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| Britain |
| Desert Rats to Iraq Next Year |
| 2005-09-18 |
| LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has had to abandon plans for a sharp reduction in its troop numbers in Iraq next year because of fears the country is sliding toward civil war, the Sunday Telegraph newspaper said. Britain's Ministry of Defense (MoD) disputed the report, saying it had never set a timetable for withdrawing its 8,500 troops and that any reduction in troop numbers would depend on conditions in Iraq. But it confirmed that soldiers from the 7th Armored Brigade, better known as the Desert Rats, would be redeployed to Iraq before the end of the year, suggesting thousands of British troops will remain in the country well into 2006. "The formal announcement of that redeployment will be made during the autumn and they would be scheduled to go out around the end of November," a MoD spokesman said. Britain, the main ally of the United States in Iraq, has frequently said its soldiers will stay there "until the job is done" and until the Iraqi government asks them to leave. It said 6,000 Desert Rats would go to Iraq in what it described as "an unexpected redeployment." The MoD described the figure as speculative and said the redeployment was part of a rotation of troops and did not mean Britain was increasing its presence in Iraq. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #5 That was really interesting, Anonymoose! It's bothering me though, that we have removed the regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan but not remade the countries as complete friendlies. We would be so much further on the way to winning the WOT if those countries had western-friendly leadership and western-friendly policies such as banning Islamist mullahs, compulsory secular schooling for boys and girls, etc. Some of the philosophical underpinnings that would weaken extemist Islamism and drag them into the 21st century. I think the lack of will to remake a broken society (fear of being hated as imperialists?) is holding back the WOT. |
| Posted by: anon1 2005-09-18 23:06 |
| #4 you have way too much time on your hands Anonymoose |
| Posted by: shellback 2005-09-18 18:51 |
| #3 A telling point will be if the US starts quietly bringing in large amounts of heavy armor. While the Strykers have shown themselves to be good, having Abrams tanks waiting in the wings is just warm and fuzzy. Other things to look for are a major increase in the number of anti-missile batteries in both Iraq with several in western Afghanistan. I still suspect that we are waiting for Iran to make the first major move, such as launching a salvo of missiles, some nuclear, most likely targetting a US fleet. First of all, their military would demand the first attack be against the most major threat. Second, they believe we will attack them with the same strategy as Gulf War I, in which more than half the air attack was done from naval forces. This could be done in concert with having their armies on the Iraq border advance, or just trying to form an effective defense against an American ground attack. It could also include missiles directed at other targets as well, in a "Hail Mary" approach. The US will also have to assume that they plan for several missile salvos, so our regional anti-missile defenses will have to be significant, including Patriot batteries, aircraft energy weapons and ship defenses. Iran could also work with North Korea for both to launch attacks simultaneously. Surprisingly, I do not think they will attack Tel Aviv at first. While they detest Israel, they fear the US, and figure if they drive the US from the region, Israel will be an afterthought. If the US is going to use a counter-punch technique against Iranian aggression, it will have thoroughly coordinated its strategy with the other nuclear powers, to minimize the risk of escalation. It will have given them a list of a dozen or more likely scenarios the US has war-gamed, along with indications of possible US responses. There is no concern that these plans may be given to the Iranians, in fact, we would prefer that they knew that *we* were on to their little tricks, and can not only effectively counter them but consistently defeat them in every scenario. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-09-18 12:20 |
| #2 Yeah, I wondered about that too. or, at a minimum, countering Iranian provocateurs and forces in southern Iraq. |
| Posted by: Omerens Omaigum2983 2005-09-18 06:11 |
| #1 Getting ready to do Iran then |
| Posted by: War supporter 2005-09-18 03:48 |