London on the spot over
deployment By Breffni O'Rourke
PRAGUE - Britain has been Washington's closest
and most determined partner in the military intervention
in Iraq. British troops fought their way into southern
Iraq in the war to topple Saddam Hussein, and have since
administered the region around the key Iraqi port of
Basra with considerable success.
But
Washington's request for the British to send some 600 to
800 troops to take over a zone in an area of active
insurgency has landed like a bombshell on the British
political scene.
For Ian Kemp, a senior analyst
with Jane's geopolitical publishing group, it reveals
just how stretched the US military is to meet its
commitments in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the
world. "One thing it does show is how hard-pressed the
US Army is. To request an additional battalion, a mere
800 men, you would think this is something the US Army
or the Marine Corps would be able to provide
themselves," Kemp says.
The British forces so
far have managed to remain largely out of the headlines
despite the increasingly vicious anti-occupation
insurgency to the north. That's at least partly because
the southern part of the country - of mostly Shi'ite
Muslims - was generally hostile to Saddam's regime
anyway and was not sorry to see the dictator go.
But independent London-based military analyst
Alexandra Ashbourne adds that the British are skilled at
peacekeeping and have done a good job. "The British
forces are treated with quite some considerable respect,
they seem to be doing a very good job, and because of
the British skill, particularly in peacekeeping, they
are getting along well," Ashbourne said.
Ashbourne says the timing of Washington's
request - just two weeks before the US presidential
election - has been widely greeted with cynicism in
Britain. "There is real, real concern in this country
that this request has come at this time precisely
because of the election in the week after next in the
United States, that Bush wants to show that it really is
a coalition [of nations operating in Iraq], it is not
just the Americans operating [there]," Ashbourne said.
British officials say there has been no decision
yet on how to react to the US request. But alarm bells
are ringing in that the British public have never been
enthusiastic about the Iraq war, and a move like this
could result in increased British casualties.
The Guardian daily newspaper says in an
editorial Monday that "if ever there was an example of
'mission creep', the request from the US for the
redeployment in support of the Americans south of
Baghdad, is as dangerous as they come". It says
deployment would mark a "major escalation" of Britain's
involvement in the occupation of Iraq. Yet, so far,
there has been little public discussion of the move.
The request adds further pressure on British
Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose popularity has
plummeted since it became clear that there were no
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Neutralizing those
weapons was the main reason he used to justify the war.
As analyst Kemp sees it, Blair is going to have
a difficult time whatever he decides. "It is certainly
going to be very difficult indeed for Blair to refuse
the request, in terms of his relationship with Bush, but
the other side of the coin [is] that he is probably
going to come under tremendous political criticism here
in the UK if he does meet the request," Kemp said.
Reports say that if there is any redeployment,
it would likely involve soldiers of the crack Scottish
regiment called the Black Watch. They would replace US
troops of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Force, who would
reportedly move to near the insurgent-controlled city of
Fallujah, to take part in the expected major offensive
against the insurgents.
US warplanes bombed the
Iraqi city of Fallujah overnight on Monday in a bid to
destroy buildings believed to belong to Islamic militant
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. In another development, US forces
also launched attacks on the town of Duluiya, north of
Baghdad, raiding homes and arresting dozens of suspected
rebels.
A statement released by the US military
on Tuesday said that the air strikes on Fallujah
destroyed safe houses and weapons caches used by
followers of Jordanian Zarqawi. The US military has
blamed the group for using the homes to plan suicide car
bombings.
Meanwhile, the top Fallujah negotiator
in peace talks with the Iraqi government dashed hopes of
resuming talks soon on Monday despite his release by US
and Iraqi authorities, saying that negotiations remain
suspended. Sheik Khaled al-Jumeili said talks will
remain suspended as a protest against his detainment by
US troops, who had accused him of representing the
insurgents.
"The fact is that I'm negotiating on
behalf of Fallujah people - civilians, kids, women, who
have no power but through being represented by somebody.
Since the situation has got up to this, each can go
wherever they want and we don't need to talk about
negotiations," he said in an interview on al-Arabiya TV.
Copyright (c) 2004, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted
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