Gordon
11-06-2003, 12:12 AM
Wasn't sure if anyone had posted this, sorry if they have already.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1068033377206050.xml
No troops for Iraq, Turkish envoy says
11/05/03
Matt Kelley
Associated Press
Washington- In a major setback to U.S. efforts to attract military help in Iraq, a Turkish official said yesterday that his country won't send peacekeeping troops without a significant change in the situation there. That makes it virtually certain the United States will have to send thousands more U.S. reservists early next year.
No additional countries have contributed forces in Iraq since the United Nations Security Council approved a new resolution last month. Bush administration officials had hoped the U.N. action would persuade reluctant allies to send more troops.
From Our Advertiser
Turkey had been the best hope. But Turkey's ambassador to the United States, Osman Faruk Logoglu, said his country will not send troops without an explicit invitation from the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council - some of whose members vigorously oppose the idea. Iraqi Kurds are especially reluctant to accept Turkish troops, because Turkey battled Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southern Turkey in a 15-year conflict that killed tens of thousands.
The ambassador said it was up to the Americans to press the Iraqi council to make the invitation - a move he said the United States appears unwilling to make.
A spokesman for the U.S.- led authority in Iraq, Dan Senor, did not return a telephone message. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States still believes Turkish troops would make a valuable contribution and that U.S. officials continue talks on the issue.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said more international forces would help ease the burden on the 132,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Right now, about 23,000 other troops from more than 30 countries are in Iraq.
The major part of that burden is the continuing opposition to the occupation as evidenced in daily attacks.
President Bush, in California to view damage from that state's wildfires, was asked about deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the violence.
Saddam "is no longer threatening people, he is no longer in power," Bush said. Asked whether Saddam was instigating the attacks, the president said, "Oh, I'm sure he's trying to stir up trouble."
Saddam loyalists and others are trying to create havoc to force out the Americans, Bush said. "I can't tell you what he's doing," he said.
"All I can tell you is he's not running Iraq. And all I can tell you, as well, there's a lot of - some people who are upset by the fact that he's no longer in power."
Pentagon officials say an infusion of thousands more international troops could prompt a reduction in the number of U.S. forces - although Rumsfeld said last month that any Turkish troops probably would not be in place soon enough to affect the Pentagon's current troop rotation plans.
http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/1068033377206050.xml
No troops for Iraq, Turkish envoy says
11/05/03
Matt Kelley
Associated Press
Washington- In a major setback to U.S. efforts to attract military help in Iraq, a Turkish official said yesterday that his country won't send peacekeeping troops without a significant change in the situation there. That makes it virtually certain the United States will have to send thousands more U.S. reservists early next year.
No additional countries have contributed forces in Iraq since the United Nations Security Council approved a new resolution last month. Bush administration officials had hoped the U.N. action would persuade reluctant allies to send more troops.
From Our Advertiser
Turkey had been the best hope. But Turkey's ambassador to the United States, Osman Faruk Logoglu, said his country will not send troops without an explicit invitation from the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council - some of whose members vigorously oppose the idea. Iraqi Kurds are especially reluctant to accept Turkish troops, because Turkey battled Kurdish rebels fighting for autonomy in southern Turkey in a 15-year conflict that killed tens of thousands.
The ambassador said it was up to the Americans to press the Iraqi council to make the invitation - a move he said the United States appears unwilling to make.
A spokesman for the U.S.- led authority in Iraq, Dan Senor, did not return a telephone message. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the United States still believes Turkish troops would make a valuable contribution and that U.S. officials continue talks on the issue.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said more international forces would help ease the burden on the 132,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. Right now, about 23,000 other troops from more than 30 countries are in Iraq.
The major part of that burden is the continuing opposition to the occupation as evidenced in daily attacks.
President Bush, in California to view damage from that state's wildfires, was asked about deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and the violence.
Saddam "is no longer threatening people, he is no longer in power," Bush said. Asked whether Saddam was instigating the attacks, the president said, "Oh, I'm sure he's trying to stir up trouble."
Saddam loyalists and others are trying to create havoc to force out the Americans, Bush said. "I can't tell you what he's doing," he said.
"All I can tell you is he's not running Iraq. And all I can tell you, as well, there's a lot of - some people who are upset by the fact that he's no longer in power."
Pentagon officials say an infusion of thousands more international troops could prompt a reduction in the number of U.S. forces - although Rumsfeld said last month that any Turkish troops probably would not be in place soon enough to affect the Pentagon's current troop rotation plans.