The DCA agreement allows the US military to use violence against Swedish civilians
Mikael Nyberg
This is a cultural article that is part of Aftonbladet's opinion journalism.
Updated 06.19 | Published at 05.00
Defense Minister Pål Jonson (M) and his American colleague Lloyd Austin signed the agreement in the Pentagon in December 2023.
Photo: Jackie Sanders/U.S. Air Force
Since the shots in Ådalen in 1931, it has not been permitted for the military to use violence against civilians on Swedish soil. That may change soon. If the Riksdag approves the proposed agreement on defense cooperation with the USA (DCA), it will be permitted for the American military to intervene against civilians in Sweden.
This applies to the 17 bases and training areas to which the US military gets "unhindered" access with the agreement. This also applies to the immediate surroundings.
In addition, US soldiers may "under exceptional circumstances" be deployed "beyond the immediate vicinity" to "maintain or restore the security and defense of US forces and the continuity of their operations."
Powers worthy of an occupying power.
On Wednesday, the decision-making process starts in the Riksdag. Formally, the DCA agreement is an agreement between two sovereign states. Essentially, it is a power of attorney for the government and the Armed Forces to place Sweden's territory, its infrastructure and its military facilities at the disposal of the United States' armed forces without interference from the congregation.
"All activities must be carried out with full respect for Swedish sovereignty, Swedish laws and international obligations", assures the government. "It is just as in the past that Sweden has the right to decide whether activities may take place on Swedish territory and a basic condition for any American presence is that it takes place with Swedish consent."
That sounds reassuring. Until the White House had its say.
The issue was raised in the USA's negotiations with Norway on a similar agreement, SDCA, in 2021. The Norwegian government wrote in its bill:
"The US has emphasized in the negotiations that the obligation according to the SDCA to show full respect for Norwegian sovereignty, Norwegian laws and Norway's obligations under international law, does not mean that the US is bound by Norwegian law and Norway's obligations under international law. The United States has instead emphasized that, according to the SDCA, there is only an obligation to comply with Norwegian law and Norwegian international obligations, where this is compatible with the operational military needs of the United States."
The very purpose of the bilateral agreements is to maximize the great power's military freedom of action. Richard Haass, later adviser to Secretary of State Colin Powell, summarized the country's stance in "The reluctant sheriff" in 1997: The US needs allies but should not allow itself to be bound by alliances. The UN Charter and the Security Council must not stand in the way of the sheriff and his gathering, because that would "give the other four members of the council veto power over what the US does."
The privileges of United States soldiers, their dependents, and the entourage of private maintenance units are numerous and detailed.
For the same reason, Haass wrote, the United States would not submit to NATO. The alliance was useful for the advance in Eastern Europe, but when NATO activated Article 5 on collective self-defense for the first time after September 11, 2001, the White House was cold-hearted. The US attacked Afghanistan without asking either the UN or NATO.
The list of the 17 military bases and training areas covered by the Swedish DCA agreement can be expanded afterwards - without a parliamentary decision.
- Yes, that is my assessment, says Samuel Rudvall, head of law at the Ministry of Defense and responsible for the negotiations on the agreement.
The US can store weapons and establish exclusive access areas on the bases without restrictions. Its forces may "enter, depart from, and move freely on Swedish territory," and vehicles, ships, and aircraft may not be boarded or controlled without US consent.
The privileges of United States soldiers, their dependents, and the entourage of private maintenance units are numerous and detailed. The Swedish reservations fade away in questions without answers.
Young men will make up the majority of deployed soldiers. They will be armed, trained to resort to violence and raised in a culture where firearms are part of everyday life. Some of them will be traumatized after fighting in Afghanistan, Africa and the Middle East. The reports are numerous about prostitution, trafficking, rapes, assaults and murders around US bases. Drunk driving is part of the pastimes, and the use of cocaine, heroin and meth is growing, especially among elite soldiers.
The Swedish government is silent.
In Japan, a sex offender could be identified using the number plate on the car. The letter Y indicated that he belonged to the US Okinawa base. In Sweden's DCA agreement, it is carefully stated that the private vehicles belonging to the soldiers and the troop of private contractors and relatives must be marked with "registration plates that cannot be distinguished from those issued to the Swedish population". Information about the owner must not be released without consultation with the United States military. In some cases the name will not even be noted in the registers.
According to the government's memorandum, the military personnel will have the right to carry weapons privately, "but the possibility of using the weapon should be limited to situations where there is a right to emergency defense or emergency and it is otherwise justifiable and proportionate". Should? The government does not know. Foreign power decides.
Sweden waives its right to prosecute crimes of which the soldiers and their companions are suspected. In the corresponding agreement with NATO, Sweden retains the right to punish crimes committed outside the service. In the DCA agreement, the exception is deleted. In individual cases "of special importance to Sweden" the jurisdiction can be taken back, but normally justice must be served according to the regulations of the United States. It usually goes this way and that. The team spirit is strong.
The Norwegian government openly reports the US's devaluation of the country's sovereignty. It expressly distances itself from the American interpretation of the agreement - but hopes that the matter will never be brought to a head.
The Swedish government is silent.
It is also silent on nuclear weapons. The International Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons in nuclear-weapon-free states. Still, the US has nuclear weapons in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey and Germany. As long as the United States has exclusive control over the weapons, it does not violate the NPT agreement, the government in Washington claims.
Norway and Denmark have marked in their agreements with the USA that they do not allow nuclear weapons in peacetime. Finland prohibits by law all deployment of nuclear weapons. In the Swedish DCA agreement, the US promises "full respect" for Sweden's international legal obligations, "including regarding the storage of certain types of weapons on Swedish territory". But nowhere in the agreement or the 391-page memorandum to the Riksdag is the meaning specified. A search for the word "nuclear weapons" returns zero hits.
In broad agreement, politicians and defense leadership sent the Swedish territorial defense to the scrapyard.
Defense Minister Pål Jonson says that it is "Swedish practice" to remain silent on the matter. Sweden applied for NATO membership without reservation - a requirement from the defense leadership. The Social Democrats' Peter Hultqvist repeats the government's mantra: deployment of nuclear weapons in Sweden is not "a current issue".[12]
But it can be.
Begging gives political freedom of action. Reservations without precision are not intended for the formal counterparty. They are aimed at the Swedish people. They are selling off the country.
After the fall of the wall, the freedom of non-alignment seemed to be as out of date as the state railway, equal schooling and care as needed. In broad agreement, politicians and defense leadership sent the Swedish territorial defense to the scrapyard. Consultants attached to the Pentagon guided the operation. What remained were the arms industry's prestige projects and mercenaries trained for America's wars in foreign countries.
After the Russian assault on Ukraine, our politicians rushed to clean up the last vestiges of non-alignment. Without allowing for reflection and democratic discussion, the application for NATO membership was sent off.
Now it is no longer about defending Gotland. Now we are part of bigger plans. High-ranking military officials talk about the Baltic Sea as NATO's inner sea, defense politicians want to see Sweden throw itself into the fight for the Arctic and the Arctic, and the prime minister promises that we will stand up if the US wants help away in Asia. As a thank you for allowing us to participate in the showdown between the nuclear powers in the immediate area. With the DCA agreement, we are hurtling towards the final triumph of stupidity.
Non-alignment is a way out. For us as well as for people in other countries.
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