WAR: Britain Agrees to U.S. Troops Request, page 1
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Topic started on 21-10-2004 @ 07:40 AM by FredT
The British government has agreed to a U.S. request to move some of their troops to the more volatile central Iraq. The move is being made to free up more U.S. troops to continue the attack on insurgents. The announcement was made by Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon to the House of Commons



story.news.yahoo.com
LONDON - Britain agreed Thursday to meet a U.S. request for British troops to be moved into volatile central Iraq, a proposal that has met strong opposition within the governing Labour Party.

The redeployment of troops from the relatively peaceful south aims at freeing up American forces to intensify attacks on insurgents as the coalition tries to stabilize Iraq ahead of elections in January.

"After careful evaluation, the chiefs of staff have advised me that U.K. forces are able to undertake the proposed operation, that there is a compelling military operational justification for doing so, and that it entails a militarily acceptable level of risk for U.K. forces," Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon told the House of Commons.

Hoon said there were no plans to raise British troop numbers within Iraq.

U.S. military commanders asked on Oct. 10 whether Britain would send a unit currently stationed in southern Iraq to the U.S.-controlled sector farther north.







Please visit the link provided for the complete story.


The unit to be moved is an armored group of 850 soldiers from the First Battalion Black Watch. The deployment is expected to last several weeks. Hoon, declined to comment on the specifics of the move citing operational security. While they were moving the troops, he was careful to say they had no plans of increasing their overall number of troops in Iraq. Opposition in the House of Commons was fierce to the move. Many British politicians felt that the move was a political one to help President Bush.
[edit on 10/21/04 by FredT]

[edit on 10/21/04 by FredT]
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