Britain boosts troop numbers, firepower in Iraq

Britain boosts troop numbers, firepower in Iraq

LONDON - Britain said on Thursday it was sending 370 more soldiers and extra firepower to the southern zone it controls in Iraq, a stop-gap that may be followed by a larger despatch to counter a likely upsurge in violence.

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said the deployment was not a strategic change in Britain's role in the US-led occupation but would give its forces extra protection from militants.

Hoon said talks continued with military partners over the need for further deployments -- a move that could prove politically fraught for Prime Minister Tony Blair if thousands more British troops are sent to Iraqi hotspots.

"We, with our coalition partners, are considering the levels and dispositions of forces required in Iraq in the months ahead," Hoon told parliament.

Analysts said the reinforcement, which takes Britain's military contingent in Iraq and the Gulf to 8900, was a holding decision that should spare the government from having to announce a larger despatch before June 10 local elections.

Spain's pullout from the volatile south-central region around Najaf has put pressure on London to reinforce.

"Clearly they wouldn't want to make a big announcement about troops before the elections," said David Denver, a politics professor at Lancaster University. "They know it's a hot issue."

Sending more troops to Iraq is a gamble for Blair, whose public trust and popularity ratings have plummeted in the wake of the Iraq war and in light of his close ties with Washington.

A poll this week showed two thirds of Britons oppose sending more soldiers to Iraq and some anti-war members of Blair's ruling Labour Party criticised Thursday's announcement.

"The war was illegal, the occupation is illegal, and now we are compounding this by pouring in more troops," said Labour parliamentarian Jeremy Corbyn.

Blair's spokesman said any decision on further troops would be strategic and would not respond to political pressures.

While modest in number, Hoon signalled the reinforcement would boost Britain's firepower by replacing light infantry with heavier battalions to deal with a threat from "violent groups".

Any further deployments would be designed to support the interim Iraqi government as it takes over the country and gears up to planned elections early next year, Hoon said.

"There is likely to be an upsurge of violence," in the run-up to the handover of sovereignty, he added.

The extra deployment will not see British troops extend their reach to hotspots such as Najaf, where US troops and Shi'ite militia have engaged in weeks of combat.

Britain's troops total is still dwarfed by the 138,000-strong US contingent.

Defence analysts said the size of any further British deployment may depend on whether other countries agree to send in soldiers. "I think this is an advance party for a much bigger contingent," Charles Heyman, senior defence analyst at Jane's consultancy, told Reuters.

Britain and the United States are wrangling with allies and each other over a United Nations resolution to endorse the planned handover of sovereignty on June 30 and set out the terms for the transfer of control to the Iraqis.

Hoon said Britain hoped the UN resolution would help persuade other countries to send in soldiers.

"We are optimistic that with the new resolution and a sovereign government in Iraq, that will encourage other countries to deploy troops," he said.

Britain's force in the Gulf last year of 45,000 troops was its largest deployment since the Korean War of 50 years ago, as it joined Washington in an invasion to oust Saddam Hussein and unearth weapons of mass destruction that have never been found.

Since then, with London pitted against key European partners over its tight alliance with Washington, London has lowered its profile to a force about a 20th the size of Washington's.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq