Posted on 07/21/2006 7:45:21 AM PDT by managusta
The people of Iceland are about to join one of the world's smallest clubs - those nations without armed forces on their territory to defend their borders.
The United States, which had assured Iceland's defence for decades, stunned the country in March when it announced that it would be closing its bases on the island, withdrawing its F-15 fighters and thousands of servicemen in the space of just six months.
This bombshell was dropped in a single telephone call from an underling at the State Department, followed by a letter from the US ambassador.
Iceland, with just 300,000 people scattered over a landmass larger than Ireland, has never had a military of its own in modern times.
The country has fewer than 1,000 policemen, most of them unarmed, and two civilian coastguard ships.
The closest thing it has to a military is a civilian "crisis response unit", which performs peacekeeping duties overseas. But that has just 50 men.
The United States is still legally pledged to defend Iceland from attack, but it now insists that it can do this from a distance.
Within the Icelandic government, the brutally swift American pullout has sparked a debate about whether their remote, wealthy little island needs defences.
To Geir Haarde, the prime minister, the answer is a clear "yes".
"We cannot allow ourselves just to sit back and think that nothing is ever going to happen here," he said.
But Iceland was not likely to build its own army, Mr Haarde argued.
"We have no military tradition, and I think it would be very difficult politically to get the public here interested in developing that kind of capability, and spending the required resources on it."
Mr Haarde remains focused on salvaging the best defence deal possible with the US.
The only time Iceland has been invaded in modern history was by British forces, in May 1940.
Locals woke to find that British troops had occupied the streets of the capital, rather that let the island fall to Germany.
A year later, Winston Churchill arranged for the US - which was then neutral - to step in and provide a protective garrison.
Apart from a brief gap after the Second World War, the Americans never left.
The island's strategic heyday came in the 1980s, as Soviet bombers, carrying nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, flew past on their way to train off the east coast of America, and Soviet submarines prowled in the icy waters below.
In 1985, fighters from the American naval air base at Keflavik intercepted 170 Soviet bombers. While a non-military nation, the Icelanders are hardly pacifists, being descendants of the Vikings.
During the two "cod wars" of the 1970s, when Iceland banned foreign trawlers from vast swaths of sea, the government sent its civilian coastguard to cut British fishermen's nets. Britain was forced to back down under American pressure.
Things are quieter now than in the Cold War, but in the wider region, senior figures have voiced concern that the Pentagon has missed strategic changes that are taking place in the High North, with Norway and Russia set to ship growing quantities of oil and gas to North America.
With the vital lifeline passing close to its shores, Iceland will soon stop being a security backwater.
"I do not think anyone is going to attack Iceland," said Espen Barth Eide, the Norwegian state secretary for defence.
"But there is an issue with the increasing importance of the High North when it comes to energy security."
Nato might need to get involved in co-operation on surveillance flights, radar stations and air defences, he says.
That is music to the ears of Iceland's leading defence hawk, Björn Bjarnason, the minister for justice and ecclesiastical affairs, who oversees the coastguard and police.
"I think we need to look at why the Norwegians are modernising their military," he said.
"You will soon have oil and gas tankers crossing the Atlantic to Canada and the United States from the Barents Sea - that will completely change the nature of the shipping in our area.
"I have been arguing for years that we need to think about having a military.
"We have the economic capability, and - even though we only have 300,000 people - we have the manpower.
"There is nothing inherent in Icelandic society that says we cannot do it."
The situation could one day require the "tactless" Americans to be invited back, Mr Bjarnason thinks.
"This is not a static situation in the north Atlantic, I think it is very short sighted if the Americans do not realise that," he said.
"And the manner in which they leave, politically, could affect the way they would be welcomed back."
Like the servicemembers, many knew there could come a day when the base would be reduced, but few thought this fall was it.
Valthor Jonsson, maintenance division director for public works at the base, said he had intended to finish his working life at Keflavik.
"That was my plan," he said. "I've been here 32 years. I don't know anything else."
About one-third of Jonsson�s local employees are over 60 years old, and he said he worries for their futures. Few will be able to make as much money on the local economy as they do at the base.
Still, Icelandic employees said the market in the area and around nearby Reykjavik is good at the moment, and those who received termination letters got them almost immediately after the announcement, allowing them time to search for work.
"This base was a good employer," Jonsson said. "Everybody's been hoping this would last longer. We realize it's a changing world."
This is old news. Iceland like most of Europe can afford no defense since they have us patrolling the Atlantic, Europe, and Mediteranean. Who can actually threaten them?
When we leave everyone wants us...when we're there they want us gone. In all fairness to Iceland though, they have always wanted us...
The US military has done "goodwill" postings before...perhaps we should rethink our exit from Iceland.
May 12, 2007. Iceland was conquered today by two longboats full of Vikings. "How could I have been so wrong last year about not expecting anyone to attack us," said Icelandic Defense Minister Espen Barth Eide.
Iceland welcomes their new Viking overlords.
Damn, I never realized that Iceland was so small. 300,000 people? I have more in my county than their country.
Do islands have borders?
Hire Swiss mercenaries ... it works for the Pope.
"Valhalla, I am coming."
"We have no military tradition, and I think it would be very difficult politically to get the public here interested in developing that kind of capability, and spending the required resources on it."
I suggest they hire a couple of hundred thousand muslims to serve as their armed forces.
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The guys in clown suits? In Iceland their red tassles would get all frozen . . . |
It is tragic that the Iceland Prime Minister would claim his nation has "no military tradition." The sagas say otherwise, but that was so long ago..., when men were men in Scandinavia.
"Always wanted us" ? Well, pretty much, but they didn't want us fraternizing with the population, just protecting them.
They may look silly, but they are well-trained military men.
Weren't their ancestors the Viking overlords?
I believe they are called beaches.
You better get one or some country will wind up ruling over you in a heartbeat.
Argentina has a fascination with islands. I wonder if they would like to own a piece of the North Atlantic.
Let them whine. A member of NATO should be expected to contribute something towards its own defense.
They could just have Bjork sing, the sound alone would drive any invader away.
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