- 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
Korea 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 re-deploy
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 the troops
would not leave Iraq but he said they had withdrawn from Kut as "they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 a rethink 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 government, which is already coping with 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 to Iraq. 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 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 coalition weakness quickly became obvious.
-
- Japan
-
- A previously unknown group calling itself Saraya al-Mujahideen
(Brigades of the Mujahideen) 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.
-
- Japan demanded the immediate release of the three hostages
and vowed to continue its mission in Iraq. Ichiro Aisawa, the senior vice-foreign
minister, is to fly to Jordan today to coordinate Japan's response to the
crisis. The hostages, two men and a woman, appeared in footage obtained
by the Al-Jazeera blindfolded and crouching on the floor of a dark, concrete
room.
-
- They were later shown with their blindfolds removed,
apparently gesturing to their captors. At one point, four armed men wearing
masks pointed knives and swords at the hostages.
-
- 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 Sulaymaniya
for its deployment of 3,000 further troops and is sending a fact-finding
team to Iraq this week.
-
- Ukraine
-
- The 1,650 strong detachment suffered its first casualty
during 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 minister of defence 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 ministry of defence said their base had been mortared
on Tuesday but there were no casualties. It has declined a request to complement
the Polish-led battalion in central-southern Iraq following the anticipated
withdrawal of Spanish troops in June.
-
- Australia
-
- 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
-
- It 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.
-
- - Additional reporting by Nick Paton Walsh and Justin
McCurry
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1188897,00.html
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