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Greenland Given No Veto in Missile Defense Deal By David Ruppe WASHINGTON — An agreement signed between the United States, Denmark and its territory Greenland last week to allow a radar upgrade for the U.S. national missile defense system gave Greenland no veto over future upgrades, such as installing a missile interceptor base on the island (see GSN, Aug. 9). The modified agreement says the United States must only “consult with and inform” Greenland and Denmark prior to future significant changes at the Thule Air Base. That was noted by a Greenlandic reporter interviewing Secretary of State Colin Powell last Friday. “The word I think in the treaty, as you say, is ‘consult,’ and that’s what we would do,” Powell responded. “The United States and Greenland and the Home Rule government, we are friends and partners and what we want to do is consult. We don’t want to do anything that would put at risk a very strong relationship that we’ve had for these many, many years,” he said. “But consult also means that, in fact, you don’t have to ask,” said Greenland TV reporter Jens Moeller. “Consult means consult,” Powell said. Deputy Premier of the Greenland’s home rule government Josef Motzfeldt nevertheless praised the deal for including Greenland as a partner to a 1951 agreement between the United States and Denmark governing U.S. use of the base, saying the signing marked a major step toward Greenland’s independent management of its foreign affairs. “Future historians will undoubtedly see this day — the 6th of August 2004 – as a crucial date, not only in the history of Greenland but also in that of Denmark and of the United States of America,” he said in a statement. “And for us living in this country this will represent the day when Greenland took a decisive step forward towards equality and co-responsibility in line with that experienced by other countries in the world, as well as a step away from the inferiority and indifference of the colonial times,” he said. Motzfeldt said Greenlandic considerations about the environment and transparency of U.S. military activities there would now be formally taken into account. No Current Plans U.S. officials have not said they seek to put anti-missile missiles in Greenland. They reportedly are negotiating with several countries to place an interceptor base in continental Europe and are seeking initial funding for that effort from Congress for fiscal 2005. Missiles are being placed in Alaska this year for a Pacific area defense. Missiles in Europe and the upgraded radar at Thule in northwestern Greenland would be part of a future system for defense against potential ICBM challenges from Southwest Asia. U.S. officials have refused to publicly describe the future architecture of the system and Powell did not rule out the possibility of seeking to put missiles at Thule. “Well, there are no plans right now to go to that level. Right now, we are just interested in the software and minor hardware improvements to the system that Greenland is aware of and that Denmark is aware of,” he said. “Right now, we’re some distance away from determining where we might need interceptors,” Powell also said. Reluctance Overcome Many Greenlanders were reluctant to allow the United States to use the base for the missile defense system, and some apparently still oppose further expansion to include a missile site. The reluctance apparently stems in part from concern it would make Greenland a bigger a target for U.S. adversaries. It also results, Greenlandic officials have said, from the history of U.S. activities there, including the forced removal of local Eskimos from their hunting and burial grounds in 1953, the secret Cold War presence of nuclear weapons there, one of which was lost to the sea in an aircraft accident, and environmental degradation. “The Inuits said that the noise and smells from the planes and ships frightened away the walruses, seals, polar bears, and birds essential to their cultural survival,” according to an Air Force history. With its location midway between Washington and Moscow, Thule became a key operating base for nuclear-armed aircraft during the Cold War, housing at its high point about 10,000 service members, according to the history. It is now an Air Force Space Command base with a population of less than 1,000 U.S. and non-U.S. personnel. In addition to the modified 1951 agreement, Powell also signed agreements to work to pursue areas of economic cooperation with Greenland and to uphold at a minimum Greenland’s environmental standards. While Greenland sought to negotiate a United States cleanup at other former U.S. bases on the island, Powell said the responsibility previously was transferred to Greenland and would remain there. Greenland Deputy Foreign Minister Michaela Engel, who in May told Global Security Newswire that the agreement would give Greenland the explicit right to veto further upgrades to the base if it chose, conceded now that is not the case (see GSN, May 27). “It would have been fine if we could have squeezed a little more out of the United States but we were not in a position to do that and I think we need to be content with what we’ve got here. And I think there’s a broad agreement in Greenland and Denmark that we’ve gotten the best that we could get,” she said. Motzfeldt said it is time for Greenland to move beyond its past grievances over the base in the interest of new opportunities. “The future of a country depends on its ability to leave behind the past without forgetting it — and to look forward without being na‹ve,” he said. He said his government is not opposed to the idea of basing the missiles on Greenland. “We have never been against to the idea of defending yourself against missiles. Why should we be against defending ourselves against missiles?” he said.
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