought in t he last year of the Great War, and was decorated for mil itary valour. After the war he graduated in history from Ox ford University, and t hen taught for a brief period in London, then r et urned to un iversity to study med icine at t he Un iversi ty of Lond on. Fo llowi ng the state exam s he became interested in psychotherapy and attended t he Tavistock Clinic unt il 1932. Undertaki ng an analysis with John Rickman in 1938 that was then interru pted by the Second World War, and then com pletely aban doned when Bion and Rickman fou nd th emselves working together as military psychiatrists in the Northfield military hospital - the place where Bion started to develop his t heo ri es on groups, t hat would eventual ly lead to the definitive formulation in 'Group Experiences' . Even if after t he 195 0's Bion no longer worked in the f ield of groups his perceptions of the individual and the group ran through the remaind er of his work as a psy-

Rivista Militare Englis/J Edition

choanalyst. Undertaking analysis with Melanie Klein in 1945 he rapidly became a leading figure in the British Psychoanalytical Society (directing the London society from 1956 to 1962, and then President of the Society from 1962 to 1965). He moved to Los Angeles in 1968, before returning to England a few months before his death in November 1979. (2) www.psychometrics .co.uk (3) Exercises that require the carrying out of certain tasks regarding information that is norm ally only available to a manager, such as letters, internal notes and other information of a mor e general nature. The candidate is r equired to take decisions based on this information in a limited time. (4) The Role Play is a training tool t hat simulates probl ems that the real job may involve. It offers the opportunity to study the inter action of participants related to such tasks as they each take roles as-

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sumed for the simu lati o n and to see how the parti cipants handle having to t ake the initiative. (5) Activities that for on e part are base d on local customs and civi l ities (in relation to where they might be placed) and the other part on open ques tions. Where the candidate looks to establish a stable re lationship with the so urce of the information and move towards the ai m of information gathering. (6) Structured interview; intervi ews that are conducted in strict control s of time and structure so are unvarying (7) Focus Group; Open group dis cussion related to tasks (8) Aptitude ; something that cannot be di r ectly observed, but whose effects are predictable. Where the progress of the individu al and the capacity of the subject examined can be monitored and predicted and suitabl e train i ng can be advised.

WOMEN SOLDIERS IN PEACEKEEPING The possible use of service- women in the theatre of operations, in terms of professionalism, experience and sensitivity, is a precious resource that is already called- on on a dai ly basis to solve innumerable problems . One aspect of participat ion that is of real qualitative value is their marked abi lity to communicate and enter into the local reality.

The role of women in a peacekee ping mission, women in to t he leadi ng roles in peacekeeping be t hey soldiers, UN functionaries, local acprocesses. t ivists , or unfortun ately as victims of the conYet war is changing. In fact it has passed from f li ct, is of g reat strate gic importan ce in the bein g confli cts betwee n states to conflicts success of a mission , and it is true t hat "as within states; fro m war with its externa l dimenmuch as women are half of every community, sion, with the armies deployed i n batt lefields, they are also half of eve ry peace process soluto an intern al dimension that is made up by tion." (1 ). components of th e same country (i nter- et hn ic) Despite this evident potential the 'fe minine' di or is exported and inflicted "at home" such as mension in peacekeeping operwith the attack on the Twin ations remains an aspect little Towers in September 2001 . The war on terrorism has unexpl ored . ' ' In the collective social An explanation cou Id b e imagery, men are seen as do ubted ly acce lerated this found in the cult ural discon process and has inaugurated warmongers and women this nection between women and era of so-called "post w ar. According to trad itional as bringers of universal modern confli cts" charactersoc io logical images created by peace ,, ized by the "flu idity" between western culture war is, after t he standard categories ; bio logical reproduction, the war/ peace , country/ front, mili most se xual ly seg regat ing activity. In the co l tary/civilian. Mode rn conflicts have seen the sucle ctive social im agery, specifically, men are cessive interiorization of the "front line", moving seen as warmongers and women as the bringers from the true battlefields into built up areas, in a of un ive rsal peace. This entre nched cul tural process of "Stalingradization" of the conflict. stereotype see ms to have hampe red access fo r As a con seque nce eve n the victims have ch anged . Before it was 90% so ldiers, now it's 90% civilians. Toget her with the peacekeepers of Nas sirya, Herat and Kabul it is mainly wom en , the o ld and chi ldren who die in cu rrent conflicts . As t he A mer ica n sociologist Allen Beverly sa id: "In the se wars there ar e no longer fronts, death reaps you when you are i n line for bread or whi le you are do ing the shop p ing at th e market .'' (2). Left. A Nepalese woman soldier of the "UNAMSIL " Contingent in Sierra Leone in 2003. Title pages. An Italian female soldier on surveillance duty in Afghanistan.

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Kofi Annan, then UN Secretary General, inspecting a unit of the "Monuc" Contingent in the Congo Republic.

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The experiences for women in conflicts is d istinctively differe nt from those for men: one can, for examp le, th ink of rape and vio lence those im proper weapons of modern conflicts. Hist orically they are above all victims, even if at times t hey transform t hemselves into voluntary part icipants (soldiers, guerrillas, workers), or involuntary part icipants (s uch as the "bush w ives" in Liberia). But conflict has transformed even the ir connect ed roles; society, deprived of ab le men (k il led, de po rted, disappeared) forces women to substitute them in a new and often improvised process of fe male empowerment, as had happened after the world war. In all cases they are important carr iers of collective memory and of personal experiences that have to be collected and entered into the process of reconciliation in order to all ow soc iet y to escape from the conflict, to t ake stock of their past and to go ahead .

THE NORMATIVE PICTURE Gender po litics cou ld be analysed under two perspectives: the q uantitative criteria of the numerical value of women in a given situation (gender balance) and the qualitative criteria wh ich takes account of t he differing prospectives between men and women in what ever particular ave nue, political, economic and social (gender mainst reaming).

The participation of women in t he operations of keep ing the peace concerns both the dimen sions cited and is control led by a series of in ternationa l rules starting with the Co nvent ion aga inst a ll fo r ms of discrim ination aga i nst wome n ( l 979) to the Peking Dec larat ion (1995) that for t he fi rst time mentioned the theme of female-peacekeeping, and up to the Wi ndhoek Declarat ion (2000) that affirmed the i nd i ssol ub ility between the connection between peace and sexual equal ity. But t he lynchp i n of this complex normative process is represented i n reso lution no. 1,325 "Women , peace and security", adopted unanimously by the UN Security Counc il on the 31 st Octobe r 2000. T his resol ution, strongly wanted by natio nal and inte r national fema le activists, fi lled the legal gap re lated to women - peacekeepi ng that was left by the Brahimi report in 2000 . In its l 8 points it asks t he Securit y Council, t he Secret ary General and all states contributing armed/police forces to commit to three di rective p r i nc iples , namely; the part icipat ion of women i n peace processes ; the inc lusion of the perspect ive of gender in peacekeeping ope rations; the protect ion and secur ity of women i n such missions. Every year, in October, in New York, the an niversary of th is reso l ution is celebrated in the form of an open debate in which the various governments are invited to mention the various measures adopted i n its application. It was re ce nt ly requested of the states to supply, annually, a p lan of action for the enforcement of the above said resolution . The obj ective is to correct the key gaps in the reso lution , bas ica lly that of t here being no mechanism for accountabil ity that wo ul d encourage all the UN member states to comply both nationa lly and int ernationa lly . Even though the reso lution covers a lot of ground and details in can not, and doesn' t i ntend to, cover all eventual it ies . It is like every polit ica l comprom ise in this respect, it is the fruit of long negot iations and leaves some missed opportunities to cover up the weak point s; suc h as not inc lud ing t he prol-i lem of wome n as victims of confl ict; o r not inc.;uJ;;-,,, the nomination of an independe nt expe rt: or not guaranteeing the regu lar flow of informat ion from experiences and the co llect ive mem ory of women into the peace processes. Unfortunat ely the agreed guidelines in resolution 1, 325 rema in an e lement sectorial and

Italian female ÂŤBersagliereÂť in the turret of a VCC-1 in operations.

are not included automatically, as they should be, when the Security Counci l dep loys a peace m ission. A positive except io n is given to us by the UN Peace Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in wh ich - even though the passi ng of resolut ion 1,325 was subsequent to t he UNM IK i n 1999 t he concept of gender balance was introduced in the Operational Plan in 2004- 2005 and in t he "Kosovo Standard" forming one of the fu ndamental requ irements for the aspired establishment of a juridical status. The electoral law stated that a thi rd of all candidates must be women; and thanks to this clause women made up 28% of the fi nal Kosovan Legislative Assem b ly . Two years after its approval , to avoid the res o l ut ion becoming a dead documen t Graca Mache l, advisor to the Secretary General on the impact of armed conflict on chi ldren, proposed that two i ndependent experts should be nomi nated to evaluate the situation of women in t he peacekeeping m i ssions and to veri f y the progress reac hed in the app lication of the res olution. Th e report produced by El izabeth Rhen

and Ellen J. Sirleaf, under the ausp ices of UNIFEM , "Progress of t he World's Women 2002 Women , War, Peace" (3) , is an ext reme ly i mportan t document t hat collates t he stories of women from 14 peacekeepi ng operat ions v isit ed . In all of t he m issions it was obse rved how the local women strong ly f elt the prese nce of the "peacekeeping environment" and it underlined t he correlation between the arrival of the peacekeeping mission and the growth of local pro stitution . The report , published by t he UN , supp lies an extraord i nary testimony and con cludes with a precise recommendat ion . Unfortunately however it has not been adopted as an official UN document, perhaps beca use of the simp licity of the language used and the di rect and precise crit ic ism dis hed out. One of the ob ject ives reached thanks to resol ut ion 1,3 25 is sure ly t he inst itut ion in 2003 of a "Gende r Ad v isor" in DPKO, t he peace keeping department of the UN, who coordinat es all the gender advi sors spread out amo ngst the various peacekeeping m iss ions . At the moment out of the 18 peacekeep ing operatio n s, as ma ny as t en have a full t ime gender adviso r (including such ope rat ions as Afghanistan, Co ngo, Kosovo, Ha it i and Sudan). UNM IK was the first m i ss ion that the UN emp loyed a gende r advisor, wit h wh ich

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t ions and revo lts. Spec if ical ly in Liberia thei r presence has contributed to the disarm ing and demobi lization of over 20,000 female ex - so l d iers. A nd this would never have been ach ieved without body- search ing. Fu rthermore t he polit ics of "ze ro to lerance" w ith respect to any type of sexual exp loitat ion was made possib le by the prese nce of these peacekeepers. Bu t th is all - female unit remained the except ion and for this reason it made the news . Even wit h t he formal comm itment and sign ing of reso lution 1,325 the Un ited Nat ions and NATO sti ll seem to stil l not have undertake n a re al strateg ic p lan for improv in g t he ge nder ba lTHE ROLE OF WOMEN IN UNIFORM ance in the peacekeep ing m issions. T o overcome this inertia and revive resolution Peacekeeping, in it's curren t generally ac1,325 there were, in Ma rch 2006, t alks entitled cepted mean i ng, is the meeting of two com "Increas ing the operational impact of peace plete ly d ifferent worlds: the commu nity t hat is keepi ng miss ions : Gender ba lance i n the UN exitin g the confl ict and t hose of th e ex patriate s mil itary peacekeep ing contingents", under t he - milita ry or civ ilian personne l involved in the aus pices of DPKO , the peace keeping depart peace mission - w ho arrive with a specific t he ment of the UN . The meet ing, cha ired by Com atre of operations t hat of br ing ing he l p to t he fort Lampey, gender adv isor t o the depa rtm en t , popu latio n. This meet ing brings a sudden and un ited about 50 countries inevitab le "contaminati on " w ho were contri buting to t he between the two cu lt u res and '' ... they demonstrated a missions w ith troo ps and or a clash between the re specpo l ice forces. The scope was proven capacity to commutive, and often d istant , con that of exploring ways and snicate with a less authori cepts of sex (consider t he statrategies for increasi ng the tus of women i n Afg han istan tarian approach and greater number of ways and strate under the Taliban r egim e) empathy, thus reinforcing g ies for the effective deploywhich puts in act ion serious the dialogue with the local ment of fema le- soldie rs in changes . In every mission we can i - community, convincing the the theatre of ope rations. The dentify t hree distinct cate- interlocutor to cooperate debate offered t he first con crete opportun ity to h igh light gories of women w ho at t i mes rather than rebel , , a strategic plan that wo ul d alinteract: those locals who are low the in creased presence of bot h leaders and or polit ica l women in peacekeeping and for ide nt ifying activists o r just mothers of families but st ill t he ir operational impact on the operat io ns. must be faced by the international mis sion: The debate revolved arou nd a DPKO docu those civi li ans that work for t he va r ious agenment wh ich was based on a questionna ire sent cies o r NGOs: those in th e mil itary that operate out, in February 2006, to al l t he conti nge nts within the contingent. employed in operat ions, to UN staff, UN mil iTh is art icle aims at i nvestigat ing the ro le of ta ry advisors a nd DPKO personal (5) . The re t he female so ldier and to suggest ways of how spon se rate was sur pr isingly hig h (abo ut 70%) to maxim ise their ope ratio nal impact. wh ich shows that as a iss ue it was welcomed for In September 2006 t he Indian Government debate. create d t he f i rst al l female po l ice unit: 1 25 ofT here emerged a pr incipal fact : that female f icers , tak en from t he Ind ian Central Reserve so ldie rs active in peacekeep i ng operat ions acPolice Fo rce, t hey were trained t o fo rm t he first co unt for on ly 1.7% percent of all forces deall f e ma le team that in October was deployed ployed . Obtai ni ng t his fac t was difficult:,~ t here into Lib eri a, a country t orn apart by over 2 5 is a genera l lack of in format io n and a aiffi<..J;~ years of fighting. Inte rviewed abo ut t his news , methodology which the states wou ld have had Kiran Bed i (4), a senior member i n t he Indian to go throug h to contribute . po lic e force with a vast experience of peace Ana lysing the responses to the q uest ion nai re ke ep i ng confirmed t hat women were less sh ows that t he contrib ut io n of fema le- soldiers threaten in g and knew how t o create closer tie s (armed forces or pol ice) i n t he peacekeeping w ith the loca l popu lation. The officers were missions are concent rated on certain specific specia lly trai ned i n crowd co ntrol, demonst ra-

it direct ly undertook a partici pat ion proj ect with Kosovan women for the resto rat ion of peace. Completi ng the normative pict ure of women in peacekeeping was added, one month after the adopti on of res olutio n 1,325 , a reso lution of the Europea n Par liament ( no 2000/2,025) : with more assert ive language and conta ining specific recommen dati ons such as t hem being at least 40% of al l peacekeeping miss ion s and European observers .

individual fun ct ions which are alm ost com p letely unanimous to al l the respon ses to the questionnaires. The most important of which is surely the sensi t ivity demonstrated by the female-so ld iers towards the needs and aspirati ons of the local women. They dem onstrated a proven capacity to communicate with a less authoritarian approach and greater empathy so reinforcing the dialogue with the local community and to convince the represe ntatives to cooperate rather than rebel. They gave to t he local women a real - l ife and cred ibl e example of role mode ls (for exam pl e consider th e fema le - police officers i n Ti mor Est who had enroll ed in th e local po lice forces) and for eschewing the masc ul i ne culture . T he female-soldiers are f urthermore the safe and tru stwort hy contact with half of the population (wo men and girls) . They can be given tas ks that in other societies are traditional ly and cu lturally forbidden to men, for exampl e body se arch es of f emale - so ldiers and fe male civ il ians , the co llection of intel l igence r egard ing sex ual and physical violence (en demic in postwa r situations), which if not absorbed into th e proces s of reconcil iati on r isks sooner or late r to undermine any new peace foundat ions. But from the debate also em erged a dis courag ing fact: the increase i n th e nu mber of

Percentage of female personnel employed in peacekeeping operations (2005-2006) NATO Source - 2006 member states reports Belgium

20.6 %

Canada

17.8 % In UN mission 9 % Afghanistan

Denmark

6%

France

5%

Germany

3.5%

Hungary

8%

Poland Portugal United States

1.27% Up to 10 % In the Army 11 %

women involved in th e peacekeep i ng p roce ss was st rong ly w ished for by al most al l the respond ents, in which they testify t hat the em p loym ent of women in the the atre of operatio ns would have a positive impact on the successfu l outcome of t he mission and that they r eprese nt a fu nd ame ntal i nstrum ent in achieving lastin g res ults in the slow process of stabi lizatio n. However the un an im ous co nsensu s expressed amon gst the states that are contributing troops and poli ce offi cers on t he necessity of increa sing th e nu mber of wom en shows si gns of something not functioning seeing that their presence as a total pe rcentage is onl y 1. 7%. The key reason for su ch a low number is due t o the armed forces and police services of t he contributing countries . We can see from th e natu ral reserves of t he respective cou ntries, from whic h they take the peacekeepi ng troops, that they have withi n their reserves between 1% an d 14% female operatives. And on closer in spection t he peace keepi ng average of 1. 7% is much lower tha n the averages for the total relevant armed forces (8. 7%) or police servi ces (5 . l %). Th is shows th at although th e count ries t hat were included i n t he questionnaire had ap proved r es olution 1,325 i n reality few or no ne of the governm ents had th e feasi ble r eso urces to increas e t he number i n t he fie ld of operations. Lyi ng over t he co nvict ion for t he creation of eq ual opportun ities b etween m en and women w illi ng to enter into a mil ita ry career must be an automatic precursor for the ac hievement of an increase in the pre sence of women in peace o perat ion s. The gove rn me nts se em until now to have un ders tood the agreed imperative of the resolu tio n for the i ncreasing of such peacekeepers as

A Bersag/ieri patrol controlling a town.

Rivista Mililare English Edition n. 1/2007

a general commitment to improve equal opportunities. But the guaranteeing of equal access to the m il itary profession has been revealed as insufficient in increas i ng the number of women in uniform, and so it's i'ndeed true that it has made essentia l a whole series of "positive dis crimination" actions (for example adjusting the recruitment procedures) in order to remove the barriers that ex ist and to att ract more fema le personnel to a military career .

rival started in 1973 with the approval of t he All Volunteer Force Act, a measure by the negat ive ef fects of the Vietnam War on recr uitment attraction. Today women represent 8.6% of all American peacekeeping troops, more than 11,200 American women have se rved in NATO operations and a good 37,000 in the Gulf du ring Operat ion Desert Sto rm in 1991. With regard to this it's worth pointing out an interest ing research study by t he Po rtuguese Helena Carreiras (7) who has compared t he diverse types of integration of female sold iers in the various WOMEN IN THE NATO ARMED FORCES armed forces of NATO count ries and she calculated "an integration index". AcNATO, which is considered an co rding to the study in the year "organization in transforma' ' ...the entrance of women 2000 about 280,000 women tion" received in the Prague into the Army is seen as a had been in service for NATO, Summit in 2002 the request to shared opportunity, which 70% in support areas (personpropose recommendations for improves the image of the nel, administration, logistics) the improvement of gender baland only 7% in t he fie ld of com ance within the organization Service and its organiza- bat (artillery, infantry, caval ry) . and to adopt gu ide lines on tional capacity without re As far as ranks are concerned, such problems in peacekeeping ducing its combat ability ,, on ly l 5% are of senior rank operations. The integration of wh il e 49% are ord inary troops . women into the armed forces of Within the At lant ic Alliance the Atlantic Alliance is the core function of the there emerges two types of countries : the first Comm ittee of Women in NATO Armed Forces, a with a strong presence of women among t he consu ltant organisation since 1 976 that deals with troops but few amongst the officers (Belgium , the monitoring and promotion of that aspect. The Denmark, Ho ll and, Luxemburg, Spain) and t he comm ittee, of wh ich 25 of the 26 NATO countries take part (excluding Ice land) have been work ings Percentage of women soldiers in the NATO Armed ince 2004 on a document aimed at integrating the Forces (2001-2006) gender perspective into all aspects of NATO activSource: Office on Women in the NATO Forces Country ity. As was announced at the recent Sofia ConferPaese 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 ence, 30 September 2006, by Co lonel Astrid Belgium 7.6 7.9 8.2 8.26 8.3 8.3 Matschulat , Pres ident of the Committee, t he doc. . Bulgary 4.2 6.0 6 ument looks to formalise the guidelines i n t hree Canada 11.4 11.8 12.4 12.3 12.6 12.8 specific sectors planning of operations, training Czech Republic 3.7 10.0 10.0 12.3 12.21 ¡-12.21 and assessment of the female components. ' NADenmark 5.0 No data 5.0 5.0 5.0 5.3 TO is much more than a simple military power. We France 8.5 10.8 11.2 12.79 12.8 13.28 have to win the people ' s hearts and minds and we Gannany 2.8 3.7 4.4 5.2 6.0 6 Greece cannot increase the trust in NATO without the 3.8 3.8 3.8 4.2 16.0 5.4 Hungary 9.8 16.0 10,0 10 contribution of women ' (6). Th is document wil l be 4.3 17.56 Italy 0.1 0.1 0.5 0.53 1.0 1.6 distributed amongst member states and w ill fi . 13.5 20.0 .. Latvia nalised in 2007. Lithuania 6.04 9.07 12.5 Although all of NATO and the Atlantic A lli ance .. .. .. ... 5.71 Luxembourg countries have opened the opportunity of a m iliThe Netherlands 8.0 8.4 8.5 8.65 9.0 9 tary career to women , what is surprising is the d iNorway 3.2 3.3 5.7 8.3 8.3 7 vers it y that is characterised by t heir integration. Poland 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.47 0.47 0.52 According to the NATO Women's Committee the Portugal 6.6 6.6 8.4 8.4 8.4 12 number of women in the armed forces had risen Romania 3.98 5.0 5 by 3 ,000 (1967) to 288,000 (2001 ). Denmark and Slowakla 6.1 7.06 7.7 Norway are the two forces most advanced and Slovenia 18.2 15.38 -progressive in this respect. Norway especially who Spain 5.8 8.0 10.0 10.5 10.7 13.47 had thought of making military service obligatory Turkey 0.1 0.1 0.1 3.95 3.95 3.1 for women in orde r to readd ress the gender balUnited Kingdom 8.1 8.3 8.6 8.8 8.0 9.1 ance . It is the United States however who can boast United State, 14.0 14.0 15,0 15.0 15.5 6.27 t he highest permanent pe rcenti le (14%). Their ar-

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Pupils in a school in Kosovo.

second with a greater number amongst the offi cers (Canada, UK, USA). The study shows in a clear way how the growt h in gender balance wo ul d not happen as a consequence of time automatically w ith the presence of women in the armed forces but instead must be from actions directed at the prob lem and wou ld also depe nd on the support of women in key political positio ns.

WHAT IS ITALY DOING? As ind icat ed in the annual report of the NATO Women 's Comm ittee (8) is seen to have made some giant steps forward in a short amo unt of time . The women in m il itary service, fi rst introd uced in Italy w ith the law 380/ 99, are part of the important transformat ion of the Italian Armed Forces, centring on t he abolition of compu lsory mil itary se rvice and the move towards a recruitment system based on volu ntary enro lment. 2005 was t he last year in which wome n were recruited through a system t hat limited their numbers: in 2006 all compet itions and all positions were open to all. In 2005 out of a total of 314,400 so ldiers , 5,098 were wome n (1.6%). A recent research study on

the ir en listment into the armed forces , carried out by the Univers ity of Padua for t he Centre of Strategic Military Stud ies (CEM ISS) showed that a complete integration of this compo nent was reached. In Ju ly 2004 t here was add itionally the creation of a co nsultat ive comm ittee to he lp t he Chi ef -ofStaff of Def ence on the theme of t he integ rati on of female soldiers whic h is in contact w ith the d iverse military areas (sc hools , m issions, combat units and so forth) in which female soldi ers are present. In the recent EURISKO resea rch study, presented to the Army Staff in Novembe r 2006 entit led "What do Itali ans think an d know about the army" t he entrance of wome n into the army is see n as an opportunity fo r all of the following ; improves the image of t he armed forces (78%), it would improve its orga ni zational capacity (71%) w it hout damagi ng it's combat ability (8 1%) .

CIMIC Peacekeeping operati ons are constantly trying to adopt an ever more multidimensio nal approac h to be successful, through methods more comp lex and through using ever more actors (m ilitary, civi l, inst itutional) present in t he theatre. Civil and m ili tary cooperati on offers the necessary integratio n w ithin which the mult iple individ uals and

Rivista Militare Englisli Edition n. 112007

alienated from the military and diplomatic (still a groups can follow and realise t he peace objectives. masculine domain) environments, and to promote From the moment 'nation building' 'peace buildan effective participation of women in t he project, ing' and reconstruction became the 'core busiwithout satisfying itself with simply a mere nuness ' of NATO t he civil- military coordination has merical representation. In particular it would the earned an ever more important role within the Atinvolvement of those marginalized groups in the lantic Alliance. local society (the war veterans and victims of vioIn this way CIMIC has a dual objective: on the one lence) in the project of sensitisation of the civil sohand the coord ination of various actors in the theciety. atre of operations and from the other the 'unity of An other key operation al aspect regarding t he efforts' between civi l and military actors (10). In promotion of the ro le of women is that of the this second regard gender becomes a key tool to planning and distribution of humanitarian aid. As help the CIMIC Officials t o understand and control tested by t he World Food Programme of the Unitbetter the society in which they are operating. Ined Nations - the largest hum anitarian agency in teraction with the female side of society in fact althe world - t he distribution of human itarian aid to lows the identification of the vulnerabi lity, needs, local wome n guarant ees a minor dispersion of the interest s and history of the men and women that aid, and therefore a more secure way of reaching make up the local community, that should never be its objectives of assisting the population. T he WFP viewed as homogenous at the risk of creating for example adopted action of "posit ive disc rimi chasms in the community or of adopting measures nation" cons ig ning t he majority of food aid to that would not be accepted by all of the population. women because t hey were least likely to resell it in The active involvement of women in the post-conorder to buy new arms or so forth . flict environment is, therefore, an essential prereqIt's important , furthermore, that violence against uisite of obtain ing long lasting peace effects. women - an endemic situation In April 2006, in Holland , the in conflict - is an element that Civil-Mil itary Cooperation Cenmakes the security of all the soter for Excel lence organized its ' ' Interaction with the fefirst seminar on the theme of male side of society in fact ciety fragile . Witho ut wanting t o "Gender and Civil-m il itary rela- allows the identification of enter into areas t hat don't conthe m ilitary authorities, an tions: moving towards incluthe vulnerability, needs, in- cern increased "ear" towards t he vicsion?" (11) showing how t his topic has grown in current terests and history of the tims of violence could help to times eve n in terms of military men and women that make uncover hidden t roubles. Furthermore, and always more up the local community ,, and civil integration issues . regularly, the direct experiences Direct field experience shows in overseas missions confirm that for the success of a peacehow important it is to respect the culture, the r ul es keeping operation the Contingent has the need of and the values of each cou ntry in order t o avo id the support of all the host community. In particuclashes and m isunderstandings (for examp le body lar, through the partner ships for peace, an initiasearches by t he Americans in Iraq using dogs , an tive started in l 994 as an means to obtain the bi imals much dis liked in the Islamic world, or when lateral cooperation with singular countries, where body searches were car ried out between men and NATO had intended to reinforce the process of inwomen.) . To outrage a woman in fact sign ifies not volvement of the civil society where it had deon ly outrag ing her but also the men of her family. ployed its troops. The seminar had identified certain key sectors in which the CIMIC - wh ich contributes in a vital way CONCLUSIONS to t he constr uction of the partnerships for peace would have to reinforce the gender aspect by inWomen represent half of every population : and creasi ng the number of peacekeepers and increas to not take into accou nt in terms of experience, ing local involvement for the purpose of making information and conscience means that, for the the project longer lasting and as per the objectives leaders of t he contingent, not being ab le to peneof t he Armed Forces. trate into this half of the population under their The CIMIC Officials would have to accept that at contro l, and t herefore, not being to involve them least 40% of the personne l involved involved in the into the peace process. theatre of operations would have to be women. In In the increasing scope of peacekeeping - that is order to do this it would be important to maintai n becom ing ever more multid imension al and involva constant dialogue with the local NGO operations ing more disparate of actors - the inclu sion of the and with feminine organizations in order t o avo id aspect of gender is a necessary step of multiple the possible establis hment of "parallel universes"

challenges but supplies as many opportun1t1es. tra nsmi ss ion of t he lived exp erience s on the Even the annual Conf erence on women in the NAgrou nd from peacekeepers upon return fro m TO Armed Forces, last at Brussels 1 5- 19 May the mission . In some countries such as Mali and 2006, had debated th is them e and decided to Ba nglad es h the sharing of experie nces by so me therefo re includ e the issue of gender of all subsepeacekeepe rs gene rated a strong enthusias m in quent peacekeeping operations. their colleagues left at home creating a vis i ble But inte rnational regulatio ns are not enough to increase in de mand s to leave . With thi s in m ind change thi ng s; t here is the necess ity of "pos itive the organ ization Gen derfo rce are wor ki ng o n discrimination" in order to transform t he issue of the c reatio n of a databank that wil l collect f ie ld gender into a useful t ool for commanders. Unforexperiences and an i nformation kit to supply to t unately the rece nt cases of sex ual exploitation CIMIC Officials giving concrete proof of i n committed by peacekeepers and of humanitarian favo ur of actions in favour of ge nder promoworkers have o ften aggravated this debate and tion . sh ifted the debate on . In order to achieve resolu In order to sensitise the Armed Forces on the tio n 1325 t he operation al synergy of all peacethe me of gender a strategic move could be t hat of keeping workers involved is required, in particular, entrusting to some officials the pos ition of gender a promi nent role mu st be taken by those countries advisors in the field of operat ions. They could do cont ributing troops, by the Ar med Forces, by DPa great deal to create an environment receptive t o KO , by the local NGO and by the local popu lation. accepting gender issues even in a mascu li ne world Increasing the number of peacekeepers and insuch as the military and to move forward the conclu ding the perspective of gender are the two poscept of gender unti l it is inclu ded in all of the mil itive actions to ad opt for obta ining this objective. itary planning processes. The two aspects go hand in hand: it wou ld be so Seeing the clear political availability of countries much easier for the Armed Forces to construct to send females, the DPKO should be more explicsol id partnershi ps fo r peace it in their requ ests to countries with local women if women are to se nd withi n t heir numbers of also - but not only - amongst ' ' In a changing Army it's troops and police officers more th e peacekeepers themse lves, important to indicate the female- troops to be em ployed bei ng perceived by the local employment of women in within the peacekeeping mis population as less threatening peacekeeping missions as a sions. and more sympathetic. In Italy one of the resou rces It is firs t necessary to under- personal and career oppor- that the Itali an Army co uld put stan d through the historically tunity , , to good use is t he Select Remasculine environment (i n serve (Ri se rva Se lezionata). te rms of military and diplomatiProvi ded for by th e Ma rco ni cally) t hat gend er is a too l t hat can qualitatively law of 1932 it allows the adm ittance of civil ian s improve the peace building process both at an inwith specialized competencies to enter as a vol ternational level and at a local level , the ultimate unteer into the Armed Force s in the role of an ex tool to get t hrough to th e areas that military elepert that after a trai ni ng pe riod of 4 weeks woul d ments have been unable to penetrate and conquer. en ter at officer rank. To now there has been a toIn order to do this it 's necessary a rethi nking tal of 245 no minatio ns into the Sel ect Reserve, of the concept of ge nd er. One must ta lk of ' op about 91 wom en ( about 36%); from October erationa l effectiveness' of gender, as a means 2004 to October 2006, 43 fema le-officers were as a tool for t he military to achieve its o bjecempl oyed in peacekeeping missions. Thanks to tives of peace as di ctated by the mandate of the the Reserve the Army can use this provisio n in resolution. order to achieve the recommendations of resol uAnother fundamental aspect is that of training tion 1325 and reach the 40% quota of women aand of sensitising people to the su bject. Recently mongst thei r peacekeepers as per the year 2000 the DPKO has in clu ded training in some training res oluti on of th e European Parli ament. modules for peacekee pers in a document 'The Another opportunity is recruitment. In a changRules : code of conduct for UN peacekeepers" writing army it's important to demonstrate the emten in co nsu lt ation with t hose states who con ployment of wom en in peacekeeping m issio ns as a tribute so ld iers/police officers, and also a inforpersonal and career opportunity. In this way we mation pack "Gend er and peace-keeping" that should remember an interesting example supplied should shortly become ob ligatory for all peaceby the UK recru itment campaign in 2002. The t elkee pers, both m ili tary and civil. evis ion advert showed images of destruction in a A nd, furt hermore, t here is th e necessity of a country soon after a confl ict and stated 'Th is structured mechan ism for the coll ection and woman has been raped by guerrilla sold iers , t he

Rivista Mililare Englis/J Edition n. 112007

same that had slaughtered her husband. T he last t hing she wants to see is another soldier. Unless t hat soldier might be a woman ." (12)

Kosovar children outside a school.

2006, p.3. Marina Catena Select Reserve Lieutenant, Special UN Representative in Kosovo NOTES

(1) Adoption of Resolution 132 5/ 2000, UN Securi -

ty Council. (2) Al len Beverly, "Rape Warfare . The hidde n genocide in Bosnia- Herzegovina and Croatia" Unive rsity of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, London, 1996, p26. (3) "Women, War and Peace" UNIFEM 2002, Elizabeth Rehn, Ellen J. Sirleaf, p 7 7. (4) India's toug hest women gear up for UN Deployment to violence-torn Liberia. Herald Tribune International, 7 th Sept ember 2006. (5) "Enhancing the Operational Impact of Peace keeping Operations , Pol icy Dialogue, Background paper" New York, 28- 29 March 2006. (6) 'Briefing ' Colone l Dr. A.N . Matschu lat , "Challenges and Perspectives" Conference, 'Committee on Women in NATO Forces' Sofia, 30th Sept ember

(7) "Gender Integrat ion in the Armed Forces: A

cross nat ional comparison of po lic ies and pract ices in NATO co untries" Helena Carreiras , ISCTE University of Lisbon, 25t h Annual Meeti ng of 'Women in Un iform in NATO' May 2002. (8) "Italy Nat ional Report" NATO Women's Com m ittee, 2005 . (9) Women in t he Army, "Rivista Militare" no 3/ 2006, Rubriche, pl 14, Valeria Giannandre e Rosa Vincig uerra. (l O) "The relat ionship between civil and military personne l in operat ions for the support of peace" CESPI, Work ing Paper, 19/ 2005 , Silv ia April, M.S. Marco, G.Rufi ni . (1 1) "Gender and Civ il- military relat ions; moving towards inc lusion?" Sem inar (l 0- 12 Apri l 2006) Organi zed by the 'Civil-Milit ary Cooperation Cen tre of Excel lence" Vught, The Netherlands. (12) "Wan t ed : a few good women" Gerard J. DeGroot , 'Women i n Nato Forces Me eting' May 2002, p4 ; pub l icity campa ign by Saatchi & Saatchi 2002 .

( IO lveco Fiat - Oto Melara

• PUMA

Syndicate Company

Afghanistan Iraq

• CENTAURO Albania Bosnia Herzegovina Iraq Kosovo Somalia

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• DARDO

Iraq

• ARIETE

Iraq

lveco Fiat-Oto Melara S..-.:..u eo............ , , 1

Via P-om~ 2 00195 Roma - Italy te-1 +19-06-37516250 r.u.+l9.0-6-l13S0266

THE DIGITISATION OF THE MANOEUVRE SPACE: THE FRENCH MODEL The French Army has started a t horough transformation process based on the extraordinary progress of technology in the field of commun ications and telematic management of information. A new network-centric concept that can constitute a valid reference also for our Army.

The start of th e third millennium has been Ministry of Defence and the industries to study marked by the advent of new challenges to the and define jointly the new operational and casecurity of the internation al community, which pacitive d eployments of the theatre of the fu have forced th e defen ce depa rtm ents of th e ture operations and the radical transformatio n major Coun tri es of the world to reform u late of the battlespace, where the superiority of the and transform the concept of employment of information is one of the most effectiv e the forces called to confront t he extraordinary weapons for preventing and countering th e a nd unprecedented thr ea t threats . Network - centric apcon sti tuted by terrorism. The proaches become necessary. crisis response operations ' ' Eurosatory 2006, which T hey cons ist in channellin g (CRO), carried out on a large took place in Paris, is a the forces, the ava ilab le casc ale i n the main confl i cts, good starting point for ob - pacitive systems and the p latthe nec ess ity to face t rans (weapons, sensors and taining a complete picture forms versal threat s more or l ess decision- mak ing centres) tounforeseeable in space and of the French approach to a wards a single interoperabl e t ime, the increased need to single interoperable netinformation network. ope r ate together an d i n clo se work,, This is the sense of the "netin tegration within the i nt erwork-centric tran sformat ion " national coalitions (EU, NA undertaken by the main indusTO,U N) cons titute the new operational scena rio trialized Countries and started als o by Italy. This for ou r Armed Forces, a scenari o that require s conceptual approach is illustrated, with a wealth of a boost to intero perabi lity, a g reater flexibil ity details, in a recent publication by the Def ence Staff: and high mo bi lity at all levels . (h ttp ://www.difesa.it / NR / rdon lyres / 942 2 8O93The careful obs ervation of the extraordi nary 9646-4 l D2 - B6 FA-ABB4A60 l 8960 / 0 / latras fo rprogress made by tec hno logy has prompted the mazionenetcentrica. pdf). It is interesti ng to analyse and study in depth the programmes started in this context by the Countr ies clos e to Italy as regard s the dimen sio n of th e structure of the Arme d Fo rces an d the level of amb ition. Any comparison with t he advan ced an d extraordinary progress ma de by the US Defe nce system is impossible for any

Title page. A display of Fre nch technically advanced sets and weapon systems.

Left. The Hon. Parisi, Italian Minister of Defence, during a visit to Eurosatory 2006.

Rivista Mililare Englis h Edition 11. 1/2007

other Nation of th e world, owing to the state of the tran sfo rmation of the mi l itary instrument, "Revolution in Military Affairs" (RMA), based on t he doctrine of the " Network Centric Warfare" (NCW) and the w ealth of f inancial resources lavished o n th is enterprise. The eighth edition of the international show o f land, a ir - land and security defence, Eu rosatory 20 06, whi c h has taken p lace i n Paris unde r th e patron age of the French De f ence Minister, is a good start ing poi nt for getti ng a picture as com plete as possible of t he French approach, as well as of t he progress ac h ieved from th e app l ication of th e emerging co ncepts and t he results obtai ned. Fr ance has started a thoroug h process of tran sform ation of its mi litary instrument of de fence , with th e imm ed iate objective of a crit ical analys i s of t he present capabilities of its land forces. In the near fu ture, t he objective will be t o fin d out an optima l organization of the forc es and their st ren gth e n i ng , tank s t o th e ext rao rdina ry advancements of modern tech nology in the sectors of primary interest for the military world, suc h as that of communications and te lemati c manag e me nt of information.

THE «SCORPION» PROGRAMME The programme launched by the French Army is aimed at modern iz ing and strengthenin g the ope ration a l capabi l ities of its land forc es . It re pres ents the conc rete exp res s i on of t he process of joint transformation of the French defence, based on the con cept of exploitat ion of t he advantag es offe red by th e sharing of information through commu nication network s. Thi s new cycle of development and transfo r mation of o ne 's own m ilitary instru ment has been cal led "infovalorization", a ter m corresponding to the US con cept of "Network Centric Warfare" and/or to the British "Network Enabled Capability". In a joint environment, at a ir -la nd l evel , France has introdu ce d the concept of "Bu lle Op era tione!le Aeroterrestre" (BOA) whos e objective is the acquisi tion of "Network Ena bled" capabili ties. In substance, BOA is based on the ab ility to control and share information in a typically joint and mult inati o nal co ntext. T he DGA ( Delegation Generale pour l'Arme ment) has announced that t he participation in "Scorpio n" is open also to the intern atio nal coo pe rat io n of th e defe nce industri es. At p ro -

The «Scorpion» programme.

grammatic an d executive l evel, in December 2005, t he DCA has not ified a cont ract of 1 30 million Euros to an indu strial con sortium in cluding Thales Communications, Giat Industries, Sagem Defense et Securite, for a se ries of activiti es structu red in three different but closel y in t erconnected macro -areas: studies in the en gineering of "systems of systems" (ISDS) ; constit ution of an Operational Technical Laboratory (LTO), wh ere eng i neer s and DGA Officers co nduct j oint study activities on doctrine evolut ion and system optimization ; demonstrator (TACTIC) of the BOA concept app lied t o a fu ture operat ional unit engaged in ai r- land ope rat io ns through real - time information an d combat con duct systems (a dozen armoured veh icles , some thirty soldi ers on foot, robots and drones).

THE TECHNICAL OPERATIONAL LABORATORY In t his context , t he Tech nica l Operat ion al Laboratory intends to define and manage, through an instrumental process, the development of the SOS (Systems of Systems) . It will make use of th e i n strum e nt s and m ethodolo gi es of the "Concept Development, Mod elling, Simu lat io n and Experimentation " and will consist of the followi ng tools SATG , KIMONO, SENSURPRYS, SIMEC3 and APPLET. In view of the us e that th e DCA i ntends to make of the laboratory, it is interesting to see how t he inte r acti on between the various too ls i nstall ed at the LTO permits an analys is of the operational concept for the empl oyment of the ground forces, where the SATG tool is going to supply t he initial support for the identification and the analysi s of th e probl em s con nected with

t he sha r ing of the pieces of information during the operations. In this setting, the DGA and the operators of the French Ministry of Defence will be able to deci de to make a study at the LTO through a "capability approach". With the em ployment of t he KIMONO tool, one draws th e arc hitecture, plans the spec ific operati onal sce nari os for the missions of the ground forces, defines the opt imal op erat ion al organization and assess es the C3 1 to be put in the field. The SIMEC3 tool is employed in support of the organization of operat ions at regiment/company leve l on vas t and open territories, and the SEN SU RP RYS tool is emp loyed for the conduct of operations in urban areas. The different li nes of action identified by the friendly forces, th us organized, are compared with the enemy party' s assumed ones (up to Brigad e level) and evaluated w ith the APPLET tool. The final re su lt con sists in the definition of the level of information required during th e missions of the land force and the compilation of the relevant operation orders. Within the "Scorpion " programme, on e of the major objectives, which aims at incrementing the operational capabilities of the land forces, is the d igiti sat io n of the "battlespace" . In short, the greatest challenges that the land forces have to meet during their missions, vis-a-

vis the ch anged geo- strategic sce nario and the impending threats, are the instantaneousness, simultaneousness and diversity of t he activities t o be carried out, as we ll as the exponential growt h of the requirements in the sharing and processing of information, as we ll as the new increased int eroperability needs derivin g from the level of am bi tion of France, in its quality of reference leader nation in th e engagements of multinational coal itions. Both priorities pose the problem of the man agement of info rmati on d uring air-la nd ope rations in a general context that demonstrates an extraordinary degree of maturity of the co m mercial technologi es of information and co mmunications. The French Army is resolutely advancing in t he proc ess of digi ti sati on of it s project io n lan d forces, w ith the objective of achieving, by 2009 , a combat- ready d igitised force constituted by two joint Brigad es comprehen sive of support , plus a back- up group at Division level. The goal is to complete the digitisation of the entire Service by 20 05.

THE «INFOVALORIZATION» CONCEPT

The digitisation process permits a con cret e appli cat io n, both p hysi cal and operational, of the "lnfovalorizatio n" concept, central elemen t of th e " Future Land Forces 202 5" French project.

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Rivista Militare Eng/is// Edition n. 112007

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This means "optimum exploitation of the information resources, made possib le by the new technologies, with the objective of increas ing the combat operational capabilities of the air-land forces". p The first phase proposes gaining and maintaining an advantage on the adversary as re gards knowledge of t he operationa l situation (knowing mo re about the nature , position, possi bi I iti es of action of the forces deployed, friendly and enemy alike) and facilitate the decision- making process through the automation of the tasks, so as to be the first to act, in the right direction at the right time and with means sufficient and suitable for ensuring the wanted effects whi le minimizing the losses. "lnfovalorization" w ill therefore give a surplus value to the operational effects, understood as operational physical effects enhanced by the im provement of their intrinsic performance (increase formation systems in the C41 component, all inof the reaction speed when shooting against a sudteroperable. den threat) or intended as non - material effects SICF(lnformation System for Force Command) (cohesion, decision effectiveness ... ) or a combinaconstitutes the global system of PC (Command tion of the two, which should permit a "synergy of Post) information, from Brigade to Corps level. the effects". The surplus value wi ll concern also the It is the conceptual too l at the Staffs' d isposal. tactical processes (manoeuvre and support), from Its task is to supply the means for processing, which one expects advantages, such as the imfiling and exchanging the information necesprovement of the existing processes and, above all, sary for ensuring the coordination of the interthe detection of new processes and organizational service manoeuvre. It permits to prepare and modali t ies. Finally, it will also regard the equipplan the combat actions in a ment of the Army, which will very short time, prevent the ir have to systematically integrate the concept and notion of "in- ' ' «lnfovalorization» means evolution and assure their formation system" in their defi- optimum exploitation of the conduct. It is the equivalent nition and practical realization . information resources ... of the Italian programme The technical-operat i onal with the objective of in- called C41 Defence (Com mand, Control , Communica evaluations, the operational creasing the combat opera- tion , Computer and Informatrain ing exercises and the "les sons learned" in actual opera- tional capabilities of the tion). SIR (Regimental Information t ions, permit to foretell several air- ground forces,, System) is the elementary i mprovements in the digitised digitised ee l I, which gathers conduct of the manoeuvre: rapinformation at intermediate level. It permits to id acquisition and treatment of information; shortexchange i nformation among the forces on the ening of the decision-making cycle; anticipation ground (armoured vehicles, so ldiers ... ) and and acceleration of the rhythm of the manoeuvre; connects the lower tact ic al le ve l, · constituted increased precision of orders, relations and course by elementary un its, with t hat of the higher of the operation; replacement of the notion of Commands. Through SICF , it transmits to the "precision of effects and weapons" w ith that of General Staff the requests of artillery support, "saturation"; reduction of log istics ' weight, with an assemb les the reports and keeps the tact ica l improved economy of materials. situation updated . The SIR sets of a regiment are instal led on combat vehicles and assigned to every company Command Post and to the THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS Command Post of the Regiment. It i s the equivalent of the two Italian programmes In its technical implicat i on, digitisation is named SIACCON (Command & Control Auto based on a complex arch itecture of different in -

The Terminal Information System.

THE DEMONSTRATORS (PEA)

mated System) and SIACCO N MLO (Lowe r Op erati onal Levels). SIT (Terminal Infor mation System) en ds the d igi tised cha in, m a kin g every ta n k , ve h ic l e, helic opter or soldi er on foot an actu al sensor i n a posi ti on to recei ve mes sages and se nd form at t ed repo rts , know and indicate its po si tion , show o n a screen a ma p or a tacti cal p la n, and have access to d at a bases. It i s t he equ ivalent to the Italian programmes ca lled SICCONA (System of Comm and, Control and Navi gati on). In the first phase of experimentation and de velopment of t he digitis at ion, the French Army is emp loy ing th e 2n d "d' Orl eans" arm ou red Br igade and the 6th " Nimes " armoured light Br igade . T he re su lts obtained from now un ti l 2009 shou ld permit to proceed with th e d ig iti sation of the totality of the Army land forces withi n 201 5, ena bl ing the Cou ntry to operate at th e highest levels of command of a mu ltinat ion al coalition .

I n a joint and multinati on a l environment , Fran ce has started the PEA BOA progra m me , wher e PEA i s th e Fre nc h ab brev i at i on of a demonst rator equival ent of the US ACTD (Advan ce d Co nce pt and T ec hnol ogy Demonstrat o r), th e b ig ger programme of t ech nolog i cal d e monstrator launched by the defence . The obj ective is to opt imise the architectural defi nition of t he we apon and info rmation systems , appraise an d demonstrate th e techn i cal and ope rational progress conn ected with their matur atio n , and the advancement s of the IT tech no logy. T he purpose of the LTO works is to in terconn ect in a network, in a coherent man ner, t he array of weapon system s employed in ai r land combat, "Leclerc" tank s, "T igre" hel ico pte r s, so ldi ers on veh i cl es (VB CI) and o n foot (FELI N) , autonomous systems (robots , drones, pas sive se nso rs .. .) , engineer, fire-suppo rt, in form at ion and co mm unicati on system s. In thi s perspective, FELI N assumes a part icu la r sig nifi can ce. It is a project ai me d at pro -

Rivista Militare English Edition 11. 112007

Th e conceptual definition of the FELIN producing the complete equipment for the ingramme was completed i n March 2006 and fantry soldier, the equivalent of the propermitted to start the phase of in dustria l qualgramme of the Italian Army "Soldato Futuro". It ification and order the acquis ition of t he stanincludes: a combat uniform made with addard equipment of a f irst i nfantry regiment, vanced mate r ials , suitable for personal protecthat will be completed by 2008. tion; a weapon system consisting of a FAMAS The approach for the development of FELIN assault gun, equipped with an image -en hanccons ists in improving the effectiveness of the ing sighting device and a video camera that equipme nt in combat, diminishing t he soldier's can transfer images in real tim e to the platoon vulnerability. Commander or team le ader on a wireless local The sold ier will therefore be able to employ network, which has the advantage of a maxihi s weapons in a more rapid way, with a longer mum precision of the position data, thanks to range, counting on a greater protection from the integration with GPS, a laser rangefinder the adversary strikes. As regards observation, and digital magnetic compass. Finally, an elec he wi 11 be able to see at night and in daytime, tronic system consisting of: also in forbidding weather condi t ions. He will . Miniature video camera , positioned on the be able to communicate with the higher-level helmet, which can detect a human target at a authorities at distances greater than in the distance of 1 50m and id entify it at 50m. past, without interrupting his mission. . A wearable minicomputer for managing data coming from, or directed to, i ntegrated systems (imaging sensors, rifle, displays, raTHE CAPACITIVE ASSETS dio). The minicomputer, eq uipped with a simplified man -mach ine inte rface , enables FELIN will therefo r e have to be interoperable t he soldier to control the whole equipment with the main land combat systems, such as and act efficiently also in hidden operations the infan try VBCI land combat vehicle, which (open fire behind a corner or detect targets has been in the qualification phase since 2005 through obstacles). and is based on six prototypes. As far as land â&#x20AC;˘ A personal mini - radio for transmitting voice armament is concerned, for the fi rst time DGA, and data. Thro ugh th e radio, the soldier can the operational employers transmit operational graphs, and th e i ndustry are conimages , maps and video sequences to the members of ''The FELIN project consists ducting joi ntly th e qualification of a system acco rdin g to th e platoon and to the h i- in improving the effective a fixed programme . This ghest levels. The platoon ness of the equipment in kind of approach enables the members will operate in a combat, diminishing the operators to familiarize with communication architect ure the system at least three soldier's vulnerability,, of the "all- in-one " or "sub years before the delivery of network" type, and will be the first specimen envisaged interfaced with fourth-geby 2008 . The VBCI in the VCI version (infantry neration radios (PR4G), which ensure the l ink combat vehicle) will transport a FELIN combat between foot soldiers and vehicles. f eam with al l its equipment (9 men i nc luding T he FELIN communication system presents a the Commander) with a high level of protecremarkable flexibility of employment, also tion. In its VPC version (Command Post Vehiwithout a connection with a minicomputer: the cle) it carries the Command and Control sysFELIN platoon has the avai !ability of five nettem at SIR Regiment level, which permits th e works, four of which act as "intra-squad nettact ical Command, at elementary unit a nd Regworks", (three for t he r ifle squads and one for iment l evel , of the combat formations the antitank squad), always keeping open a equipped with "Leclerc" tanks or VCls. continuous "conference " system amo ng the The production and delivery of the "Lec lerc" squad members. Each sub-network, in its t u rn , tanks continue according to a proo.ramme is separab le into two "intra-team sub - ne tfixed by the Army, which within 2007 w1i, r,civ'':: works" permitting, if desired, to control as at its disposal the totality of the 406 tanks ormany operational teams of reduced dimendered, orga nized in eight groups of forty tanks sions. At platoon level, the Command network each . will connect the personal radio s of the squad The first "Tigre" combat helicopters in the i r Commanders, the platoon Leaders, the Com HAP (support and protection) version were de mander of the operation, the snipers and the livered in March 2005. The order for the con drivers of the personne l carriers.

struction of the HAD (suppo rt and destruct ion) version was sent in on November 30 , 2005 . At the completion of t he programme, the French Army wi ll be able to count on a force of forty "Tigre" tanks in the HAP version and forty in the HAD version: the latter not before 2010 . The "Tigre" programme has been a success as regards international cooperation, because it was managed by OCCAR on beha lf of Spain, Germany and France and, as regards export, w ith the de livery in 2004 of 22 aircraft t o Austra lia. The cooperation in this programme has generated the French-Germa n Schoo l of Luc for pi l ot training. In 2005 the instructors were qual ifi ed and the first course for French pi lots opened in January 2006 , with training on flight simulators and gun and rocke t firing at the range of Canjuers. The first German pi lots wil l star t their train ing in the first months of 2007.

The FELIN project for the ÂŤFuture SoldierÂť.

As fa r as helicopters are concerned, ten EC725 HUS (he licopters for special units) were ordered at the end of 2002, eight of which as signed to a detachment of the Command of Special Operations (DAOS) for emp loyment in special operations . In order to reduce prod uction costs and time , the ai rcraf t were conceived in a vers ion very simi lar to the RESCO formerly acquired by the French Air Force . The delivery started in 2005, and the last batch was con signed last summer. Moreover, the modernizat ion of the French land forces envisages the emp loyment and the integration of the followi ng vehic les and sys tems: the whee led se lf - propelled CAESAR veh icle (seventy- two systems have been ordered in December 2004, and the first deliveries are foreseen for December 2008) . This vehicle, spearhead of the GIAT Industries, has already

been a success in the field of exports, with an order for six units from Thailand on March 3 1, 2006 . T he last-generat i on mult i p l e rock et launcher LRM NG, w hich has ma r ked an impo r tant step with the comple t e success of th e campaign of tests of the GMLRS guided ammu nition with a European EFCS firing conduct . The AMX 30 B2DT, in a first section of the system, consist ing of three 30 - ton tanks for dem ining, radio contro ll ed from a VAB, de l ivere d last May; this is an innovative concept, un equa l led in its sector , a nd the delivery of a second section is foreseen for 2008. The CO BRA counter- battery radar: ten units ordered i n 2004 , delivery completed dur i ng 2006 (th e COBRA was realized in multinational cooperat i on with the United l< ingdom and Germany). The smal l PVP protected vehic le, which is in it s last operational va luation phase. The cont ract for its production was notified by the DGA t o the Auverland Company, now Panhard Genera l Defence , in September 2004 . The PVP is a 4 .2ton (when empty) li ght armoured connectio n vehic le that can transport up to four men . T he programme envisages the delivery of the first vehicle by 2007 and , at its conclusion in 2012 , the Army wi l l have the avai l ability of abou t nine hund red units. Moreover, t he firs t fortyone VPS patro l vehicles for Specia l Forces, ordered in 2005, were de livered last year. Finally, last year a programme was launched for the production of a new-co nception , polyvalent land transport vehicle cal led PPT. As regards the programme of transformation and innovat i on in the communication sector , the first new- generation SYRACUSE Il l satell ite was launched in October 2005 , and the second one last summer. This programme, started for the app lication of the "Network Centric Operat io n" (NCO) concepts in external Theatres , includes 540 ground stat ions for Army users , that go from man - carried sets to VAB integrated st ations. T he entry i nt o service of t he VS4 - IP of t he PR4G was announced in February 2006 . It en ab les the PR4G , the fourth - generation rad io , t o i ntegrate the IP protocol and, therefore, the re-positioning of the Theatre Operationa l In formation Systems. The contract for the imp lementat ion of the new- generation MELCH IOR HF transit and ac cess tactical system was notified to THA LES in June 2005. This programme w i ll provide the specia l forces and the c lassic Army, Navy and Air Force units with an essential component of tact ical communication, secure, project able in any circumstance over the entire Theat re and interoperab le with the NATO systems.

Rivista Militare English Edition n 1/2007

The equipment of the «Future Soldier».

For what concerns the missile systems, the French Army, as regard·s the ground - air land component of the family of the FSAF future system, envisages the integration of the medi um-range, ground-air SAMP-T system, which at present i n the qualification phase. The qual ification of the ASTER missile, one of the components of the system, was completed at the end of 2005. Two qualification launc hin gs of the SAMP- T system took p lace in July and December 2005. T he first delivery of the SAMP-T battery to the Army is envisaged for 2008, while t he Air Force will be equipped with it in 2010 . After its entry into service, this missile ers t hem the principa l vector of innovati on . system wi l l have a capability of intercepting This concept is reaffirme d and emphasized in some types of ballistic missiles with a range of the Plan prospectif a 30 ans issued by the Minless than 600km. istry, which considers the studies an important The SAMP-T is destined to the Army for antiairpreparation i n view of creat ing a fund amental craft defence of the combat forces, as a substitute technolog ica l reference for the defence industry of the HAWK missiles, and to t he Air Force for the in the development and implemen tation of the defence of the bases. The programme is in coopfuture systems . eration with the Italian Defence, which has the The intense activity of technological research in same operational requirements and follows the the air- ground sector was conduct ed, main ly by same times of entry into service. the DGA, already in 1998 through demonstrators The Army Staff has moreover adopted the sysor PEA. The economic and financial effort, which tems of SDTI tactical drones in April 2006, folhas been kept on an average of lowing the acquisition of a new investments of 80 million Eu version of the software. SDTI is a system of tactical drones that ' ' The system of SDTI tacti- r os per year, has increased will enab le the French Army to cal drones will enable the 20% already in 2006 . The subacquire capabilities of battle - French Army to acquire ca- stantial increase in the investments is a sign of t he DGA def ield surveillance, observation pabilities of battlefield sur- termination to re new the airand desi gnation of targets for veillance, observation and ground component of the th e arti 11 e ry. At the end of 2004, the DGA designation of targets for French defence and to support the defence ind ustry, mainhas notified a contract for the the artillery , , taining it on a technological reali zat ion of a drone for level of sure competitiveness ground reconnaissance in the specific sector. Thanks to the constant ef(DRAC). T he first deliveries are envisaged for fort in the sector of Research and Development, the beg inni ng of the summer 2007. The proseveral innovative technologies have found pracgramme's ma i n objective is to provide the tical applications in numerous programmes of arArmy with a simple system to be employed for mament development, such as the 40mm CTA short-distance observation, a system that can am munition, Active Protection , the Ginseng and be ass i milated to " mobile binoculars" that perCaladiom programmes, the development of Teramit to view in real time, day and night, inhertz technologies, microdrones and nanotech flight images taken by the drone's sensor. nologies. These programmes will be briefly illu st rated hereafter. The realization of a demonstrator of a rdu,c:: · INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGICAL RESEARCH controlled turret, equipped with a weapon system with 40mm CTA munitions, was started in 2003. As regards i nnovation in the sphere of the This medium -calibre system, the result of air- ground forces, the French Ministry of De French - British cooperation , employs a telescopic fence assigns to the preparatory stud ies preammunition (the proj ectile is included in the carceding t he development of t he systems a detridg e), which , fo r its ballistic performance , presterminant and indispensable value, and consid-

ents remarkable advantages compared to the past as regard s overal l dimensions. Integrated on a radio- commanded turret, this innovative technology permits to optimise the problems of mass and volume, offers a noticeable improvement in perso nnel protection and will find operational appli cation on f uture armoured vehicles. The Active Protection programme is based on t he principle of intercepting / neutralizing a threat on a vehi cle , or on a site in genera l, before th e impact occurs. The "Hardkill" project, fruit of a French-German industrial cooperation, has permitted to develop an innovative technology that al lows t he optical discovery of the threat, the cal cu lation of the point of interception, the instant of the activation of the countermeasure and, finally, it permits to launch the countermeasure based on an effect of reinforced blowing, without collateral effect s. T h is system give s a considerable improvement of protection with a minimum mass surplus, also for very wide angu lar sectors of pro-

A VBC/ armoured vehicle.

tection. T he efficiency of the "Hard kill" sys tem has been experimented and demonstrated on a wide vari ety of t hreats (ho llow - cha rge proje ct i les, rockets and a ntitank m issil es), also on shortrange firing. A study was concluded in 2004 regardi ng the managemen t of i nformation within a combat group o n foot ca l led "Gins e ng ". In pa rt ic ul ar, there has been th e va luation of th e nece ss ary technologies to be app lied to the future man- machine interfaces, such as data fus ion, boost of vi su al restit utio n, three - d imension sound restitu tion or voice synt hes is. The requi site for the soldier's helmet was defined on the basis of this study, and a first eval uati on was made throug h t he interaction in a virtual environment . The DGA, with the "Calad iom" program me, has recently started a stu dy for a long - autonomy fi nding sensor, which exploits the recent prog ress

made by the research on the artifi cial retina, on energy manage ment and imag e p rocessin g. There has also been t he real izatio n of a demonstrator for observations in the visible spectrum, with an optimum autonomy and an intelligence t hat permits to make observations on programm ed targets and sensit ive systems in areas of interest. At the end of the valuation cycle, t he sensor will be experimented in t he infrared spectrum. Also t he Te rahertz (Thz) Technologies have aroused a rema rkable intere st in the sectors of defence and security. Actually, the electromagnetic em issio ns i n th i s frequency band prese nt characteristics of ex cellent capab ility of penetration t hrough materials opaque to the normal optical frequencies, such as clothes and some plastic and building materials. In addition, various com pos ite materials interesting for t he defen ce, such as some exp losives and biochemical age nts, in a T hz envi ronm ent present a specific spectral markin g that should permit their detection and ide nt ification. Obviously, one of the most interesting applications of the Thz technologi es could be that of visual systems for discover ing all kinds of ex plosive devi ces, eve n rud imentary ones, t o be employed to protect sensitive sites or it ine raries. The DGA is planning a cycle of st ud ies an d experimentations aimed at deepening the knowledge of such tech nologies, and finding out their military application, cons iderin g es peci ally t he in te raction between Thz radiati ons and mate r ials, and the optimization of the Tzh sources and discovery sensors . T he proved efficacy of t he em ployment of microdrones handled by a single so ld ier d uring th e phases of combat in urban areas, has led the DGA to draft a programme of studies and experimentations, with the purpose of capital izing the significan t t ec hnol og ical adva ncem ents mad e i n t his sector, in order to assess and defi ne t he characteristi cs of the systems of this class to be acquired during the 2005 - 201 5 decade. In view of this , th e tests of the "Hovereye" drone, built from 2004 by the French com pany BERTIN, continue , while the MAVDEM (Mini Aerial Vehicle Demonstrator) program me, f inanced by EDA and which witnesses the industrial cooperation of France, Italy, Norway and Spa in , sho uld lead to t he first demo nst rations of stationary flight and capability of rapid shifts of a high-technology microdrone in 2007 and 2008 . Stud ies o n t his f ut uri stic t ype of UAV have been assigned by the DGA to ONERA (Office National d'Etudes et de Recherche Aerospatiales), in collaboration with various Fren ch universit ies. At least th irty projects are being defined, and some have already been patented. The General Direction of Armaments supports some ex plorat ive research i n t he f ie ld of nan -

Rivista Mililare English Edition n. 112007

otechnologies; some are aimed at the realizat ion of demonstrators, others at in - depth conceptual investigations. The list of the possible applications of nanotechnolog ies in the air- ground sector is rich and promis ing ," and goes from microdrones to microdevices for the opt im ization of fluids flow; from micro sensors of physical mag nitudes (pressure, temperature) for controlling the aircraft pilots' state of health , to the nano- fil ame nts of sem iconductors or carbon nano-tubes for the ultra-se nsitive detection of biologica l agents; from the m ic ro- and nano-systems applied to the elaboration of gyrometers and accelerometers , to porous materials na no-structured to be made furtive; from hydrophobic materials, to the components of nano- pyrotechnics for devising miniaturized security devices for ammunition priming.

worth implementing i n the current and future programmes.

CONCLUSION

The process towards the d igitisat ion of the airground forces is an inevitable step for t he modernizat ion of the nationa l armies . At t he dawning of t he farseeing national programme of the "lnteg rated Land Force" which , between 2020 and 2025, will introduce the significant modernization and the radical network-centric transformation of the Italian air- la nd forces, the French example can be a val id refe rence in terms of procedu ral approach. The management of the development of the fu ture capacitive assets, according to the architectural prin ciples of the "Systems of Systems" engi neering, is at the foundation of t he new polic ie s of the French Defence. THE FUTURE TRENDS To achieve a "Digitised Force" constitutes the common objective of most Western Countries. In view of this, the future efforts in the field of Th e enterprise is complex and French defence wil l be oriented multifaceted and , as such , the towards t he areas concerning t he programmes of Research and ' ' To achieve a Digitised concerned parties must deal Development envisaged for the Force constitutes the com- with it in a synergic and coorim mediate future (2007-2009) , mon object ive of most d inated manner. France, following in the wake of the Un itespecially in the area of protecWestern Countries. The en ed States and Great Britain, has tion of t he forces, transformate rp rise is complex and given to the venture of digitistion , raising the industry's level multifaceted ... ,, ing its air-ground forces the of technological excellence and, characte rist ic of an objective to finally, of European cooperation be achieved through the comand synergy w ith civil research. munality of i ntents , to be shared in close cooperA study and the con struction of a demonstrator at ion with the industrial section since the f irst on the neutra lization of remote -control tr igge r phases of the programme . devices for the protection of personnel was started T he development and the ripening of the operalready in 2006 . In the optoelectronics sector, reational requirement, the updating of the organisearch was done on a demonstrator aimed at aszational and doctrinal elements, the identificasessing the real capab il ities of the emerging techtion and planning of new deve lopments of canologies , such as the fusion of the IR spectrum pacitive assets are carried out in a common en with the visible one and the management of hyper vironment, the technical-operational laboratospectral images for disguise and camouflage. ries, where representatives of the defence and of There have also been the first results of th e the industries work togethe r pe rmanently, havworks regarding the ambitiou s programme of the ing at their disposa l the powerf ul instruments of demonstrator of the "Bou/le Operationelle mode l li ng and simulation made ava i lable by Aeroterrestre" and the Technical Operational Labcommercial technology. oratory, in support of t he "Trasfo rmation" requi site issued by the Defence General Staff, with the Antonio Peca experimental demonstration of the feasibility of Rear Admiral, connecting in a network the air-ground forces C4 l Systems and Transformation Division, and the assessment of the advantages that could Defence General Staff derive in terms of capacity.The BOA demonstrator and the LTO instrument plan to transfer, in a fedMarco Biagini erate manner, the technological i nnovations alCaptain, ready examined in the classical domains , towards Army Simulation architectural structures such as t he "System of and Validation Centre Systems", in order to find, among them , the ones

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FUTURE COMBAT SYSTEMS A programme destined to revolutionize the US Army as regards approach to combat, vehicles and logistics, cannot but be the object of animated discussions. Therefore one should not be surprised if the opinions on the future "system of systems" of the American land forces are at the centre of a harsh contention.

The US Army replies to one of t he most critical stud i es, published last August by t he Congress ion al Budget Office (C BO), whi ch qu es tions not o nly the financial aspe cts but also t he savi ng of time and as sets fo r the red eployme nt overseas of a Brigad e Com bat T eam. The Army denie s the o perational effecti vene ss of th e solutio ns p roposed for redu cing the co sts of the programme by deploying o n the f iel d on ly a part of t he w eapon system s be ing de vel o ped within th e " Future Com bat Syste ms". In particular , the Army contes ts the fact that no an alysis has been made of the sce narios of the 2 1 st Centu r y, whe re t h e Serv ice will have to op erate and the en su ing o perational requirements, which the pl ans of pa rtial (in some cas es very partial) moderniz ation propos ed by t he CBO do not meet. On on e scal e pan the Army pl ace s t he grea te r effi ci e ncy of the Bri g ade Combat Te am s (BCT) equipped wi th FCS system s, which will entail a cu tb ac k of log isti c pe rso n nel, es pe c ia l ly those assig ned to the mainte nance of the vehic les , all based on the sa me hull , vis -a-v is an incre as e of o pe rational personnel: in practice, t he n umber of me chan ics will be reduced by 50% in compariso n with that of today's heavy Br igades and, o n average, a BCT FCS , vi s- a-vis of force of SOO soldi ers les s if compared to a current heavy BCT , wil l be able to deploy twice t he number of rifl eme n in the infantry squ ad s. Th e reciproc al obj ecti ons brought up i n turn by both sides, about t he righ t ness of ea ch on e's t hese s, co uld f ill m any page s. A result sim i lar to the o ne that cou l d be o btained by analysi ng t he various pos itions a bou t the ma in ai r or nav a l pr o grammes, an in evitable effect when t he discussio n i s about programmes t hat have a f inan cial

Title page. A ÂŤBradleyÂť Infantry Fighting Vehicle. Box: A "Stryker" wheeled vehicle.

Right. The Future Combat System network.

im pact of over 120 bil lion dollars, whi ch is th e t otal co st envisaged for th e FCS. T he US Army ' s slogan re gardi ng t he FCS is t ha t it is not a si ngle sys te m, i t is actual ly 1 + l + 18 system s (1 ): the last ones are preci sely t hose bei ng develope d withi n the program me, with t he ad d ition of th e network and the sold ier himself. The refore the allocations, which in th e acq u i sitio n phase shou ld be around 1 0 billion dollars per year, approximately up to 50% of the entire budget of t he Army, are j ustified by the fact that, by the end of the prog ram me, the en t ire combat component of the land fo rce will be completely mod ern and i nteg rated . Actually, o n the budget of Defence for 2007,we find that 3.7 billio n do llars are al lotted to the FCS . A fi gure that come s immediately after t hat for t he JSF but is the only one, amon g the l 2 most ex pen s ive p rogrammes of th e US Defe nce for this year, assi gned to th e Army. Hist orical ly , t he FCS programme was born in the mid - nineties when, following the fi rst Gulf War, th e Army Science Boa rd developed a plan to meet th e need for a greate r rap id ity of de pl oy men t, better prot ect ion and an im p roved

Rivista Militare English Edition

11.

1/2007

sions, whose systems are mostly placed on the platforms, allowing th e transmissio n system to i'nove together with the u nits . In the Service Layer we find the services, for example th e web services, e-mail and others. Moreover, there is t he Application Layer, which contains the specifi c app licat ions for the various operational functions. Of remarkable importance are the logistic functions, integrated within the C4ISR framework, and the ones for training in a simu Above. The first JTRS radio kit for the FCS. Right. An operator making a Class I UAV Demonstrator ready for use.

effectiveness of the land units . At the begin ning, the deadline for the entry into service of the system was fixed for 207 5. In 2002, DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and the US Army chose as Lead Systems Integrator a team formed by Boeing and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). Prompted by the US Army Chief of Staff of the time , General Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army decided to move faster. Th us, production would start in 2012, to reach in itia l operational capability (IOC) by 207 4 and fu ll operational capability (FOC) by 207 6, for a first FCS BT C. As a lated environment, both i ndividu al ly an d collectively. Finally, on the higher leve l we find the matter of fact, in re lation to the programme's Sensors and Platform Layer, where there are the advancement, it was later decided to introduce various weapon systems that depend o n the the first systems with a spinout approach, setnetwork. According to the CBO, when the FOC is ti ng the stages for 2008, 201 0, 2012 and 2014. achieved, the software of the network will conA common factor of all elements is the netsist of at least 34 m ill ion program lines, about work that permits to exchange data and infortwice th e JSF's, while accordmation among the various ing to the data now available, systems, so that the Army can revolu tion ise its operational ' ' on the budget of De by the end of the current year and o rgani zational concepts, fence for 2007 we find the first release in charge of enabling them to meet the that 3. 7 billion dollars are the systems of the first spin new threats i n a flexible way. allotted to FCS ... ' ' out should have at least s million lines. The network is based on five "levels" called "Standard" In this first phase, to be re(Transport, Services, Applicaalized in 2008, three systems tions and Sensors, Pl atfo rm s) , which, combined, are going to be tested right away by the Evaluation Brigade Combat Team, a un it created at the ensure the necessary adaptability and manage ment functionality that will enable the Brigade beg i nning of the year at Fort Bliss, Texas. In June it will reach a force of a little les s than Combat T eam, engaged in a rapidly changing l 000 elements and start its activity of evaluascenario, to see in advance , understand in adtion of the systems developed within the FCS vance, act in advance and conclude t he conflict programme. The f irst is going to be the system decisively to its own advantage. The Standard called Unattended Groun d Sensors (UGS), which Layer provides the reference to which the other is divided into two main subsystems , Tacticallayers must conform, in terms of flexibi lity and UGS (T-UGS) and Urban UGS (U - UGS). The T of distributed and adaptable i nformation enviUGS is formed by ISR-UGS (Intelligence, Surveil ronment (G lobal Information Grid). The T rans lance, Reconnaissance) and by CBRN - UGS port Layer in cludes all that concerns transmis-

A mock- up of the Class I UAV, particularly suited for operations in urban environments.

(Chemica l , Bio logical, Radiolog ical , Nuc lear). The ISR- UGS cons ists of three components the /SR Sensor Node, a su ite of multi moda l sensors that can classify a target and detect the direct ion it comes from; the Electro Optic/ IR Node, equipped with a panoramic warhead with day/night capability; the Gateway Node, wh ich coordinates the activities of t he various ground sensors, orienting, for example , the optronic sensor towards the threat located by the mu lti moda l sensor, and transmits to the higher- leve l FCS operator the relevant data and images almost in rea l time. Together w ith the CBRN sensors, the T - UGS could be employed for surveying particu lar zo nes, for the acquisit ion of objectives in ungarrisoned areas and the perimetr ica l defence of zones occupied by fr i end ly forces . Tested during t he "Joint Expeditiona ry Force Experiment 2006" of last July, in the first sp inout the sensors of the T- UGS will possibly be deployed manually, whi le, eve ntually, during the third spinout they cou ld be d issemi nated by aircraft, such as airplanes, helicopters or UAV. The U- UGS will also consist of a Gateway Node, optronic sensors, and intrus i on detectors, specifically deve loped to operate in urban environments and ins ide buildings . It will be possi b le to position t hem manually or by employing robot veh icles, which, besides providing a better knowledge of the situat ion d ur i ng the acti on, i .e. when placed on po ints of forced passage , both inside and outside bui ld ings, will perm it to know the situation also after the personne l have

left t he area at the end of the operation. The second of the l 8 systems envisaged fo r the fi r st spinout is the Non -L ine of Sig h t Launcher. It is a vertica l container/launcher w ith 16 cells, 1 5 of them occupied by miss iles, wh ile t he sixteenth houses the command system and the radio link t hat connects the system to t he NetFires net; t he module is transportab le on a HMMWV and can easily be embarked o n a Cl 30. Within the SDD (System Development an d Demonstrati on) phase, a single t ype of ammuni tion is envisaged: the 40km range Precis ion Attack Miss ile (PAM), equipped with infrared se nsor , semi - act ive radar and mu ltifunction wa rhead, effective against soft and hardened targets, alt hough its primary role will be the en gagement of armoured targets identified by th e IRS chain . The target data wi ll be inserted before the launch and updated if necessary, but it w ill be possible to employ the PAM also aga inst targets il luminated by laser designato rs. However , the development of the Loite r ing Attac k Missile (LAM), which could be ope rat ed from th e same launcher, remains active. This type of am mun itio n has a range of 70km and wi l l be abl e to orbit above the area of t he objective fo r about 30 minutes; it is equipped with a lase r radar (LADAR) sensor, and will send images of the zone, permitting, for example, to assess the damages caused by prev ious attacks. It s em ployment is envisaged aga inst objectives of re markable importance. The th ird of t he systems t hat will be deployed f i rst is the IMS (Intellige nt Munitio n s System) (2). It is a network of sensors and munit ions that perm its to interdict a zone non garrisoned by frie ndly forces , by activating and deactivating t he system by remote contro l, for example to allow the tra n sit of our units. T he system's lethal or non -l etha l mun itions exp loit the "at tack from above" profi le, and every IMS module , which can be positioned by just two sold iers, contains four munitions . The system is con stantly under man ' s control: in fact, an operator sets the ru les of engagement and act ivates and deactivates a part or the whole system, or mod ifies its data. The IM S is equ ipped with a se lf destructio n system and therefore does not become a danger at the end of the hostil ities . Its entry into service, in 2010, coi ncides with the date of the foreseen US ban on mines . The second sp i nout, whose system shou ld start the evaluation tests in 2010, concerns the unmanned aircraft, wh ich are envisaged in four

Rivista Militare Englis/1 Edition n. 1/2007

d ifferent classes . The sma llest system, Class I, vertical take - off and ve rti cal landi ng, has a tot al weight - two aircraft, contro l system and accessories - of 16 kg, so that it may be carried by a si ngle man. The airc raf t alone we ighs around 7kg and ca n operate i n a n urba n environment and in the j u ngle. It can provide i nformation at pl ato on leve l a nd cou l d also have a l i mited fun ctio n of rad io li nk. Also the Class II w il l be a vertical take- off aircraft, but w ill be ca rri ed by a m oto r veh icle a nd its autonomy will be twice that of t he preceding one; it w ill be assigned at company level. Th e tactical UAV envi saged for an RST A batta lion has a range of about 40km and an autonomy of 6 ho urs and, besides t he us ua l reco nnaissance, it shou ld be able to carry o ut miss ions of NBCR reconnaissance and mine A «Shadow» UA V. This aircraft will remain in service detectio n, serve as a rad io li nk and prov ide owing to the postponement of the Class II and Ill UAV weat her info r mation . For objective acqu isitio n programme. and des ign ation, it w ill be able to cooperate w ith t he NLOS battal ion , to i ll uminate the targets fo r PAM missiles . In compa ri son w it h the between the Class IV and the helicopt ers already Class IV ai r c r af t, the preceding one has the in service , and plans to line up the new UAVs of characteristic of be ing ab le t o take off and land the FCS programme, either w ith the envisaged on unprepared g round . As rega rds large r a ir sp i nouts or as a programme for introducing c ra ft of the HALE (High Alt i t u de Long En techno logy, in order to be able to further accel d urance) kind, which can ope r ate above the enerate their operat ional capab ility. emy t hreats, t he choice has fa lle n on the MQ- 8B Also the spinout of 2012 will regard un No rthrop Gru mma n hel icopt er, wh ich made its manned systems; neverthe less, in this case , first fligh t last De cember. T his unmanned he lit hey wi ll be ground systems with both combat copte r wi ll have a payload of about 300kg and and log istic tasks, all equipped with the same an auton o my of 8 hou rs. The payloads w il l en system of autonomous navigation based on GPS able t he a i rcraft to supply a b roadband radio and LADAR sensors. The first ones, called ARV link on distances over l 50 km, to carry out NBCR (Armed Robotic Vehicle) (3) , wi ll have the same reco nn ais san ce missions, with on - board data hull w it h a weight, in combat p rocess ing ca pabil ities, w hile o rder, of around l 3t and will t he flight control system wi ll allow it to fly togeth er wit h ''· ..the US Army announced be avai lab le in assault and RSTA versions. The first w i ll be th e fleet of p iloted aircraft. On the realignment of the prolast January 9 the US Army an- grammes regarding the de- armed with a medium cal ibre gun, for flat-trajectory fire noun ced the realig n me nt of velopment of the UAVs ... , , support, and w ith missiles for the programmes rega rding t he indirect and ant itank fire. It d evel op m ent of th e UAVs: th e will be able to disseminate the decisio n envisages to continue sensors of the T-UGS and U- UGS systems and t he p r ogrammes concern i ng the C lass I and w il l ensure a reconnaissance function t hanks to Class IV ai rcraft and t o set aside, for the time its own sensors. T asked with this role, and bein g, the Class II and Ill wh ile, for the intermet herefore equipped w ith more sensors mounted d iate ro les, the systems now in line and em on a te lescop ic pole, t he reconna issance version p loyed in operationa l t heatres , i.e. t he "Raven" is destined to prov ide IRS and acquis ition capami ni-UAV and t he "Shadow" tact ical UAV, wou ld b il ities , especia lly in urban env ironments. T hese remai n in service . Th is does not mean that the robots , w ith the i r clear operat ional function and int er mediate UAVs of the FCS prog ramme have now te ndentially oriented towards a tracked so been defin itively cance lled , but only t hat the inlut ion, wi ll be flanked by the MU LE (Mu ltifuncvest ments are postpo ned so as to reduce t he tional Utility / Log istic and Equ i pment) family, econ om ic impact of t he prog ramme, at least in based on a 6x6 wheeled chassis, with a com t his sector. The Army honours its comm itment bat-order we ight of about 2.St; the vehicle can of developi ng a mixed flee t of manned and un be hooked and transported by helicopters of the ma nned , and looks for a poss i b le community

th is point, lacks only t he fami ly of manned vehicles, con sist in g of as many as eig ht version s. Before illustrating th em in short, we have t o make som e con siderat ions, particu la rly i n co nnection wi th their w eig ht and siz e. The in iti al intentio n was to have them weigh l 7t, in order to trans port the m o n t he C- l 30s of t he USAF,

Above. The three versions of the MULE, a medium- size robot of the FCS programme.

Right. A Pa kbot of the !Robot, employed by the US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan.

US Army. The MULE w i ll be developed in th re e version s: ARV- A-L (Arm ed Robotic Veh icle - Assaul t - Lig ht), MULE- T (Transport) and MULE CM (Countermin e). Th e first one will be es se nt ial ly armed with missi les, bes ides a machinegun, and will have sen sors su itabl e fo r both arm s con tro l and target- acqu is ition functions for the infantry on foot . The tran sport vers io n w il l lig hten the t ask for the infantry sq uad s by transport i ng loads of more than l ton of backpacks, mu n iti ons , w ater etc. Finally, the co untermine ver-

so as to de ploy the veh icles easily also in zones lackin g landing st rips fi t to receive bigge r ai rcraf t. A furt her objective was the adopt ion of an entirely el ectric propu lsion system , which co ul d also fee d the weaponry if necessary, and was to con sist of las er or rai l- g un type system s. Since t he ripen i ng of these tec h nologi es has marked tim e, the same as the o ne ca pabl e of as suring a

Left. Chassis of the UCCV, a development model for a vehicle with independen t wheels. Below. A Talon, a robot employed by the Marines' ÂŁODs in Iraq.

sion wil l be capable of spotti ng t he p resence of m ines thanks to its GSTAMIDS (Grou nd Standoff Mine Detection System ) sen so r and perm it to op en p ass ag e s i n e nem y m i nefie ld s with o ut ri ski ng t he so ldie rs' life. The smal lest land robot, not t otally auton omous b ut gu ided through an optical fibre cab le, will be th e SUGV (S mall Unmanned Ground Ve hicle); it is an advanced ve rsion of th e PakBot, larg ely employed in Iraq and Afg han istan by the US Army. With its weight of les s t han 15kg, t he UGV ca n be depl oyed at minimum levels, and w ill be equip ped with sensors for s u rveys or for d ete ct in g ch em i ca l weapon s or toxic che mi cal substance s of indust rial origin . The last spinout, planned for 2014, envisag es the deploymen t of the entire system, wh ich, at

Rivista Mi!ila re Englis h Edition n. 112007

se lf-propel led guns because of the consecutive fail ures of the past programmes, w hich have kept in service t he systems of the M-1 09 family, albeit updat ed to t he "Palad in " standard, have induced to acce lerate the development of the NLOS - C, whose prototypes , different from t he production

Above. A ÂŤPaladinÂť self-propelled gun. Right.

An NLOS-C self-propelled gun.

protection equal to that provided by the heavier combat vehic les, the armament has gone back to conventional, while for propulsion the choice has fal len on a hybrid solution . As far as weight is concerned, the accepted limit has gone up to version, should be delivered in 2008 .T he substi 24t, i. e. one third of t hat of the Abrams' most tute of the new weapon system, de livered in Seprecent versions and three fourths of the tember of last year, consists of a l 5 5mm gun and Bradley's . Remai ns to be seen how the threat of 38- calibre barre l, which weighs about 1 ton less the IEDs and t he RPG's ho llow- charge warheads, than the piece of the superlight howitzer M777, that the G l s who ope r ate i n I r aq and used on the technolog ical demonstrator that has Afghanistan have to face every day, ca n raise this limit. Even if it is true that t he capab ilities already f ired over 2000 rounds at the range of Yuma, Arizona . The NLOS - C to survive a threat are not only related to protection, but also, wi ll be ab le to hit the target for example, to one's aware ' ' ... the capabilities of simultaneous ly with several ness of the situat ion, a lot wil l surviving the threats are grenades and, thanks to its depend on how re l iable the not only connected with h igh aut omat ion, its crew wi ll of o nly two men. new tech nologies wi l l prove to protect ion . .. in any case beThe M- 1 Abrams is going to be i n opposing these threats much will depend on the be replaced by the MCS and permit t o l im it the em ployment of passive armour, reliability of the new tech- (Mounted Combat System) , nologies ,, wh ich wi ll keep as main armawhich is a large part of the vement the smooth - bore h icles' weig ht. Accord i ng t o 120mm gun , which, thanks t o the industry, the parts t hat the var ious versions of the FCS manned vehicles w ill its new gu ided ammunition, can reach with indirect fire a range of more than 8km . The CBO dehave in common are 70- 80 pe rce nt, with a re markable impact on the reduct ion of develop nies the possibility of re - deploying a FCS BCT ment costs, if compared to those of eight sys mo re rapidly than t he present heavy BCT, but it is tems d ifferent from each other, in additio n to also t rue t hat in the initial phase of an interventhe logistic ones, both as regards consumptio n ti on one can dep loy a greater number of MCSs and ICVs (Infantry Carrier Veh icle), the tracked veas we ll as ma nagement of stocks and technica l personnel. According to US Army reckonings , in hicle that is going to replace t he Bradley, since, as we said before, both have a weight decided ly lowfact , a FCS BTC's fue l consumption wi ll be be er than the current ones . T he ICV is going to be tween l O and 30 per cent less than that of a armed w ith a 30mm turret gun , carry a team of 9 present- day heavy BCT. Furthermore , the formen besides the crew, and w ill also replace a part mer w ill employ on ly 50 percent of techn ica l of t he M 113 ; in this case the we ight balance is personnel. unfavourable, since the new veh icle weighs twice At present, of the eight vehicles , t he one in the the o ld one, althoug h the performances of the most advanced phase of development is certainly the self- propelled gun known as NLOS- C (Non two systems are hardly comparable. The same is t rue also for the M 113 mortar carriers, wh ich are Line- Of- Sight Cannon): the need t o replace the

ground the UGS sen so rs, th e SUGV robot and two Class I UAVs. Th e panop ly is compl eted by the C2V (Comm and and Cont rol Vehicle) Co mmand Post, equipped with C2 advanced syst ems, deve loped for the FCS programme, t wo versions of the tracked medi cal vehi cle MV-E and MV-T (M edic al Vehicle Eva cu at i on a nd Treatm ent). The fi r st is de sti ned for fron t - li ne

Above. The Ml «Abrams» combat tank weighs more than 60 tons. Right. The MCS combat vehicle is going to replace today 's tanks.

go ing to be replaced by th e NLOS- M (Non-Line Of-Sight Mortar) armed with a 120mm mortar, with an automated f iring system that can employ precision - guided she lls with a crew of fo ur men.

support and the se c ond for more in - dept h medical intervention s; both can mak e use of telemedicine tech niq ues. Finally, the logistic vehicle FRMV (FCS Recovery and Maintenance Vehicl e) , with a crew of t hree men and space fo r another two. The FRMV can perform operation s of recovery, repai r and mai ntenance. The opin ions about the future of the programme are discordant enough , but both the US

Above. The /CV is going to replace the «Bradley». Right. The NLOS- M tank, armed with a 120mm mortar.

T he p lace of th e M3, reco nnaissan ce version of the Bradley, w i ll be taken by the RSV (Reconna issance and Surveil lance Veh icle) : its se nso rs, mou nted o n a te lescopic po le, permi t to automatically locate, track, clas sify and ident ify the targets. It is also equi pped with an ESM suite an d NBC se nsors , a nd can re -d eploy on th e

Army and the industry underline t he fact that the programme is proceeding according to the estimates, to the point that a demonstration is envisaged for the beginning of February 2007 where some new systems, such as th e micro-UAV and t he NLOS-C wi ll be called to operate with syste ms already in line, such as the Apache. If the programme is entirely implemented , the US Army is

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 112007

tech nical support. Besides, the US Army and the American industry, and particularly the Boe ingSAIC integrator system, are discussing the pos sible modalities for selling abroad the FCS components that enabl e the allied ground forces to operate j ointly. Army and Industry are goin g to become the preferential interlocutor s for those Nations that decide to integrate their digitised manoeuvre spaces with that of the United States . Paolo Valpolini Journalist

Above. The RSV is the reconnaissance- and-surveillance version of the future tracked vehicle. Right, above. The CP version of th e C2V. Right, below. The Evacuation and Treatment Medical Vehicle.

going to make a substantial step forward, espe cially as regards network- centric operations, since all the systems of the FCS are conceived precisely in that perspective. In order to keep the maximum pos si b le level of interoperability with the allied Armies, the United States is about to sign a Memorandum of Und ers tand ing with Great Britain and Australi a, while, within NATO, discussions are under way about the sig natu re of a possible agreeme nt with France, Germany, Great Britain and Italy. The discussions are taking place at government and m ilitary leve l, but concern d irectly also the industry that provides supplies

The Recovery and Maintenance vehicle, a recovery version for the FCS.

NOTES (1) With the decision of postponing the development

and the acquis ition of fo ur sy ste ms, the FCS has changed into 1 + l + 14 an d the acq ui sition of the l 5 Brigades has been extended from l O to l 5 years. (2) The decision to review the FCS programme, made at the beginning of Febru ary, has led to separate the develop ment of the IMS from the other systems. (3) The deferment of the development of the ARV subsystem should be offset by the acquisition of a larger number of light robots.

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INFORMATION AND PROPAGANDA Today, in the era of terrorism and asymmetric war, these traditional strategic instruments for acquiring and maintaining consensus represent the global weapon of communication and persuasion par excellence.

Communicat ion performs an important strategic function whic h dates back t o t he dawn of history.Tyrant Pis istratus used the same means as we do today to achieve a consensus among the Athenian citizens. The st rategy that Augustus adopted to exert control over the media is similar to the policy that the big publ ishing groups of today pursue. In the ancient world, some people passed false documents off as authentic and emperors and Popes launched into furious diatribes against these facts during the Mid dle Ages and the Modern age. Simi larly, some docu ments have caused lots of scandals and attracted bitter international criticism in recent years. In modern times, the media have been often used for propaganda purposes making the historiographic work difficult and exciting at the same time. The face of war has changed in t he last decades. Wars are characterized by «asymmet ry» and are radical ly different from the past conflicts. A constant feature of modern and ancient conflicts is represented by communication . Informat ion and propaganda have always constituted an asymmetric element of conflicts . They have always been used as instruments for shaping public opinion. This question needs to be examined carefully because public opinion is growing in importance today. It constitut es a «second front» considering that our society has acquired a global dimension. Th is dimensio n is not virt ual but anyone can access it through the media which cance l space and time lim its and provide a continuous flow of information to the publ ic who have apparently the opportunity to part icipate in the dec ision - making process and the international events. In this new dimension it is imperative to learn how to handle and manage the process of communication to reach consensus. Hence the need to pursue old objectives with new techno log ies and to practise «o ld semantic alchemy» using powerful instruments that are able to

Title page.

A communications satellite.

reach the world populations: in other terms, leaflets have been replaced by talk shows, false news wit h pseudo-events, town criers w ith sate llite television networks and Internet. The current situat ion is more complex than in the past because there are new actors either in the international context or in the Italian one. The idea of «belligerent State» does not make sense any more. In fact, j ust a few States are perceived as a real threat to internationa l security today whereas the danger comes from those people who are able to act without any trouble and depart from the mould of conventional war and law. Clausewitz talked about a violent confl ict between States, which wou ld take place in a geog raphically defined area and it would involve the use of conventional instruments in order «t o force the enemy t o bend to our will», destroying its mil itary strength and conquering the country. Th is idea has been replaced with a quite d ifferent image. New actors have appeared on the scene recently: terrorist groups, indust rial and financial powers, posters of drug dealers, private mi litary and paramilitary companies as well as that anarchic-nihilist galaxy which operates within the Network. All of them provoke large- scale violence and use lots of propaganda tools which are able to compete with those used by institutions. Violence towards market and finance does not leave a trai l of blood behind itself self- evidently, but its destructive power is equal, and sometimes, superior to that of a traditional war. Exactly like in a war they use propaganda as an offensive weapon when they execut e their manoeuvres in the international market. As well as the change of the face of war actors, we shou ld consider two other factors carefully before examining the crucial issue concerning contemporary propaganda: the lack of a geographical component that is easily recognizable with regard t o war and the perceived threat and the change of offensive instruments . Both of them creat e a feeling of growi ng global uncertainty and affect public opin ion sign ificantly making it an important instrument for countering this threat and consequently a key target to reach.

Rivi sta MMare English Edition n. 112007

T he escalat ion of int ernational terrorism and the front». In the age of globalization, this concept loses repressive actions that have been t aken by t he govit s «national» connotation and becomes the opin ion ernments to com bat it have undermined co llective of t he ent ire world populat ion . World public opinion security. Western public opinion is lulled into a false is shaped by widespread propaganda that is able to sense of security during the period 1980- 1990. Sudex ploit t he late st tec hn ologie s in o rder to spread den ly, the man in the street has found hi mself in a news in real t ime without any limits on space . Radio critical situation where, as Liang and Xiangsui have and t elevision stations, satellite channels, Internet, written in the essay «War without limits», the coneven mobile phones, and newspapers provide event s cepts of length , width and height , as well as those of with worldwide coverage and become another place earth, sea, air and outside space no longer have any of g lobal war. T he m i litary se e the m as a fo rt h meaning. Everyday life has changed into a potential weapo n and use them as strateg ic instruments for battlefield which extends from the underground (on reaching and maintaining consensu s and also as which people usually t ravel to go to work), to the sumeans of com munication for sending t errorist mespe rmarket, to the plane they t ake to reach holiday sages t o their enemies. dest inat ions and t o the disco at weekend s. At the Accord ing to Noam Chomsky, t he function of the same time, war instruments have radically changed. mass media is to convey messages and symbols to The concept of conventional weapon is replaced with the population. T hey have to entertain and inform a new one: all obj ects we use during the day can but, at the same time , they have to incu lcate people change into destructive instruments by which people with values, beliefs and codes of behaviour in order can invade others' privacy or destroy the economy of to integrate them into social institutions they belong a country; a means of t ransport can be turn into an to. The m ed ia is t he mod ern fou nd ation of th e explosive device; even a common bottle of mineral process of accultu ration th rough which it is possible water cou ld contain poisonou s to convey models and stereotypes su bstances. Once again, referring to the public in order to develop a to the two Chinese Colonels, we ' ... a constant feature o1 collective consciousness, an idecan t alk about a «War without modern and ancient con- ology, a way of seeing things t hat limits», w he re t he world of war flicts is represented b~ is common and shared. overlaps that of «non- war». The first thing we must consid:ommunication. lnforma It is clear that all these factors er is the real strategic meaning of ion and propaganda have com munication and media inforshift our attention from a mi litary always constituted an matio n becau se t he med ia are context t o a civ i I cont ext. They transform the whole world into a :tsymmetric element o able to penet rate collective consetting of potential war and, consciousness and to affect the pub:onflicts ,, sequently, each ind ividual into a 1ic perception of real ity and its potential vict im of events t hat ofworld view. People are no longer ten do not concern them directly but undermine colable to check this real ity direct ly because of space lective security, with potential and insidious threats and time limits. T herefore, video images enable them perceived as real. t o live through the events and make their interest s Public op inio n feels invo lved in these event s t hat much wider and more diverse. T he media «replace» are perceived as «war dynamics». People are terrified the five senses or, even better, as Mcl uhan said , they of these new th reats and are easily manipulated by are an «ext ensio ns» of our human senses. Conseany source of information that can provide them with quently, the public, who are unable t o experience rea sense of security and remove the uncertainty surality d irect ly, perceive the «real images» that are round ing thei r world. The audience can be infl uenced broadcasted by t elevision as «real». by different sources: the government that launches At the same time, taking manipulation of images terrorism campaigns, political movements that warn and news t o extremes, with the conseq uent floods of people abo ut international conspiracy, news papers information that inundat e the public, and being unthat exalt «strong men» and intellectuals, currents of able to assess the reliability of one's sources encourthought that call for strong measures and others that age the adoption of different strat egies aimed at call for dialogue. Propaganda tools have dist inctive ac hi eving conse ns us. In th is area t he machine of featu res but they use the same language, instruments propaganda works through t he spread of fo !,,~ news, the «newsmaking» and t he creation of false eve1,t: and channels of commu nication . T he one who wants to reach consensus knows that if public opinion is in that exist o nly because they are based on false but crisis, it will tend to choose their guide according to realistic information according to the stereotypes that t he same parameters and motivational reasons t hat are required and accepted by public opinio n. lead it to pref er washing- up liquid or a soft d rink. Public opinion uses information and t he med ia acThere is another important element that requires cording to the rules of the consumer society where f ull co ns ide rat ion : p ub lic op i ni on, t he «i nte rnal everything is turning into a show without distinction

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positive if it refers to one' s actions, com mitment or ideology, it will be negative if it refers to a real or potential enemy. An effecti ve method cons ists of the creation of plaus ib le stories that are corroborated by accounts that the public will never be able to check and that convey negative messages rather than reass uring images. In order to get powerful and strong messages across to the public it is necessary to select effective and striking images that are able to corroborate the news and give the story several shades of meaning. The media show people ideal images accord ing to the objective t hey pursue . The log ic A rifleman armed with a «Minimi» on a VM 90. process underlying their strategies is elementary and easy to explain: t hey aim to provide publ ic op inion with a positive and reassuring image of themselves between sports news, goss ip, crime news, internaand their actions in order to reach consensus; to protional politics. People are more and more interested vide the opposing public opinion with t he same reasin a particular type of information that is called «infosuring image in order to lead them t o change their t ainment», wh ich derives from the un ion of two opin ions; t o hit the enemy psychologically feigning words «information» and «entertainment» where apcalm, determination and self-confidence and looking peals for international solidarity alternate with a percertain to achieve consensus. In add ition, it is necesformance of ballet, authoritative political remarks sary to point out that these images are often at odds with a cabaret show, the marriage of a famous footwith others that are not shown and are submitted to bal l player hits the headlines in exactly the same way the board of censors in order to prevent them from as a terrorist attack. comprom ising the publ ic consenPropaganda aims to affect the sus, on the basis of irrational beperception of reality. Alejandro '' Public opinion is used to haviour. Providing the media with Pizarroso Qu intero describes it as employ information and «prepacked» information and im ful l control over the flow of inforages, the so- called photo oppormation, leadersh i p of p u bl ic media according to the tunities, constitutes a good stratrules of the consumer soci - egy of news management. It is opin ion and manipulation of behaviour and , above al l, of pat- ety, where everything is aimed at man ipulati ng news or terns of behaviour. He sees it as turned into a show, without creating fa lse news th rough a the management of information distinction between sport, flood of information. This results t hat is aimed at promoting pernews, gossip, crime and in- in a situation of confusion which suasive ideas to shape and maapparently guarantees trans nipulate public opinion deliber- ternational politics , , parency in t heir work. In fact, in at ely.The spread and manage view of th is large flow of informament of fa l se news and the tion eve n accusations of censu re transmission of information and images, which aim are demol ished: they usually damage the harmon ious to «build a reality» fit for one's purposes, represent a relation between standard procedures and the need key factor in the age of commun ication. Paraph rasing to guarantee democratic information, which lets the Pi randello we can say that reality perceived by publ ic audience know events, military operat ions, political opinion is not actual real ity. Reality is what is be lieved issues, in time of war and peace. Similarly, negative to be reality. Consequently, it is important to build an messages about «adversaries» will be conveyed. What ad hoe real ity which seems «truer than reality» and do we mean by the word «adve rsary»? Th is term allows the public to see into a piece of information refers to all those people who will be described as what they want and have to see. very bad and dangerous through powerful propaganFalse news must be based on an emotional compoda weapons : messages m ust be strongly negative nent that is able to impress t he public playing not and, according to traditional techniques of psychoonly on their feelings, desires , hopes but also on logical war, they must be aimed at demonising adfears and qualms of guilt. The spread of news aims versaries, who will be presented in a negative light, to arouse strong emotions and stifle rational t hinkas supporters of wars and of unpopu lar and corrupt ing. The structuring of a message wi ll depend on regimes. Propaganda will aim to emphasize the cruwhat kind of information they intend to give: it w ill be elty, unreliability (with particular reference t o interna-

Rivislf! Mililf!re English Edition n. 1/2007

tional law) and total absence of-ethical values of adversaries as well as the tendency to think only of their own interest. This wil l be presented as being at odds with their own goals of promoting peace, development, friendship among peoples and democracy. Propaganda tools allow them to create a wide range of situations that arouse the public' s morbid curiosity and indignation because they refer to people that are considered weak and defenceless: women, children and old people. Sex and violence play a key role because they contrast with dominant and shared values and catalyse the public's morbid interest fil ling them with disgust. This wil l lead public opinion to express its disapA patrol on surveillance duty on the ''Tampa " Main Supproval and ask for justice which could easily result in ply Route, near Nassiriya. revenge. This is the so-called «black propaganda» where both sources and messages are indefinite and sometimes they are deliberately camouflaged. Propaganda tools become stories , images , acmation mentioned above and highl ights the «schizocounts from pseudo-reliable sources, baseless ruphrenic» feature that characterizes self-referential mours that are circulated to the media and are communication where a quality selection of sources hyped up to cause a sensation . Public opinion is and of secondary channels of communication is not unable to establish the truth of news and this possible. We cannot assess the reliability of informamakes it easy to affect the pertion . This is a distinctive feature ception of events and stories and of the Web whose virtual i ty to spread fa lse news through ' ' Providing the media with makes it possible for everyone to specific sectors of Pu b li c Rela- prepacked information and spread unrel iable news. White, tions : «newsmaking» and «news images, the so-called photo black and grey propaganda bemanagement». come mixed together in the Web Analysing news is extreme ly opportunities, constitutes a where the identity of «the prod ifficult because it is impossible good strategy of ducers of contents» is so evanesto separate the massive amount management. It is aimed at cent that they become abstract of information from its propaganmanipulating news or cre - entities that act behind a cloak of distic significance. The enormous ating false news through a fictitious authoritativeness. On number of commun ication systhe Web not on ly can news be flood of information , , tems makes it difficult not only falsified and represent propafor the audience but also for ganda mate r ial but it poses a those who want to carry out a problem for all people who want thorough and professional analysis to find one' s way. to interpret it because of the uncertain nature of its As mentioned above , public opinion is unable to esproducer. Black propaganda acts in this sector: tablish the truth of news. How can we recognize the acronyms, organizations and groups hide behind real pseudo-events that are planned cunni ngly to be anonymity and become means of soft propaganda spread across the world? How can we pick out t he reconveying powerful messages and , sometimes, preal news from the mass of facts? tending to belong to the same groups that they opInternet, which has been defined as «a web that pose. Assuming a false identity and using it to conis as big as the world», has distorted the paramevey information pose a serious danger to the quality ters of the media producing a disproportionate of information and this could exert negative effects amount of information and creating a virtual realon public opinion. Besides, Internet represents a new ity that has cancelled the concepts of social relainstrument that is used by those who implement tions, space and time . propaganda strategies. Even if it is used regu larly for • Traditional med ia represented a link between indimore than ten years, th is instrument is still able to viduals, society and events. The Net transforms a vircatch a lively interest thanks to its lim itless potential. tual place into a place of total information, where It is the global weapon of communication and per- • everything is accessible and everyone goes through suasion par excellence. a sort of pseudo-democratic intox ication of possible and available information. Since everything is availMassimo Chiais Journalist able , the Net «emphasizes» the redundancy of infor-

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THE <<NICE PEOPLE>> SOLDIERS OF THE SCREEN From «Captain Corelli's Mandolin» to the recent Italian picture «The Roses of the Desert», the cinema, be it an Anglo-Saxon or an Italian production, propounds a strongly stereotyped image of our soldiers, tending to underline the human qualities of the "good-hearted" soldier rather than his military valour.

«Love, Live and Laugh» this is the formu la of Itali an style according t o Hollywood. It is no coin cidence that it is the tit le of one of t he first American movies which was shot in Italy and starred Italian actors in the Twenties. In fact, since the birth of cinema th e movies that have represented the Italian iden tity on the American big sc r een (so many that they have been regarded as a genre apart) have built up some stereotyp ica l images that have become immediately recog nizable to the public, as tim e has gone by. According to Hollywood, Itali ans love pasta and have a genet ically beautiful sing i ng voice; the gestural expressiveness is seen as a common characteristic of t he mannerism of Italian males; in add ition, they are unable to resist feminine charm , th ey court all women but are in love with the ir mothers ; their ho uses are full of crucifixes and even if they themselves are decent people, at least one of their relatives is involved with the Mafia. Another recurring theme running through Anglo-Saxon movies is that of passion, but it is cons idere d as a surrender to emotions and a propensity to melodrama: our cha racters fall head over hee ls in love; they are easily moved and bl inded by jealousy exactly as they are not able to control their anger. So, desp ite there are more and more directors and actors of Italian origin in Hollywood, the Yankee films remain faithful to the stereotype of four «M», which was so called by Paola Casella in her book «Hollywood It alian»: mother, macaroni , mandolin and mafia. This has influ enced the film image of Italian soldiers that are repre sent-

Title page. Some characters of «Mediterranean». Right. Nicholas Cage in «Captain Carel/i 's Mandolin».

ed in t his way even in Italy. A careful ana lysis of some famous recent movies, which have represented our soldi ers on the big and t he sma ll screen, allows us to spot some r ecurre nt clich es which refl ect, on a macroscopic level, th e preconceptions about Ital ian identity that eme rg e from the Anglo-Saxon cinema. In any interna tional operations Ital ian soldiers are depicted in the same way: they are cunning cowards bu t they are nice ; th ey are not oft en combative and prefer having talks and negot iating with t he enemy to us i ng weapons; they are romantic an d nostalg i c, they court women and m i ss thei r mothers; they do not detest the ene my and do not like the Germ an allies; they hate the wa r where the fascis t regime has led them. On th e whole , what emerges is a picture that high lights the human qualit ies of «good-hearted so ldiers» rather than the mil itary virtues of brave soldiers. It is no surprise that Hollywood continues to have a n ambivalent att itude towards Italian characters especially if they are soldiers. However, it comes as surp r ise to see that even the Italian cinema creates a distorted picture of ltal-

RMsta Militare English Edition n. 1/2007

ian soldiers as peop le who are moved to pity (wh ich in Latin means «to suffer w ith») rather than as people who show values such as honour and fa ith. So even the <~made in Italy» f ilms project stereotypical images of Ital ian sol diers that have bee n built up abroad and so metimes they do it so well that they win pri z es. «Med iterranea n », which won an Oscar a few years ago, sets a perfect example.

gia, w ho is engaged to t he fishe rm an Mand ras (the Scottish Christian Balw) who has joined the army to help his countrymen during the w ar, succumbs to Corelli 's charm when the Italian Officer moves t o her fath er's home for logistic r easo ns. In t he meanwhi le , Man dra s, who has come bac k to island , joins the pa rti sans and goes into hiding. In 1943, after the armistice of Septe mber 8, Germany as ks the Italian allie s to lay down the ir arms and surrender as a neces sary condition for their r epatriation. Since no CAPTAIN CORELLI 'S «MERRY BRIGADE» agreement is reached, the conflict is i nevitable: Corel li and his men l ine up along w ith the Greek «Capt ain Co rel li's Mando li n» gives you lots of partisans to defend the isl and, but the Weh rmaexamples of what I mean. It is an Ang lo-Ameri cht, w hic h is numerically superior and support ed by Stukas, destroys the Italian defence. After can film which was produced in 200 1 by Miramax (th e bra nc h of D i sney Corp oration th at the su rre nder, Hitler orders t o kill the prisoners. works o n pro d uction and distribution of «a rt Al so Corelli's soldiers are surrounded and shot movies») and made by the English director John in an i solated f ield before th e old ally and GerMadden, who received lots of awards. man frie nd Captai n Weber. Only t he protagon ist It was inspi red by the homon ym ous nove l, will save himself , th anks to the heroic act of his wh ich was w ritte n by Louis De Be rn ier , and befriend Carlo (p layed by the Italian actor Piero came a Britis h best-se l ler i n 1994. It deals with Maggi o) who shields him wit h his body. Since he had to face the violent real ity of war, the Officer a love story tha t unfol ds during the tragic events of Cepha lonia, where the «Acqu i» Diviaccepts Mandras' help and leaves the island and th e woman he loves . sion was mas sacred in September 1943 . Although the film does not purport to descri be Doctor Janni s (played by the Engl ish actor John Hurt), who is a respect able doctor in a village of the massacre of Cephalonia in detail and focuses on th e love story bet ween two characters the uncontam in ated Greek island, leads a quiet life tog ether w ith his daughte r Pe lagia (Pe nelope from t wo differe nt and r ival nati ons, «Captain Corel li 's mandolin» contains a ll those hack Cruz), to who m he teaches the medical profes sion. The quiet of the island is shattered by the neyed elements w h ich have affected the publ ic ltalo-German occupation after percept ion of It alian identity. In the f i lm t he is l and o f the capt ure of Athens by the German troops . Thanks to the ''The Yankee films re- Cep haloni a seems to be pop German help and despite the main faithful. .. to the u lated on ly by odd characters: defeat in the A lban i an front, stereotype of the four emancipated g i rls and wise our so l diers ta ke contro l of father s, pas sionat e and <<Ms», moth e r, mac a r o n i l naughty lovers, dramatic and Cepha l onia. Among them resolute mothers, bad German there is also Captain Antonio mandolin and mafia , , Corelli ( t he ltalo - American p eople. W i th regard to the Italians, t he picture that MadNi cho l as Cag e), who i s a den has constructed refl ects the Ang lo-Sax o n bizarre Officia l and is keen on the mando li n and stereotype. The soldiers , who are under Corel li's opera. T he local population does not look with orders (they are the only It alian members of the favour on the arrival of these foreigners: I would rather surrender to the dog of a German Officer cast. t ogether with Robe rt Citran, who fl eeti ngly plays the part of General Gand i n), are happy and than to an Italian Officer, the mayor of Argostoli n ice Latin lovers who undergo the experience of (in the centre of Cephalonia) hisses at the patient invader Corelli, wh o shows a compass ion war as an unfortunate set of circumstances that do not affect t heir real interests: good mu si c, ate sens e of hu man ity and a sl ight sense of mi litary di gnity, h aste ns to summon the closest food and beautiful women. They are some sort • German Officer (played by David Morrisey) for of tourists who ar e more incl ined to conquer the the surrende r. With the passing of time, the relocal wome n than to take up arms . In a good lationships betwe e n th e l ocals and the Italian part of th e f i lm they seem to be i ndiffere nt t o the i m minent th reat o f war and are busy basksoldiers start to change also becau se our so ldiers do not show a combat ive behaviour and ing i n the sun on the beach , having parties and building up their «Club of Opera», which is rebri ng joy of living to the community des pite the stricted t o the arias that Luciano Pava rotti has impending wo rl d conflict . Even the love ly Pela-

t t

made popular in America, Event ua ll y, the men of Capta in Corell i r eally Th eir p h il o so phy ca n be su m marize d in the die not as a co nseq uence of their conscious acfol lowing ex pressio n : «Pretty l ittle gi rl at t wo o ' t ion s, but as a resu lt of a series of unfortu nate cl ock!» . In th is way Captain Co r ell i orders his and unfo res eeabl e circumst an ces l ike an eart hso ld iers to make a salute at t he sigh t of Pel agia, q uake th at hi t the is land ju st before the end of whi le lan di ng on th e i sla nd : be sid es p lay i ng th e film. The only one who red eems himself is the f el low soldier who saves Core lli 's life, an d it down the It alian manoeuvres, this expedient reveals the American hab it of usi ng t he ho urs of is no coi ncid ence th at in t he fi l m he is call ed «Marco» w ithout mention i ng hi s rank. th e d ial t o po int i n th e d i rection of the American Air Force and of t he It al ian army. Be sides, the As far as the protagoni st is co ncerned, Capt ain on ly m ilitary action i n the first part of the film Co r elli is stereotyped as carefree and mad abo ut mu sic. It is the same Nicholas Cage (who for th e ha s a «ci rcen sian » mean ing: the sold ie rs fin d a bomb of the First World War, which has bee n second time has p layed an Ital ian Officer, aft er «Time t o Kil l») who describes the character that washed ashore by the tide, and decide to set it he plays in an interview he gave to «Fi lmU p» on off. T he «mer ry b rigad e» tran sforms the event into a show for the inhabitants of the island. But t he October 9, 200 l : «Captain Corelli loves l ife , music and peace. He is a sol dier but he does not th is show will turn o ut to be a d isas t er for the sol d ie r s of Captain Corelli. Sin ce th ey are not beli eve in Fascism and war. He is a simp le man , used to «mi l itary life», they end up in infirmary like many other Italians who were fo rced t o t ake unde r the pu zz le d and compassi o nate eye of up arm s and fight by Fascis m, I beli eve th at hi sthe o ccup ie d . Bes ide s , as a t orically the Ital ian s have not Gr ee k girl po n tif i cat es: «A been good fi ghters, it is not in brave It al ian is a freak o f na'some sort of tourists thei r natu re to be agg res sive. tur e ! » . And ev e n Ca ptain who are more inclined to Fo r my part, I have t ried t o Cor el l i ag r ees with h er. «We nk thi s ste re oty pe th at conquer the local beauties debu are Italians: we sin g , p lay and h as bee n c rea te d b y man y make love», he says to a Nazi than to take up arms and, fi lm s w hich depict the Ital ia ns Offi cer w ea ring a sm ug ex - in any case, are reluctant as vi o le nt peo ple , gangsters p ress ion as h is com panio ns i n about war,, a nd re ady to kill fo r th e arm s amu se themselve s with slightest t hi ng». Hi s word s are som e prostitutes . There are alsy m p t o matic of the p recon so lots of hypertextu al ele ments: the It al ian sol ce ptio ns the «mecca» of cinema has about «the diers are caug ht as they are wearing undervest s. ltali anism», but anyway it is d ifficul t t o re gard Th is is a cliche that remi nds us of th e so- cal led Corell i as a hero. T he Gr eek part i san Mandras «p icciotti» of lots of Hol lywood fi l ms about the can be co nsidered as a hero for his bravery and ltalo- Ameri cans. They have got lon g and w ellide als. De picted as a s imp let on and chi ldi sh groo med hai r: this style is not su it able for sol f ish erman in the first part o f the film , hi s chard iers in wa r (i t was d iffe rent fro m t he high layacter gai ns a certain d epth du ring t he film as a ering that was fashio nab le in those days), but is con sequence of the experience of war, d ifferentr at h er r e mi n i scen t of the La ti n Don Juan of ly fro m t he Ita lian Officer who , after the masAme rican fi l ms. Eve n th e exagge rated gestu ra l sacre of h is men, is portrayed as a sh ocked man express iveness that portrays o ur sol di ers in the who is unab le to pick him self u p. He ca n see no film s is em blematic . It is seasoned w ith al l those ot her way ou t t han fleeing to Italy . Anyway, as faces th at in the col lective imag inary repres en t director Madden has said at various t imes, t he op eretta m asks rather than infantrymen in a aim was not t o ridicu le t he Ital ians, w ho neve rt heatre of operat ion s. theless are the good guys of the st ory, b ut «to Th ere is t he cli c he of good food : in lot s of highlight the brotherhoo d th at devel o ped bescenes th e soldi ers are portrayed as they are tween the Ital ian s and t he Greeks on t he island». si ppi ng good w i ne in crystal cups 1 Bu t one of Th is b ri ngs to m ind an Ital ian film of a few years the most exh ilarant scen es of th e film (wh ich is, ago . This movie was given a prize by the Acad ehowever, cons ide red dramatic) is whe n t he news my Awa r d s in 199 2 as the bes t fo re ig n f ilm of t he arm istice com es and t he so ld iers ju m p «Med it erranean». for j oy. These are t he words t he Comm ander utters: «I 'm looking forward to eating a plat e of spag hetti w ith mu ssels and a d ish of past a w ith MEDITERRANEAN: IN SEARCH OF ONE'S ORIGINS sau sages a nd mu shrooms in Piazza Navon a» . Prob ab ly , h e was unawa re of t he fac t that in Even i n t hi s case t he story is abo ut Ital ian so lthose days It aly had been red uced to fam i ne. die r s who, during t he Se cond World War, dis-

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 1/2007

The cover of the DVD «Mediterranean».

cover the Gar den of Eden on the Greek islands w hich are marine heavens with pines and rocks in perpetual contrast to the f ury of nature and of the men which destroys everything. Even in th i s case the conflict remains i n t he bac kground: it is a war th at is not waged and it gives the directo r Gabriele Salvatore a chance to ex plore a theme he is fond of: the j ou rn ey. In the movie th e re is a quo te from Henry Laborit («these days the flight is the only means to remain alive and continue to dream») and it is underlined by the final caption: «Dedicated to all people who are fleeing». Th is dedication sounds strange and rather provocative, but it helps to interpret the values the film revolves around: the conflict between the desire to escape and the des i re not to go away any more; the metaphor of the journey as a wa l k through one's thoughts and of the escape as emigration to a new form of interiority. In the spring of l 941, a handful of soldiers of the Italian Royal Army was ordered to garri son a remote i s l and of the Aegean Sea. «Strategic importance: zero» , this is t he corn-

ment that the narrator of the story, Lieutenant Mantini (played by Claudio Bigagl i), makes at t he beg i nning of the film as he looks at the Ital ian flag disconsolately. At his Command t here are «men who have been caught he re and there, survivors of lost battles, stragg lers of regiments that have fal len apart, a platoon of so ld iers, like me , who have been recalled and have survived by chance» . There are eight sol diers and a mu le who are, in the first scenes of the film , on boar d the Gar ibaldi . They are pre sented as odd characters: there is Elio Strazzabosco (G igi A lberti), a mule driver who fought at war bringing his mare he loves li ke a person; t he brothers Mu ranon, Li bero (Vasco Mirando l a) and Fe lic e (Memo Din i ) and two mountain dwellers who face the sea for the first time and of wh ich they are afraid and to which they are subjec t ed. There are also Sergeant Nico l a Lo Russo (Diego Abadan tuono), who has atta ined the rank of Sergean t f i rst class dur i ng the campaign of Africa, and the wireless operator Luci ano Colasanti (Ugo Cont i) who lives in the shadow of h im and al most in symbiosis. Fina lly, there is the deserter Corrado Noven t a, who is tracked down on the border between Alban ia and Yugos lavia as he is trying to go back to his wife who is pregnant, and the orderly Antonio Farina (Giuseppe Cederna), a young Alpino who is shy and clu msy: «he is a lways ready to carry out any orders», Mantin i says as he is sipping a good Itali an coffee Farina has brought to him . The hypertextual element of coffee is accompan ied by a dia logue which reinforces the stereotypes of the Italian sold iers we can find in the fi l m: they have never dist i nguished themselves by their bravery , they are indolent and are not very keen on taking up arms, but they are human and good. «Wi ll we need to shoot?» Farina asks his Commande r befo re land in g on the is land. « I hope not» Mant i ni answers. The soldiers turn out to be comp lete ly unable to do any mi I it a ry activit ie s : the Ian d i n g i s «cl umsy» , the fear of the two members of the Italian alp i ne troops, who cannot sw im, and the presence of Strazzabosco 's mare , whose name is Silvana, make it funny. The f irst th i ngs they see are the crosses in a graveyard and a threatening inscription on a wall: «Greece is the grave of the Italians». But th is wi ll not happen: the is- • land seems desert. T he p latoon is disor iented and finds refuge in a ru in ed monastery. From there they watch the Gariba ld i sink in g. Com pletely isolated (the radio, in the me ant ime, is made down by Strazzabosco . Since he is seized by pain and is angry because of the loss of his mare Silvana, which has been killed by mistake

by his brothers in arms , he hurls it at a bou lco nstan t: «a re we su re that they are frie nds der), wit hout any ord er and any news, l ittle by now?» Lorusso asks h imself worried ly. littl e the platoon loses every mil itary con notaAl t hough t he fi lm is Ital ian (from the cast to tion : Ten ent Mantini b egins to pa i nt, Far ina th e p ro duct io n, from the di rec to r to t he reads poe ms and the wirele ss o perator acts as scriptwriter), the selection is ri ch in clich es a cook. Some of the inh abitants of the vi llage about the Italian s' behavio ur which th e director co me out of the ir hidi ng places because they draws from and fro m whi ch his inter natio nal are su re of the peaceful intentio ns of our sol success derives : from the good coffee to beau d iers and go abo ut their daily li fe. Women, chil ti f ul wom en, from the arts t o religi o n , fr o m dren , ol d people an d a sharp Pope , w ho have fo otbal l to fam il y, from the authoritarian modescaped the deportation that the Germans had el of sen sele ss actions to the lazin ess of bu infli cted on the male adults , as ti me has gone reaucracy and so on . by they have co me to sympathize with the ocLi e u t e nant Mantini has got l on g hair an d cupying force . «We do not l ike t he fo re ig ners wears ecc ent ric su ng l ass es whi ch make hi m on our land - th e Pope says proud ly and mali look like an arti st rath er than a sol d ier. He is ciou sly - We know the Italians very we ll and , totally u nfit fo r command and soon abandon s and t hey are the less er of two evils». Th is i s t he all h is d uties and r espons i bilitie s to give on e's be g inn in g of an endle ss hol iday for o ur ant iall to his rea l passi o n: pa i nt i ng . He tells th e heros: th e Tenen t re stores pain tin gs i n t he Greek Pope: «You know, father, this i s the first chu rch of the vil lage, the b r ot hers Mu naro n t i me I have been away fro m my home ... and I amu se th e mselv e s w ith a feel very well ». The religi ous yo u ng shepherdess, Strazzagives her a knowi ng and apbosco find s an o t h er mare, 'The contrast between the proving answer: « Li euFarina se e ks hi s o r i gin s in white and impeccable uni- te nant, you a re an odd custhe myth of Ome r o an d forms of His Majesty's sailors tomer. You do not even Nove nta writes to his wife . like a so ldier». and the civilian, dirty and seem Th ey lea d a norm al l ife, Hi s orde rly Fa rin a f it s the wh i ch is en l iven ed o nly by colou rfu I outfit of our sol- stere otype of the romantic footbal l matc hes and by fric- diers is carried to excess,, Ital ian man who loves poet ry tion caused by the prostitute and is not inc lined to f ight a of the is l a nd who is a t the war: he is not able to handle platoon's se rvice but whom the orderly Farina ten sion an d, in the only scene of dan ger o f the fall s in love with . As tim e goes by the soldie rs pat ro l of the v i llag e afte r th e land ing of the re move t heirs uniforms, reno u nce th ei r ranks Garibaldi, he becomes terrified when he sees a and surnames , learn sirtak i . Ti me pas se s in toch icken and he narrowly miss es being killed by tal oblivio n from t he reali ty an d the w ar until an hi s brot her s in arms, who are no better w ith Italian recon nais sance plane is forced to make rega r d t o se l f-control. As he h imse lf says an emergency landing on the island. T he pilot reci t ing an o ld Gree k verse : «What is the most (Anto n io Cata n ia), su rprised to se e that th e beauti fu l th i ng on earth? Som e people say it is Italians on the i sla nd are i n the dark abou t a hord e of cavalrymen, som e of them say it is a everything, fills them in o n th e e nd of the war ho rde o f infantrymen a nd o t h ers say it is a and inform s them th at everything has changed: fleet of ships . I say it is the wom an I love». At there wer e t he events of September 8, Mussoli t he end he will des ert an d remai n on the isni has been rem oved from offi ce , th e enemies lan d, without any scrupl es : «They have forgot have become friends and vice ver sa. It is neceste n us», h e expl ai ns to his friend , Lorusso, sary t o go back to Italy, r ebu il d one 's life and «and I want to forget them» . reforge on e's identity. «The re are lots of id eals Eve n t he characte r, who is p layed by Abatanat stake », the pil ot says. However , he reve al s tuono, the only one who seem s to have military his own phi l osophy of l i fe th at seems to be valu es, does not di st in guish him sel f by posi rath e r m ate riali st ic an d add s: «We can m ake t ive qualiti es: we ca n t al k about «soldi erly am lot s of money». bi ti o ns» which are do tted with «funny b r agAfter hav ing warned t he Comma nd abo ut the gi ngs» . He loves m usic and uses it to keep the pre se nce of th e pl atoon, an En gl ish ship reach troops' moral e hi g h: «C hee r up you' ll get ove r es the isl an d t o repatriate our so ld ie rs: the it», he say s in the film. He is sexist and con con tra st between the w h i te and impe ccab l e fes ses w ithout res ervat io n t hat he misses his uniforms of Her Majesty' s sailors and th e civi l, mothers. He is sad b eca use he cannot e njoy d i rty an d colou rfu l uniform s of o u r men is carthe spl endid views of t he Gree k sunsets w ith ried to exces s. Just on e thi ng h as r e main ed her. He is fa ith fu l to t he reg im e and o fte n

Rivista Militare English Eddion n. 112007

.,,

A scene of« The Roses of the Desert».

quotes its regulat ions to wh ich he adheres out of self- i nterest. He takes advantage of his su perio r ranks to allow his so ldiers to meet the prost itute of t he country . He is t he on ly o ne who is anxious to be i n the first li ne, but his attitude is more of a mantra t han anyth i ng else . The possib ility of reaching the homeland has been offered by the visit of a Tu r kish me rchant: the b rothers Munaro n catch sight of th e fis hi ng boat and g ive the alarm showing not on ly their ow n panic but also the ir ignorance . In fact , they do not know where Turkey is and whet her it is an allied country or not. Instead of inquiring about the course of war or commandeering the boat, ou r so ldiers - tourists ask if it is poss i ble to buy carpets , smoke has hish and fi nal ly they are robbed of t heir own arms. The on ly one who has scr u ples is Lieutenant Lorusso : «We a re here in an out - of-the-way spot , we do not k now how lo ng we have been here , we do not know wha t is happeni n g around us . I wou l d say, do n 't you have an ounce of curiosity? Let ' s return to t he front line . Let ' s return where something is happen -

ing». Howeve r , his exhortation succumbs to the majority's decision to rema in on the i sland and h is determination fades into ob livion .

«THE ROSES OF THE DESERT»: A RAGTAG ARMY IN AFRICA As t he America n act or and directo r Stanley Tucci (a b ig name in the wor ld of c inema for movies such as «T he Pelican report» and «Men of hono u r») has high l ighted «i n a fami ly the ethn i c stereotypes can be very different. It is importan t that the context is that of parody and the ma in thing is to en r ich the charact ers giving them a b it of h uma nity». T his ph rase is fit for Mario Monice lli's latest fi lm, wh ich has recent ly been r eleased: «T h e roses of the desert» . T he fil m is based on t he nove l by Mario Tobi no «The desert of Lybia» - on wh ich • D ino Risi based t he fi lm «Wa r id iot)) - an d on the passage «The soldier Sanna}> from Giancarlo Fusco ' s book «Wa r of Alban ia». T he story is about t he m isadvent ures of a wi ld and biza rre medical Br igade of the Roya l Army , wh ich has made camp i n a remote oasis in t h e Li byan Desert, d uri ng the Second World War. So ldiers

MAURO BERARDI ,,uan

MICHELE PLACIDO GIORGIO PASOTTI ALESSANDRO HABER

uresE ])fl ])ESfl\T~

OIRETIO 01

MARIO MONICELLI

f.:I

A poster of the film.

a nd non - comm i ssioned officers are su re that they wi l l rema i n there for a s hort time: te n days, one month at the longest. Soo n, they wi ll conque r Alex andria and w ill return home . T he camp cannot be defined as martial : there is a re laxing and lazy atmosphe re of ho liday: there are people who play d ra ughts, some look up at the stars and others take pict ure s. There are peop le who write to their wives and others fantasize about t he Arab wome n: t hey dream of meeting them and goi ng t hrough exper iences li ke in «T he Arab ian N ights» . T he rea l enemies are the hot weather, t he thi r st, fl ies , dirti ness, d iseases, homesickness . T he quiet life of the camp is en live ned by an Italian friar, who has organ iz ed a sc hoo l for c hildren who l ive there and g ives the local popu lations some h elp. He demands that the Ita l i an doctors n urse his men and h e turns to them i n an abrupt way. The so ldiers offer themse lves and they a r e so willi n g to h elp t h at their work seems like a huma nitar ian m iss ion rather tha n a mi litary operation. War seems to be far in t hat lazy oasis, it is somethi ng abstract about wh i c h t hey l earn

some information through the bul l etins co mi ng from d ifferent fron t s, which are rhetor ically reassuring. Then , the situat ion changes ab rupt ly: the war in North A fri ca drags o n and the Royal A r my pulls back i n front of t he enemy inst ead of advancing . T he camp is i nvaded firstl y by the so ldiers o n the run and then by the i njured : the hopes of a quick v ictory fade and those brothers i n arms , who for the fi rst t im e face war becoming victims and protagon ists, cannot return home . Despit e t he cr uelty of t he events , «The roses of the dese rt » avoids a ny dramat ic effect: t here is no trag edy i n that w ar : it is a fa rce where eac h character p lays a rol e t hat has been ass igned without a ny real r eason . It i s Mon icel li hi mself who c laims the soft st yle, which has a lways been his narrative he r itage : «Th is language and this tone - the di rector has explained in an interv iew - does not spr ing from «The roses of the desert». Whe never it has been pos sib le and I have bee n ab le to do it , I have always loved the comedy ting ed wit h b itterness and tragedy. It is the Ita li a n comedy» . «The r oses of the des er t » is abou t h u man mi sery t hat the co nflict exaggerates : ig no rance, credu lity, vanity, meanness and th e necess ity for comprom ise. T he fi lm uses the m to hig hli ght th e cli c he o f a nat i o n that i s obliged to bear t he disorgan izat io n (t he pro t agonists of the story t hat unfolds in Libya re ceive t he C h r i stmas packages t hat are ad d ressed to t he Alp ini in Albania), to suffer th e arrogance of th e nazi ally (who is more cr uel and wel l- eq ui pped) and t he farcica l i nept itud e of his supe r io r s. In fact , from t he f irst scen e the f i l m shows the m ut ual tendency to offload the respons i b il ity on t o the others w ith i n th e mi li t ary hierarc h y . In add it i on, there is t he grotesque figure of General Pe d erzo li (played by T att i Sanguinetti). He is a neurasthen ic an d obtuse Colone l ( he seems like General Lio n of «Me n against» by Francesco Ros i and t he monk Zenone of the «Brancaleo ne Armada» by Monicel l i) , w h o trave ls by sidecar earning in this way the n ic kname of Genera l Roa r . Si nc e he is vain and ca pricious he fo rce s hi s men t o bu i ld a graveyard fo r his Armada i n o r der that he can make a good impress ion o n a r ival Ge nera l. (At the end he says with a sm ug expression : «The graveyard has been bu i lt . Now we have to fi ll it»). Wit h the di r ecto r s of his c in ema, sat ire and grotesquene ss , Mo n icell i descr i bes a micro co sm whe re there are odd characters . Each of t hem has its d ialect and pa rticular expressiveness and describes soc ia l v ic es and virtu es: po lit icians and t he H igh Commands ar e arro gan t and i ncompeten t ; t he Officia ls are de -

Rivista Militarc English Edition n. 112007

THE ANTIHEROES OF THE ITALIAN COMEDY

Above. Vittorio Gassman and Alberto Sardi, the unforgettable protagonists of «The Great War».

Below. A poster of the film.

scribed as a wel l- educated class t hat is used to rh etoric; the private soldier is mediocre and ignorant, he is i n th e street and tries to survive by usi ng cunning but he also shows extraordi nary generosity. Alessandro Haber plays Major Strucch i , who is the antihero par ex cel len ce: he is apath etic and dream y, he is obsequious ad nauseam and has a linguistic t witch. In fact he ofte n says: «how much love I feel for you» ; he loves literature and poetry; he prefers reciting Omero an d writing love lette rs to his wife, who is distant and wh o he be li eves i s in love w it h hi m, to g iving orders . Giorgio Pasotti p lay s Lieutenant Salvi , who is a simp le young man, moderately good and rationa l , who has enlisted as volunteer in order to discover t he world, w ith a Laika slu ng over h is sh oul der, as if he were a tourist. His father, Domenicano Simeone (p layed by Mi ch el e Placido) is a l ea d i ng figure in the camp he has an i mpul sive character, he is unorthodox and pragmatic and wil l become a leader. A small community of «Italians , nice people» (it i s no coincidence that it is the t itl e of one of Giuseppe De Sa ntis' film s, whi ch was release d in 1964 and is about the Italian campaign in Ru ssia), who are poorly ed ucated and badlyequipped, try to surv ive the horrors of war quoti ng poems, thinking about women, cracking jok es about rimmel and Rommel an d gett ing ki lled while tryi ng to give a loaf of bread to starving child ren.

T he fo lly of war, which becomes a fa rce, had already bee n described by Monicelli in one of hi s cu lt film s, «The Gre at War» of 1959, which won the Go lden Lion at the film fest ival in Venice and lots of people conside r to be hi s masterpiece also because it has made him famous abroad. Th is time the context is t hat of the First World War, from the difficu lt life in the trenches to the resistance o n the Piave, which is seen through the eyes o f two char acters who are no t very keen on servi ng the ir country: Oreste Jacovacci (A lberto Sordi), who is a wily and idler Roman, and Gi ovan ni Busacca (Vittorio Gassman) a gruff Milanese who has a heart of gold. They are very different especially if we co nsi der their origin s. However, they are u nited by the same attitude: they do not want to do anything, let alone f ight in the fron t line. After having tried to evade mi litary service they find themselves en li sted and are forced to face the misfo rtu nes of t he front. They are in the front line only for one reaso n: avoiding any k ind of problems. However, in part the comradeship and th e frie ndsh ip, w hic h develops betwe en the two protagon ists and after

the trys t with the prostitute Costa ntin a (played by Silvana Mangano), make up for the absence of comforts. The cha racter of Co stantina re min ds us of «Mediterranean» but , i n this case, it injects a note of cheerfulness into the context and softens the desolate setting of death created by the confl ict. One day th e divis ion is orde red to advance in the front line. Even in this case, the two protagonists are able to avo id being involved in the battle but they are selected and commissioned to carry a message to the Ita l ian outpost because of t heir i neffici en cy. Their m ission accompl ished, Gi an ni and Oreste decide not to return immediately because of the rain and spend the night in a stable: «Anyway , we have done our duty, haven't we?» Sordi says. But thei r awakening is ru de: their shelter has b een seized by th e enemies . They try t o f lee clumsi ly wearing the Austrian coats but they are caught and taken to a haughty Official to be inte rrogate d. They are threate ned with death but t hen t hey are offered an opportunity: they wi l l spare their life if they give them information about the strateg ic plans of the Ita lian army, or to be more precise, news about a pontoon bridge on the Piave t hat Oreste lets slip. Th e

id ea of being sh ot as spies leads t hem to tell the truth. As Gassman is about to reveal where it is , the Officia l says harshly th at th e on ly guts the Italian s know are th ose used in the cooking of Veneto. Since he has gone straight for the jugular, Gass man chang es h is attitu de and i n a new burst of pride , he turns to the enemy and says : «Li ste n to me. Seeing that you say this, I

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 112007

er, bui lds its p lot on the stereotypes : «The two enemies (1961) by Guy Hami lton , who is the di rector made popula r by the su ccessful ser ies «007». The f i lm dea ls w ith the t op ic of honour and the protagon ists are tw o act ors who are e mblema tic o f th e paradox the f ilm aims to highl ight on th e one hand the ice - cold Dav id Niven, on t he other han d the irrepress ible Al be rt o Sardi ; the former plays an Eng lish major w ho is captured during th e Second World War in East Africa by an Ital ian division wh ich is commanded by Capta in Blasi , who is played by A lberto Sardi . T he fi lm focuses on th e personal due i that is fought by the two Commanders: it is a sort of wa r within t he war, where two stubborn men struggle agai nst each other because of t he ir ex asperate d sense of d ig ni ty and pride: the Eng lish aplomb aga in st the Italian impu l siveness. This contrast is made exhilarant by a series of hy pertextual e leme nts (on the one hand th e spaghetti of the Itali an rations, on th e other hand t he tea t hat the Officials of Her Majesty's A r my drink i n the middle of the dese rt) and

Facing page, above. A scene from «The Great War». Above, and facing page, below. «The Two Enemies» with Alberto Sardi and David Niven. Right. A scene from «El Alamein. The line of fire».

won't tel l you anyt hing !». Both of t hem w il l be shot keeping the secret on wh ich th e Italian victory dep en ds. After havi ng done everyt hi ng poss ib le t o save the ir own sk in, the two inexperienced soldiers die as heroes. But the ending is bitter Sordi dies begg ing fo r mercy «I don't know anything. I'm a coward, everyone knows it» . His sacrifice wi ll not leave any mark in t he story . The film e nds w ith a sarcastic joke by Oreste and Giovanni 's superior during the defence of the strongho ld of Zonin's house : «Eve n th is time those t wo lazybones have got away w ith it...» . T he cliche of the Italian so ld ier, who finds his own dignit y of a fighter only when his col lective identity is r ev iled, is represented i n another f i lm of those years w hich , maybe more than any oth -

commonplaces (« I don 't know what nerves are» Niven say; «Is it poss ible t o f ight a war against one who has such a moustache?». The film traces back all the cl ic hes me nd u;·,2,_: above , wh ich are made expl ic it by the Engl ish, who make fun of the Ital ia n soldiers, who do not • «look» very cr uel, but they recognize they a re good at sing ing. In additio n, they cr itic ize the ir inefficiency but recognize the ir fantasy and th eir w it s, in a word the art of fend ing for oneself.

chance to satirize the ingra i ned evils o f th e Italians , exactly as the Italian comedy do es, but it can become the place where to celebrate memory, as recent ly t he Italian director En zo Mo n teleone tried to do with the fi l m « El Alame in . T he line of fi re» , which was release d in Italy in 2002. This time the conflict is not used as a peg to represent h uman vices and virtues, but it is t he centra l the me of the fi lm: a lthough it does not have the spectacu lar impact of the America n epic film, this movie aims to t race an episod e of the Ital ian m ilitary history focusing attentio n on t he most devastating experiences the in d ividual can go through. They are not the com bat w ith the dead and the injured, but the en d less wait that worsens hunger, thirst and dis -

Above. A poster of Enzo Monteleone's film. Right. «Italians, Nice People», with Riccardo Cuccia/la, Raffaele Pisu, Peter Falk and Andrea Checchi.

As far as the Ital ian is concerned, to expla in how they perceive the Eng l ish identity we should mention the answer Capta in Blasi gives t o Captain Richardson abo ut the British se lf - re spect: «Of course, self- respect is yours, but it is so yours that yo u have forgotten to respect the others. You be lieve that there is on ly one sys t em for do ing things: the English system. No, there isn ' t ! I' m Ital ian and I do th ings as an ltal ian1». So, whereas the Engl ish repeat ad nause am: «Remember, we are English so ld iers», Sordi explains his p h ilosophy t hrough his wife ' s words: «I don't want him t o come back as a hero, I want h im to come back» .

«EL ALAMEIN. THE LINE OF FIRE » AND « RADIO WEST» : WHEN WAR IS NOT A METAPHOR As we can infer from the ana lysis of the fi lms we have examined, war movies give us a

eases . Fighting on the fron t line with the pos sibility of dy ing w ithout having see n the enemy is nerve wracking . T he first part of the film un folds between the arriva l of the Engl ish and the everyday facts: from the sn ipers to the lack of water, from the d ifficulty of wash ing to the attentio n to the different whist le of bombs in order to save onese lf and to reflect on one's m iracles . («Each of us can benefit from t hree . Aft er that we can expect anything» one of the infantrymen exp l ains). The second part is about the desperation of the fighting which does not assume an epic tone : the so ldiers of Monteleone are not pervaded by war fury. They

Rivista Mili/are English Edition n. 1/2007

are doleful but not violent. T he battle is full of noises and shots in the dark, which takes place in the night li ke a nig htmare . The t hird part of the fi lm is about the wi thd rawal t hat turn s into wandering aimle ss ly i n the des ert, without return fo r some peop le. There is no scen e th at portrays de sertion or flight: even the ru n of the fou r brothe rs in arms towards the sea is a way to save a moment of happine ss from the ho rrors of war. the d irector uses an oxymoron wh en he des cribes the episode of t he soldi er Rizzo, who is take n prisoner by the Eng l ish : «For a so ldier bei ng prison er is hu mi liati ng . It is a non - life. Th e duty of each so ldier i s to f ight and that of each pr iso ner is to flee. And I have fl ed ». The theme of determ i nation is ex pressed by a p hr ase of on e of the infantrym en of t he troop: «We are th e stones: we are stil l, motio n les s and planted». There is t he cliche of t he journey cons ide red as a walk t hroug h one's th o ughts and t hrough the narrator's soul : t he journey of the youn g voluntee r Serra fro m the rheto ric of war to the useles sness of al l con fl icts. «War is fascinating only i n t he school books» - he says - «i n l ife it on ly arouses pity, it is horrible and st inks» . In t hi s brief excursus we should cons ide r th e fi lm of the Ital ian budding director Alessandro Va lori, «Radio West» (2 004), whose t it le is borrowed from the name of th e rad io th at was in sta lled an d man aged by the Ital ian so ldiers in Kosovo. The director's attention is focused on t he sol d ier s: t heir t hough ts, their moods, how they express th e feel ing of fear. It is shot with light digital video ca meras, which are d irty and always on the go: it i s an action movie. What confuses you is t he absence of a declared ene my: th e film revo lves around thi s; it revolves around the diffi c ulty of being forces of in terpos ition, even t hough t he humanitarian character of the m i ssion rem in ds us of the model of «Itali ans, nice people» that is necessary to balan ce the mod e l of th e goo d so ldier wi t h that o f the soldier who is good . With regard to the image of the soldier that is created by the smal l screen and by television f ilms, we sh ould refer to th e occasiona l and unconv i ncing screen appearances by the army both in t he Ang lo - Saxon fi l ms (from the u ni formed lawyers of J.A.G. t o the speci al agents of the US navy N.C.S.I.) and in the Itali an sto ri es of priests, magistrates, doctors and detectives.

CONCLUSIONS

This synthet ic overview of fi l ms, w h ich have been chose n for the sake of argument accord -

«Radio West» was one of the last films on this subject.

ing to the s ucces s they have had and thei r emb lemati c value, has stres sed that since the end of the Se cond World War the Itali an cinema has re inforced t he stereotype of the Ital ian so ldi er (wh ich is a co nstant theme running all American films) th at aims to high l ig ht t he unwarlike natu re of the Italian so ld i er, who is ge neticall y cowardly an d , at best, un re liab le, but anyway he is dee ply human and, for thi s r ea son, he i s very nice . Thi s connotation is di stin ctl y differ ent from the epi c con notation that t he Anglo- Saxon cinema gives to its so ldiers and is welcom ed pos itive ly in our co un try. This image fit s the st ereotype s t h at are give n pri zes by Hollywood , but it is very dis tant from t he k nowledge public o p inion has of its army a nd of the act ivi t i es it i s involved w ith, as recently a survey co nducte d by Eur i s ko has highlighted, whose resu it ~ 11av" :.: shown that the army is perceived posi t ive ly as a rea lity which provides our cou ntry w it h a valu ab le se rv ice. Sabrina Carreras

Journalist

-i· . I

FROM LANCES TO POINTERS From the moment we wake up until we go to sleep o ur day is a fast succession of indications supplied by the plethora of pointers that surround us. They all originate from a common ancestor: they don 't kill us anymore, but they always condition us.

A q ui ck glan ce a ro und t he cockpit of a ny mil itary aircraft t o notice its most eye - catching characteristic: a mass of i nstru me nts and in dicators of various styles an d si zes but in p rinc ipal all th e sam e look. Th ey signal t he level of fuel or the level o f electrical ene rgy produced by the generato r, the temperat ure o f the heating ci rcui ts or t he pressure o f the lu bricants, don ' t h i de the ir d ist inct ive cha ra cte ris tic: a round g rad uated dia l on w hi ch swings one or more poi nters. From t he in itial w on der at h ow it i s pos si ble

Opening pages. Big Ben, London.

Above and right. The cockpit of an AB 2 72 helicopter and the dashboard of a vintage Jagua r.

t o read all t hese in str uments, to d utifu l ly fo l low a ll t he po ss ib le w arning s, to m ak e the smallest emot io nal res po nse rational: is eve rything totally necess ary or is it jus t an exaggeration of a fantasy, t he ma n ifestat ion of a t ec h nol og ica l over lord i ng7 In other words, ca n the al l eged protect io n p revi ously pro mi se d by the

plethora of am ulets an d m i racu lous tal ism ans fe ndi ng off bad luck and magi c that has bee n replaced by thi s mod ern fetish that, i n perfect accordance with superstitious belief s, is made better by being made mo r e7

An d r ein fo rcin g t h is, the se ns atio n felt by the norm al da ily m otori st: how ma ny of these instru me nts ge nerously dish ed out on the dash board are really nece ss ary7 How m any , instead, would be co nsi de re d superfluo us accessories solely for the gratification o rdi na ry dri vers on ordinary jou rney s, o r ar e th ey mere "techno l ogi ca l pl acebo s"7 It can, al so, be n oted th at t oday ev en on t he most banal w h ite household good we are b litzed by at least o ne panel wit h t he ub iq uito u s fl ash in g li gh ts, st re ngth eni ng ou r pro p ens ity t o organize the modern world once again into mirac les . A laten t n eed th at du ri ng th e t rou b led rise of the scie nti fic cu lt ure, a vi cti m of its own succes s, th ere is now t he blind faith not in the pow er o f t he sp ear, t he lance, bu t t he ar ro w, t he i ndi cator l

Rivisla Militare English Edition n. 112007

Where were the prodrome s, when t he arch etypes of the se round d ia ls first emerged and started their rel ent less advance, and , ab ove all which of these various d ials we re watched7 Paradoxically th e ans wer, which one would think is related to the last two cen turies i s in real i ty of a m uch lon ger story. Going righ t back to t he mythical age of Alexander the Great. A n d, w i thout being met aph or i c, it

statu es of marble and bron ze, which once recovered, dated t he wreck t o the se con d half of the first century BC. Amo n gst the m any smal l piece s that were t r an sported there was also a small metal frag ment. It was very corroded, fixed to rotten wood. Once dried and cleaned it showed a series of tee t h for a cogwheel, si milar to tho se t hat are see n in modern watches a nd clocks, infact an ex changer. T he r e ma ins of a n o ld w atch from who knows what ship from who k nows whic h journ ey and with out reaso n to end up the re. Fo r the sake of scru pu lous ness it was sent to the national museum in Athens, wh ere it r ema ined am ongst al l the curios ities of t he past. T ru t hfully doubts were not lack ing and t he incongruity thankful ly w hi ch was all too easy applied m eant that for f ifty years any con nec tion was denied. At the start of the 1 950's Dr D e rek J. De So l la Pr ince , sta r t ing w i th the preposition that it wasn't a w atch but a cont em porary naval device, started to study it. A more careful clea ning confi rmed his intui t ion

Archaeological find from Antikythera: general view.

Detail of th e graded scales.

Archaeological find from Antikythera: various fragments.

emerges from th e waters of the Ae gea n, pu lled up fro m its sandy r esting place at the start of t he last century. In the spring of 1900 in fact, some sponge fisherm e n d i scovered near the i sl a nd of An tikyth era, for u s Ce rigotto, in th e canal b etween the Pelopennese and Crete, the remains of an ancient boat. It had be en transport i ng

was correct when he found som e i nscr i ptions in anc ient Gree k, as w ell as conce ntr ic g raduated d ials upon which i t' s eas y to imagine moved needles. These significant indications convin ced the researcher that he had found the front of an • instrument for astronomical ca lculus, simi lar to mechan ism s of our own era, w ith a similari ty to the muc h lauded and reputed mechan ism • · i n Rhodes from that epoch . Finally in 1958 he was able to expound i n detail not on ly the formal characteristics of the enigmat ic wreckage piece but also its fu nctio n i n that sop hi st icated

then earned t he name the Anti kythera Calcu lat o r. From a tech no log ical point of view t he most amaz ing characteri st ics are at least two . The fi rst is, w it hout doubt, the complex ity an d the accuracy of the cog system, ma d e in bronze w ith multip le t riangular teeth and i n fi xed pos itions. T he second, perhaps even mo r e i ncredib le, is the presence of a differential gear, mean ing the capacity to produce an ex it rotation speed that is d ifferent t o two different entry rotat i on sp eeds . It wou ld be anot her l 5 centurie s befo re the likes of Leonardo would creat e someth ing of a similar ilk and anothe r three more before a differe nt ia l gear was actu a l ly p rod uced . In our daily l ives m i l l ions of such gears are fou nd i n motors in o r der to

X- rav of the archaeological find.

device. T hanks to a series of x - rays he was in fact able t o establish the ex i stence of other cogs and t heir relationships to each other an d consequent ly t he workings of the dev ice. Accord i ng to the reconstr uction by Dr Prince the contrapt ion was based on a sort of perpet ua l calendar, that all owed the calculat i on of phases of the moo n in the past and in t he fut ure, in relat ion to the sun ' s movement. Obvi o usly, w ith d ue interpretations some i nitial data emerges , re lated to tides as we ll as the lat itude that it could be even at night. In pract ice, a train of gears moves the cogs indicating the so l ar movement a n d a n other indicates the movemen t of the moon, according to t he relat ionsh ip 2 54 siderea l revolut ions of t he moon

Detail of the differential gea r of the Antikythera Calculator.

A realistic model of the find.

for every 19 so la r years . At this poin t there was enough to make a working model whic h

transfer and change t h e spee d of i n coming gears and o utgo i ng gears. In t he Ant ikythera Ca lculator the sma ll differential gear serves instead t o ca lcu late the lunar sidereal months, requ i red to subtract from the solar movement that of t he l unar side real.

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 112007

N ot h in g of suc h a type, unti l that time, amongst all t he myriad of archaeo log ica l f in dings a nd only a dissolving reference in the o ri ginal p iece to the ex i st ence of a mechan ical dev ice t hat would be able to measure the as tro nom ical motio n. Instru ments, i ncidenta ll y , not just as p laythi ngs for the r ich and idle or ingenuous toys for layabouts but working tools able to transpo rt along a route wit h out the comfort of land as a gu ide. Navigat ion l ike this was unusual for merchants b ut was used by t h e mi li tary, in pa r t i cular for cross i ng the Med iterranean, and not by radar, as wel l as t he No rth Sea, by astronomic means . Logical ly , as i n all such cases, the model conc l usively constructed by Prince doesn ' t convince a l l the scien t ifi c community. Even if t here is the working reco nstruction . Wit hout wanti n g t o e nter into specifics, that wh i ch seems certa i n and objective, thanks to a miracu lous conservation, is t he system that is suitable for the p roductio n of certain data.

Detail of the loading clip of the find.

Reconstruction of various graded scales.

It concerns t he four cogs most centra l to the system at the opposite sides of t h e dev ice, bearing with un usual prec ision the notches of the precise grad ing sca le, simi lar in substance to an electron ic analogue tester. The notches appea r neat and not dissimi la r to the present

day goniometric c i rc les that technicians u se and of sim i lar prec ision, suitable therefore to a precise reading of the indicator. Th is fact alone about the instrument supposes, h i nts at, an even older orig in of dials and need les. A further reflection on dia ls and need les in fact dates back to the ir recorded 'de but'. The description left by Vitruv ius, who in turn drew his description from a previous aut hor, of the water watch of Ctesibio which c learly shows the era i n which the great scient ist was livi ng was about the first half of the third century BC, t he same time as Archimedes. It was treated as a revo lut ionary historical g limpse for pure and appl ied science that required for the f irst t ime an exact determination of what was the extent of knowledge of meas uri ng time. It would have needed a dependable measuring device, con stant and precise, a dev ice able to mark the days and, above al l, the n ight. Th is ult imate reason wou ld have made it of interest t o the Roman Army, in which the same Vitruvius served as an eng ineer, for the necessary mak i ng and setting out for the i r grand castra on the territory. And also indeed in their dai ly dut ies they needed the opportunity to perform their tasks precisely with obsess ive regularity, i n every moment of the day and

Detail of the concentric scales. Right: A detail of the gears.

night. From wake up, to close order exercises, from lunch to the care of clothing and arms , to the silence of watches alo ng the batt lemen ts . Every function had to be carried out with the maximum p rec ision , in every time of the year. T he problem, however, came w ith the irregularity of the length of the day duri ng the year juxtaposed to the ir requ i red regularity, in particular for the night watches of the guards, the vigi!iae. The Romans like us subdivided the day, or more accurate ly between the two dawns into 24 hours. Of these twelve gave the day, twelve gave the night. But if the duration of the day was constant throughout the year it was not so for the length of daytime, very short at winter solst ice and very long at summer so l stice. Consequently t he Roman dayt ime was short in winter and long in summer , with a limit of about 30 minutes between the extremes of what is an hour. Symmetrically, obvious ly, the same was mirrored in the length of the night. Only in two days of the year was day and night the same length, March 21 and September 21 , and hence the same as ours. To stabi l ize the structure of t he hours they would have had to make use of a meridian , leaving to the sand and ho urglass the night.

It's ind ication was rig id, excellent for defining an interval, or the pleading of a lawyer, or the favours of a prostitute but no t useful for measuring continual time. The usage of four watches during the night could not be effectively carried out with t he same hourglass an eq ua l number of t i mes, because of the seasons. In summer the night watch would go on for too long , in winter it would finish i n the dark of the night. To measure in a manner proport iona l to the season it would need a device that would va ry the length of the hour, day after day, increas ing for six months and then decreasing for the next six . The solution came thanks to Ctesibio, one of the greatest scientists in t he Library of Alexandria: a water clock. It was observed that "hourg l asses" etymologically defi ned someth i ng that reduced water, or rat h er a chronometer of water and not partially ful l of sand. In detail, the Ctesibio's hourglass functioned by the steady dripp ing of water higher tank to a lower receptor. The level of the water in t he tank was kept constant through a constant supply in order for the pressu re, and therefore the speed of t he drips, to change. A siphon i nstead emptied the collection receptacle eve ry 24 hours . T he receptacle had a specia l float in side, it was connected to a suitable counter we i ght by a chain, connected in its turn to a rotating index. The ra i sed level of the water

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 112007

which raises the float creates a rotation of the index, measured by a little arrow, in proportion to the passing of time. At every corresponding cycle it completes the turn , successfully completi ng a circle : This was ach ieved with six concentric circles, subdivided into l 2 segments for the day and 4 for the night, these b e ing reserved for the turns of t he watches, and are on the outer

cal device that would automatically , i n the arc of six months, shift the pivot point of the nee d I e from near the base to nearer the top ,

u/ro=t'

p / ro=t"

21

J UNE

21

MARCH

21

S EPTEMBER

21

D ECEMBER

u>P

t' > t"

Geometric functioning scheme.

Ctesibio's clock.

ring. There were also i ndicat ions for each of the twelve zodiac signs and for the 365 days of the year. The variation of the length of the hour was resolved by having the position of the ne ed le shift dependant on the day. As the year passed the needle would from a different pivot position within t he index be able to give a constancy to the turning of the dial and hence solve the problem of changing year. At this discovery Ctesibio created a mechani-

therefore providing a variation of the angle from the centre from a minimum to a maximum . Caused by a rotating cog of 365 days, shifting every 24 hours as per the activity of the float and the dripping water. The device made the hour in t he year vary from a 75 minute hou r in summer to a 45 minute hour in the winter, simulating the changes brought by the passage from summer to winter solstices before return ing to summer. The water-c loc k also needed two different speeds for changing the days to correct the hour timings and one for be i ng to check the years and correct their variances. Ctesibio even considered adding to the 365 cog two further cogs that would indicate with its slower motion the day and month with a second need le. According to current knowledge it was that debut of that gave the needle the shape of the arrow because it had to hit the precise point of â&#x20AC;˘ the dial.

Flavia Russo Historian

Army General. Staff - History Office

The complete catalogue of the works, information on sale conditions and list of associated bookshops can be requested from the History Office of the Army General Staff, 23 Via Etruria Rome (Phone 47358671 - Fax 06437357284, E -mail: uff.storico@smerag.esercito.difesa.it). Publications are also available at the History Office (by previous phone contact and according to availability), Monday to Friday, from 09:00 to 11 :00 a.m. For mail orders apply to Officio Pubblicazioni Military, 22 Via Guido Reni - 00196 Rome (Phone 0647357665 - Fax 063613354) .

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THE THEOCRATIC REGIME

Title P,iige . . Detail of a mosque.

Above: Mural of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Rivista M1Mare English E.d1tion n. 112007.

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AHMADIN~AD AND THE OPPOSITION AT HOME AND ABROAD

In order to win be elected, Ahmadinejad levered on the "Mostazafin" ("Outcasts of the Revolution") i.e. on the families of the men fallen in the war against Iraq and on the loyal supporters of the "Supreme Guidance", followers of the Shi'ite orthodoxy, who had somehow been excluded from the social prosperity - a mix of consumerism and personal liberties - despite their decisive contribution to the national cohesion and unity. Certainly a pragmatic choice, which has raised the flag of the traditional values always shared by the Shi'ite community: social justice, fight against corruption, sobriety of cos tumes and strict observance of Islam, behind which the Pasdaran and the Basiji have been very happy to line up. But dissent has distant roots: the long and bloody period of clashes that fol lowed Khomeini's revolution (with harsh repres sions made by the Shi'ite clergy through the Security Forces, the new" Savana" that replaced old "Savak") had not completely subdued the ethnically inspired political forces - besides those of a democratic, socialist and communist nature even though they had all contributed to the Shah's fall and to the triumph of theocracy. Among the latter the notorious terrorists of MKO (Mujahiddin e Khalq), initially responsible for having fought the monarchy with the assassina tion of two American advisers of the Shah, and after for having declared war on the Ayatollahs with a number of attacks that killed President Ali Rajai (1981 ), Prime Minister Javad Bahonar and over seventy ministers, members of Parliament and senior officials of the Islamic Republic. With the characteristics of a religious sect (blind obedience and absolute loyalty to the leaders) this group maintains, up to this day, the original Marxist ideological root, which envis ages, besides the obligation of divorce and abandonment of the children, a rigid "terrorist" discipline, including the need to keep in one's · mouth cyanide capsules that can be taken out only when eating. This formation has always pursued the objec tive of freeing Iran from the Mullahs' dictatorship (in 2000, the Pasdaran's headquarters were hit by six 60mm mortar shells and the Police . Chief, General Reza Seifullahi, escaped an attack by a miracle) and went so far as to participate in the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, with its dead buried in the Kerbala cemetery. In 1991, under the orders of Saddam Hussein, they fought against the Kurdish people (they were told that the Kurds were Pasdaran disguised as Iraqis) and the organization achieved a fairly good level in heavy

artillery and armoured brigades. At present, about a thousand militiamen reside in the Ashrat region (if not prisoners of the American coalL!'.. tion). . Even if they have been "amnestied" by the Teheran Government ("They have repented an~ collaborate with the Islamic justice"), their leader; Masud Rajavi is at the moment untraceable and his wife Maryam is now under house arrest in Paris, a potential thorn in the flesh of Teherari;s political organization. · Meanwhile, the United States thinks of usin'g them against Iran, with a financing of 50 milli~n dollars (Senator Sam Brownback, Iran Democracy_ Act) granted to MITV (National Iranian Televi;.. sion), the most important Iranian satellite TV in Los Angeles. ., In fact, in Los Angeles lives a large Iranian community (about one million exiles that left 1:C: ran after the revolution of 1979) that finds its point of reference in this private television; which, through the cooperation of five more ra..:: dio stations, can reach between 1 5 and 20 miH' lion sets, i.e. about 40 million Persians scattered, inside the Islamic Republic and in the rest of the· world. Despite the continuous efforts to black out the: satellite signals, made by the Iranian Secret Ser-''' vice, (recently Cuba's signal was jammed for two weeks) and the scarce interest in politics shown'. by the young Iranians, NITV and Radio KRSI man _:· age to giv~ their audience not only the most im- · portant international news, but also those corn- : ing from inside Iran, which otherwise the Iranian ·: people would never know. This network is apparently connected with N- • CRI, the National Council of Iranian Resistance,,:' which in the name of a free, secular and demo- .i cratic Iran, today constitutes the most significant • group of the Iranian resistance, even if its dom- / inant faction is constituted precisely by the . "People's Mujaheddin", the extremist element ·. that the European Union and the United States ... have placed .in the world list of terrorist groups. Although they have always played an ambiguous · : role in the regional context (an independent ' Armed Force, the terrorist attacks and the coop- ' eration with Saddam Hussein), these extrem_ists believe that their alienation is the outcome of a present given to Teheran by the West, within a disastrous policy of continuous compromises and mediations. Although they oppose an American intervention against Iran and favour a new secular and republican regime, their statements continue to give rise to perplexities: We only ask you to stop helping Teheran 's regime and let us act. Iran can very well be taken care of by the Iranians".

THE MILITARY INSTRUMENT

It is difficult to foresee how long it will be until 1-· ran produces its first atomic weapon, but clearly tbe Country is aiming at a strategy. that should allow it t<> place itself on the threshold of a rapid prgduction of nuclear weapons, thanks to the plants for producing fissile materials and to the necessary know how. The West should accept the fact that it is practically impossible to stop this strategy: it is better to try to achieve direct and less strained relations with Teheran, in order to soothe its strategic worries and induce it to reflect on th-e · advisability of equipping itself with its own nuclear capability. For a serious and informed discussion .on the Iranian intentions, it is nevertheless necess~ry to take a closer look at Iran's nuclear evolu- · tion.

r~CHNOLOGY AND POLITICS .Jhetechnical control of the cycle of civil nuclear fuel does not necessarily mean that a nation int ~,nds to produce nuclear weapons. The decision to

develop such programme depends on political and military will. However, once the decision is made; a nation must have the necessary technological . means. · The technology of uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing (the fundamental elements of , the nuclear-fuel cycle) provides the means neces- • sary for producing the fissile material (highly enriched uranium and plutonium), i.e. the essential ingredient for producing nuclear weapons. The I- 1 ranian government, since the end of the fifties, has been trying to make self-sufficient its programme of development of civil nuclear energy. In 1957, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi signed an accord of nuclear cooperation with the United States. The King nourished great ambitions, which envisaged the construction of several nuclear power stations for producing tens of thousands megawatts of electric power. The Islamic revolution of 1979 put an end t~ the programme of development, and

Rivista Militare English Edition n. 1/2007

subsequently resumedit'in the mid-eighties.:sint:e then Iran ifas constantly tried to develh1f its- own knowiedge in•everyphase ofthe .cycleofnuclear fuelT - ' · · · ·· · - ·

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.T;p·. tcf nowJh~ .s,l~~f':~X!.cl~.m=t of 'a ny,; lran...ian military,nuclear:programme;,nor;is•it likely that any ~:~'ca,usii~Her·~',i viih ~ ,to adopt a strategy of "nuclear hedging[\,' (to pladt itselfpri the threshold of nuclear power)'; :J:liis choic~~shows a .,strategy that consists in keepfng open (apparen1:ty,."Ta1t least) the possibility of equipping;:the· Country1_wfr'1~nudear weapons in a relatively short tim~e/ tanks·' tctarLautonomous capabilify: of pro:.. .ducing-tt,ei-n rapidly, in/ a period .jth'at°'~foiS fr6°fri . S,<)111_~_,~ee ks to sev,era'I'r,eaf_s' !i 9 van _~E!(f :versi6'i1•,of, ,th_e Rl~11, lrnn :,envisagE!s •.tQ.~~c;:gf'!~.m~ct plantsj Jpr'·J ffe i fuel.':cycle ;th,at: can pr~~~fe·•fi ~_s_jle ,materials : (througli . uranium ,enrichment ',and/ or plutcinfum/ separation),- as .well. as , toj.acqufre.._the tI~r;t_S(C?f '!'ihg'f,tli'~ [,~'lfr a'. ,nuclear,explosive, charge. ,

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that case, the pilot plant could produce from 10 to 12 kg per year of uranium suitable for military em ployment; about is' kg 'are required to make a first--,gen~'r ation nuclear weapon. Moreover; Iran has built, still at Natanz, a very large pl~n.t f9r the en_richm~nt ·on, a commercial. s cale, which; once, completed, could contain about 50,0()0 centrifuges. This stn.idure could corn. pletely meet the yearly requirements of a reactor such as that of Busher, but its further enrichment could produce:from 400 to 500 kg per year of uranitim suitable for military employment, material s,yfnfient fo( ab9ut twenty, atomic bombs. An in -

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. ) ~~re~~ing fact is. thatJran is b4ih:fing; this new plant· "· underground; in order to proted;itfrom possible · . ;-~i_r r~I9-s.ln,20()SJsrael ·.p_u rchased•fn;>ni the Unit' ·· ed States 500. "bunker busting" conventional bom6s·; : made to penetrate . into bunkers and de~ .~.troYthefo;.· ·

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_ Although Iran · has apparently,,; _developed more the initial phaseJuranium enrictiment>:j~f tne nuclear fuel cycle thaif the final one (reprocessing of, the:exhausted;nuclea°f.:fuel and produ.ctiomof, RIU.· ton ium), ma'riV Jra,ii~_ri; :s~iin.fijfr f i iiM~g ineers HAS~THERE BEEN ATEC~,NOLOGICAL "LEAP'? have acquired a _remarkable:experience1!in ,the lat.-ter techniques. Everi thoug~ ,the fou'r itry"149es not Iran , lias also invested in ;more advanced, cen'' have a reprocessing plantfon .a~commercial scale, · · trifuges;.the'. so,-,called P-2. In the -autumn of 2003, ·it has proved•its .capab-ility; ofextracfing .plutonium ·theJnternational Agency.for _Atomic: Energy '(AIEA) in _a laboratory. Many securib/expertf fear. ,that Ibelieved that Iran was '"telling the whole · truth" ran _m~y u~~ ·exhausted · fuel comi-ng· · from tlie ·)'.about its activities o(~_ranijJnl _E!,:Jr!fhrn~nf. Nev~rs.ush~r reac~qr __(w~ictfjs n<>J yet OP,~!!,t!Onal) to ;t~-~tess, after the pu~J.!ca~ior1 _of_'!!~~}~st_,report on produce plutonium; Although;the plutonium corn. :. the :<;?.u.ntry, in February 2006, ., th~.r,e .a fe ,serious )i ing:'f rom reactor (i.~~;_1:tie:kin.dtofplut:onium that :. doubts on the progress really ;made\-with .the . P---:2 t:he .Bushe'r reactor would, produce-n nfnormal con, ;oce'n trifuges. Although Teheran had -obtai~ed' the . -. dltions) is noLithe . ideal' oneic t'or niaking atomic ,-:-•·; projects' in, 199s; ·thedranian officials··have·· main"weapo'ns;.there are:ncfa~hysical )principles'1 Rrevent~ -. hai.r:i_icl ith~(·~until 'the _b.e ginning _·of'2002 nojwork Ing' its use·:·for -military· 'p'i'.irposes':::'a6~m~st, there ,.)1~g_' ~~~en::flone". The~_Al~A _report, <>rj the: 9ther ~9~l_d o.r.ily ~~- !f!oft t.~chr1is.~(-f l)~£~Ji~ More: ,' hand, states that "the reascinS put:forward bf·Iran over,·lran:could use the Buslie"i'..c reac_tcn:-,toiRroduce ·_1: '. for the apparent inactivity.between,;1 99 5 and :2 002 .the plu!oniu Ill 'SU !~able for th'e se~- j,'ii'rRQ~es, al•"'. are not giving a sufficient-guarantee -:on ·the fact though an external.inspection could probablv, de': .: that during this entire period there were ' n-o': con';_; tefr,this type of activity;."P.recisely in Rre..,j nected·:eactivities". Moreover the AiEJ\· i11spectOrs · · .. vent-theipossibility..of a 'r'e'use'!of;the exhausted u--~- ifRum:bi~~~i()f highly. ~nriched_. UJ~i:iiurn in,'~'h ~f:.:, -. ' -:ran_iumi .~ussiai tl~s ;_sr~tec;(t_hcit'' lf"c)IY!IU,i ot"-supplY, -. :;al ,centrifuges~ and'. although a large part ;Of !them '. ariy fuel itlran does. not! accei:>td o~return' it wtien 1 : _:e,;·11~xf J?.e:;~~N91:1_r:icf.~11' imported machines;-,~ti'eri-~r_e . exhau.s ted :r . -· - ~- ';':, " · ':;;~ · ~<--' '-". ·:-':','" .:A sti 1. tdou ots;about the:enrichment activities'. actual ::-.- . -_ .. ' 1rrespect1v:i1ofthis;~cco~d;~lran~~i~-, J~nevertlie~~t; -: \ . ·c :: "· . less ;folio~ -!6~, plu~~11J_ u,m ;]~ath~!fo·I,P,~O,~F€e ,atomie: 0

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Rivista Militare English Edition n. 112007

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From the geographic viewpoint, Iran is in an en viable strategic place, close to big importers ofoil

lamic revolution" has not improved their condition, in point of fact their living standard is lower if · compared to the times of the Shah, while poverty has increased. But there are not many concrete 1 margins for changing this situation: 80 per cent of1 the Iranian. economy. is nationalized or controlled by Islamic foundations, ~nd i.s weighed down by a ; bureaucracy that hinders or makes very difficult the relations with foreign enterprises. The President ·has tried to . imitate Venezuelan President'

and natural gas, such as India, China and Europe. It has 130 billion barrels of verified reserves of crude, l O per cent of the world amount, and boasts the second gas deposits of the planet: 36,000 billion cubic metres. Wells, refineries, pipelines, off- shore platforms, oil depots and terminals are in integrant part of the Persian landscape, from t_ he Caspian Sea to the shores of the Indian Ocean. The hydrocarbon sector provides 22 per cent of the GNP, 80 per cent of the exports and almost 90 per cent of the revenue. The endless flow of hydrocarbons has allowed the regime to maintain ratios of annual economic growth of 6 percent per year, improve the trade surplus, reduce.the foreign debt, accumulate cash reserves, and reduce social pressure by subsidizing a primary good such as petrol, which is sold at paltry prices. President Ahmadinejad, alleging Shi'ite Messian ism, for internal policy relies on the Mostazafin, the outcasts, and their Persian version, the Paber- · hane "those who go barefoot". Up to now the "Is-

Chavez, distributing a part of the remarkable oil revenues, significantly grown during the last two years, with subventions and grants to the lower classes, thus reducing social tensions, but with very little contribution to a healthy social develop- . ment and the real growth of the Country. More than one third ofthe crude exports is destined to Europe. Forty-five per cent of the interexchange is made in the Euro zone, and half of the monetary reserves are in Euros. Today crude is quoted in dollars on London's _International petroleum exchange (lpe) and the New York Mercantile exchange (Nimex), both controlled by the great Western companies. The consumer Countries have no alternatives, and the ce"n tral banks, in order to cope with the energy demand, must accumulate reserves of American currency, thus ·contributing to strengthen the ·economy of the ·superpower. In 2003 Moscow and Peking have started to diversify their strategic reserves into Euros. The

present situation, there is still a margin for trying to find a diplomatic solution, considering the economic and gee-strategic position that this Coun try holds for the rest of the world. THE ECONOMICSITUATION

revaluation of the Yuan, in July 2005, has been accompanied by the decision to put in the Chinese coffer the Euro and the yen beside the dollar. Our_: ing the last three years Teheran has been requiring that most of its crude exported to Asia and Europe be paid in Euros. · In the meantime, with the new course inaugurated by the Iranian President, the relations with the West have rapidly cooled. The threat of the sanctions that the Security Council of the Unite.d Nations could impose on Iran has increased its propensity to make an alliance with the East: with India, which will buy Iranian gas for the next 30 years, and with Peking, which imports 13 per cent of crude and gas and will participate in the exploitation of the Yadavaran oil fields, on the Iraqi border. Widening its field of action, Iran can count on important convergences also with Russia, which winks at the nuclear programme looking at the Persian ports as ideal outlets for marketing a size able part of its energy wealth. In prospect, also natural gas offers ample and widespread opportu nities for its employment, which tends to progressively replace oil as basic commodity for the production of' energy for industrial and domestic use. There is aworld race for all the connected forms of induced activities, from the plants for the trans ·formation at the starting and arrival points of the liquefied natural gas supplies (Ing), for ·the super methane- tankers which will transport it, and the engineering works and off- shore. services that will put it into production·. At the same time, the gas pipelines- are going to have a:primary interest'for

Above. . The centre of-Jsfahan. Facing page, above. . Tht.,,a'?fanArmy Coat of Arms.

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A rocket fauncher in action.

the producing Countries, which, through. thtf : ri ;_ gional networks, are trying to construct g·eo.::ppli} cies of commercial vicinity. . . . This situation is potentially ideal for lrand h :ciula permit the Country to exit from ·isolatiori,'ifind] i'nvestors for exploiting· its ample reso~ft:e·s·) ~ttius changing from producing country . to partner' of Countries that count in the :present international picture: . . . . ·• '. . Therefore; to decide how to emplo~[·- tnisrJimmense potential in'order i:o achieve one's development objectives is a strategic choice. Unfo'rtu'nai:ely, . every attempt at diversifying·: the 'inco me sourcesto support a balanced growth; and redu_ce the negative consequences of . . . the price . .• . ,flucfi'ia. •··•··•u•~ tions ofthe energy products, hasfailed. T .h.e&on tinuous increases in the price, of the latter/ i,witli their positive repercussions on the reven~~;U l though fostering development, have certaJniyJnot spurred the Government to follow more ·rigorous economic policy; On the contrary, the'y/:ha,ve favoured the growth of the public ·expenie/ t h;;?u s making°less' urgent the indispensable diversifit a, 'd on-. ofthe 'revenues through_the growtn) Qf{Qfiie""r industries. · . >1 .t-(.,-}f.'

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F.urttiermore, ttie years of relative isolation, due not only; to ttie sanctions imP.osed from ttie exterior, but also to its f)ersistent antagonistic f)Olicies, i:,revent Iran from keeping i:,ace witti the developments of tlie international markets and strengtlien tlie positions of ttie internal economic potentates, w-hicli are jealous ot ttieir f)rerogatives.

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mate the military power in the hands of the gov-: f erning Ayatollahs. J. Cont~ary to what happens for other p~ogramme,i t · regarding weapons of mass destruction, whose:· existence is denied by the government officials>{ Teheran tends to overemphasize the missile pow·c.,'°, er of the Country. It displays its arsenal and poses~(.. as a minor missile power. It is important to recog jJ nize in this the meaning and the force of image.' and perception. According to some Iranian repre!i1} sentatives, nevertheless these messages should, not be interpreted literally. The missiles are in; : tended to have a high symbolic value for society:~, as they represent prestige and power. · ·. Today Iran has the second ballistic missile force in the developing Countries, after North Korea. A'\ large number of these carriers, or also long-range·:· artillery rockets, that can be equipped with con·-l ·l ventional high- potential explosive, submunitions;,. chemical, biological, nuclear or radiological war~·1 heads. , Their genesis can be classified in three phases: a,' 1 pre-revolutionary one (1977-1979), a post-revo- :

A Shahab 3 missile immediately after launching.

the end of the conflict against Iraq, a Shahab 3, the longest-range Iranian 'missile was paraded .on the streets of Teheran with the following messages: Israel must be razed to the ground and there is nothing the US can do. The following year, the Shahab 3 carried only one message, a quotation from Khomeini: We will crush the United States. Still in 1999, also another missile, the Zelzal 1, was paraded with a placard that proclaimed: Khamenei is the new Khomeini and his reign is Ali's reign, a reference to the infallible reign of the first Imam of the Shi'ite Muslims. This message, unlike the others, was addressed to the Iranian population as a warning sent by the intransigent to the reformists, so that they would not underesti-

lutionary one, during the period of the war against; ·'. Iraq (1 980-1988) and the post-war period, from · · 1989 to this day. The last two phases have taken into account a precise number of factors of considerable importance: the necessities of war, and therefore the need to strike short-range strategic objectives in Iraq, quantity and quality of the technologically sensitive carriers, growth, both in

Rivlsta Mllitare English Edition n.

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