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| Iraq-Jordan |
| Japanese troops in Iraq to halt operations outside camp |
| 2004-04-08 |
| Japan’s Defense Agency said Tuesday it has decided to suspend the activities of Japanese ground troops in Iraq outside their camp in the southern city of Samawah in the wake of growing security concerns following fatal clashes between Iraqis and coalition forces elsewhere in the country. The decision was made after considering that a Shiite religious event will be held around Saturday, Iwao Kitahara, head of the secretariat of the agency’s director general, told a news conference. The Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) troops will suspend operations outside their camp until the festivities are over. It is the first time since the first contingent’s arrival in Samawah in January that the agency has decided to halt the troops’ activities for security reasons. ’’The Defense Agency made the decision with the greatest concern possible to ensure the safety of our troops,’’ Kitahara said. The 530-member GSDF contingent in Samawah will, for the time being, suspend operations such as renovating local schools and repairing roads. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |
| #3 Don't forget they are adopting tactics similar to the one our peacekeepers using in the Balkans: becuase we were obligated to have troops there for very good geopolitical reasons, but could not risk casualties for domestic political reasons, we adopted a similar bunker mentality. Can't say as I blame the Japanese on this one. |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H 2004-04-08 2:09:19 PM |
| #2 "We are at, I believe, a tipping point for events in Iraq and I am not convinced that the United States has the capability to tip this back the other way in our favour," said Charles Pena of the Cato Institute. It's pretty amazing how 30 KIA over 3 days constitutes a tipping point. I would tend to guess that Pearl Harbor would constitute the mother of all tipping points. And what about the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, where the Vietcong launched an offensive against the US that killed 1,500 Americans (at a cost of 45,000 of their own dead)? 30 dead in 3 days is not a tipping point of any kind, unless it's of the point where the anti-American voices raise the volume of their clamorous objections even further, if that's even possible. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-04-08 10:35:45 AM |
| #1 Bunker mentality,if they stay hunkered down in thier base they are nothing but a target. |
| Posted by: Raptor 2004-04-08 8:24:03 AM |