Hundreds of British soldiers were arriving in Iraq today to relieve peacekeeping forces beset by bloody rebellion. The increasing resistance has prompted calls by Iraqâs foreign minister for thousands more troops to be sent in. The US is already considering boosting its presence.
Almost 5,000 British soldiers are going out to the Gulf to take over from four or five brigades which will return home, the MoD said yesterday. The 4,500-strong 1st Mechanised Brigade, based in Tidworth, Wiltshire, will comprise half the 8,700 British troops stationed in Iraq. About 700 soldiers from the Princess of Walesâs Royal Regiment â part of the brigade â were flying out today and tomorrow. They will take over the running of southern Iraq from the 20 Armoured Brigade. The MoD was adamant the latest British contingent were not additional troops.
| Sounds like a rotation to me, but I'm not a military guy. |
Yesterday, Iraqâs foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari said Iraq needed 25,000 extra soldiers to cope with worsening violence. Mr Zebari said coalition troops should return to the levels they were at during the war. He said there were now 105,000 troops in Iraq compared to the 130,000 during the war. Speaking after talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair in London he warned the violence would spiral in the three months leading up to the handover of power on June 30.
| Sadr played his hand too early, and now he's paying for it. |
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said yesterday: âCoalition forces have been coming under uncoordinated and sporadic attacks around the region.â The deaths came as followers of al-Sadr clashed with British troops.
Mr Blair vowed to hold firm in the face of rising violence. Speaking in Downing Street, Mr Blair said al-Sadrâs militia had no place in the new Iraq. All those opposed to the creation of a modern democratic state were deliberately seeking to destabilise the situation, the PM said. âOur response should not be to run away in fright or hide away or think we have done something wrong,â he said. âOur reaction must be to hold firm.â
Mr Zebari said al-Sadr did not represent the views of the majority of the Shia population, let alone the majority of Iraqis. Both he and Mr Blair stressed that progress was being made despite the continued attacks and said the June 30 deadline for the hand-over of power to an interim Iraqi authority should be met. Mr Blair added: âThey are trying to stop what is right from happening. We do not get put off by this. We redouble our efforts.â
|