A Coalition Showing Signs of Fracture

Views on BG | April 9, 2004, Friday // 00:00

The Guardian

By Ewen MacAskill

The Shia uprising is exposing the fragility of the US-led coalition in Iraq and putting a strain on the smaller partners. While the 110,000-strong US force and the 8,700-strong British force are geared for combat, many of the other countries joined the coalition in expectation of peacekeeping and reconstruction.

To the dismay of US central command, Japanese and South Korean forces have retreated to their compounds after coming under fire, while Ukrainian and Kazakh forces have been driven out of the town of Kut by Shia fighters.

The US military is considering whether it needs to redeploy 25,000 expected reinforcements from its sector around Baghdad to the south to bolster the coalition forces. The Pentagon has already shored up its troop levels to deal with the deepening chaos by halting the rotation of some 25,000 soldiers due to go home after a year in the war zone.

Hundreds more British troops flew out to Iraq yesterday. More than 300 members of the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment plus Territorial Army soldiers from the Glasgow-based 52nd Lowland Regiment left for Basra, where they will form part of the 4,500-strong 1st Mechanised Brigade.

Without the support of either the UN or NATO, the US has been unable to call on countries such as France, Germany, India and Pakistan for troops. Instead it has had to rely on a ragtag coalition of about 40 countries as diverse as El Salvador and Mongolia. Between them they contribute 24,000 troops in non-combat roles, primarily engineering.

Soldiers from Spain, Ukraine, Italy, El Salvador and Poland have come under fire this week, as well as the Americans and British. One of the first casualties this week was a Salvadorean soldier in Najaf. A Ukrainian soldier was killed on Tuesday in Kut. A Ukrainian defence official said last night that his country's troops would not leave Iraq, but had withdrawn from Kut as "they are not fit for hostilities".

No country other than Spain has decided to pull its forces out of Iraq, but the heavy fighting has caused rethinks in many capitals. The chances of these countries responding positively to calls for extra troops are fast diminishing.

Some governments are discussing whether they will send replacements when their tour of duty ends. Kazkhstan, involved in the Kut debacle, said yesterday it does not intend to replace its 27 engineers when its term is up on May 30.

Leszek Miller, the outgoing prime minister of Poland, which has 2,500 troops, the third highest number after the US and Britain, told the Associated Press: "When people see dramatic scenes in which soldiers are killed, there will be more pressure for a pullout." He said Poland would stand by its commitments, but sending more soldiers was out of the question.

The kidnapping of three Japanese civilians in Iraq added to the pressure on the Tokyo government, which is already facing domestic opposition to its involvement in Iraq. Japan has had a pacifist constitution since the end of the Second World War and there is continuing resentment at the decision to send troops.

The Japanese prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi, said yesterday: "It appears that terrorists are trying to create confusion. They are trying to get the Japanese troops to withdraw from Iraq soon."

The US vice president, Dick Cheney, will deliver a stay-the-course message to Asian allies and urge them not to bow to pressure from militants and kidnappers to withdraw, officials said yesterday. Mr Cheney leaves today for a week-long trip to Japan, China and South Korea.

The exploitation of the weaknesses in the coalition does not appear to have been part of a coordinated strategy by the insurgents. The US deliberately placed the weaker coalition forces in the Shia areas of the south and central Iraq, which had been relatively quiet until this week. When the attacks came, the weakness quickly became obvious.

Japan

A previously unknown group calling itself Saraya al-Mojahedin (Brigades of the Mojahedin) said in a statement sent to al-Jazeera television that it would burn the hostages alive if Japan did not withdraw its troops from Iraq within three days.
Tokyo demanded the immediate release of the hostages and vowed to continue its mission in Iraq.

South Korea

South Korea has 600 military engineers and medics in Iraq, who were confined to their bases during the latest spate of fighting. Seoul is looking at the two northern provinces of Irbil and Sulaimaniya for its deployment of 3,000 further troops, and is sending a fact-finding team to Iraq this week.

But yesterday, seven South Korean missionaries were seized by gunmen while travelling in two cars from Jordan to Baghdad. "There were 25 to 30 people dressed like Iraqi civilians. Some of them were carrying guns and about a third of them were wearing masks," Lim Young-sup, a church minister, told Reuters. The seven were blindfolded and taken to a house by the kidnappers, where they were held for five hours before being freed after proving they were not soldiers.

Ukraine

The 1,650-strong detachment suffered its first casualty in Kut on Tuesday, and has since withdrawn from the town. "Despite the difficult situation, the withdrawal of the Ukrainian contingent from Iraq is not on the agenda," Oleh Syvushenko, deputy chief of Ukraine's general staff said.

But senior Ukrainian MPs said yesterday that once a "more complete picture" of events in Iraq emerged, the parliament might put forward a motion to withdraw troops.

Kazakhstan

The defence minister said he considered it expedient to withdraw the 27 troops who were recently stationed with the Ukrainians in Kut. "You know that the term of our second group is about to expire. Therefore we have suggested not to send the next contingent to Iraq after the term expires and end the mission there," General Mukhtar Altynbayev said.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria has 480 troops in Iraq assisting the Polish-led force near Kerbala. The defence ministry said their base had come under mortar fire on Tuesday, but there were no casualties. It has declined a request to complement the Polish-led battalion in central-southern Iraq after the anticipated withdrawal of Spanish troops in June.

Australia

The prime minister, John Howard, who has sent 850 military personnel to serve in and around Iraq, is running into fresh trouble because of his pro-US stand. The war is an issue in a federal election due by late this year, with the opposition Labour party advocating bringing troops home by Christmas.

The former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser compared the situation in Iraq to the Vietnam war. "In both cases, you had a largely American army, not completely but largely, trying to support or establish a state in a country that was foreign and alien to them," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

New Zealand

Wellington said it will pull its 60 army engineers out of Iraq in September, though they may return later.

Singapore

Its government said its 200 military personnel had returned after finishing a humanitarian mission and there were no plans to send more troops.

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