Posted on 09/30/2003 12:03:53 PM PDT by .cnI redruM
Captain Byambaa Chinzorig is, perhaps not surprisingly, a little touchy about 1258 and all that. When Mongolian forces last came to Iraq, led by the great warrior Prince Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, they sacked Baghdad, killed an estimated 800,000 people, brought to a bloody end the Abbasid caliphate and destroyed a vast array of ornate public buildings and a sophisticated irrigation system. Today, 745 years later, their plans are much more modest.
"We all know the history of the 13th century when the Mongolian soldiers captured Iraq but this time is completely different," said Capt Chinzorig, 30, a proud graduate of the Military University of Mongolia, Ulan Bator's equivalent of Sandhurst or West Point. "Of course, we have a different mission."
Eight centuries on, and current world military power means that the Mongolian armed forces are now one of the smaller contingents that make up America's military allies in Iraq. The 171 Mongolian troops - a single infantry company - are part of the 17-country Multinational Division which, earlier this month, took over responsibility from the US marines for five provinces south of Baghdad.
Within the Polish-led division the Mongolians do not play the most prominent role. They are not the smallest force - Kazakhstan contributed just 28 soldiers and Lithuania 45 - but their work is largely confined to construction and logistics at their base outside the town of Hilla. They do not patrol and have not yet been involved in direct gun battles with the Iraqi resistance fighters who strike around 20 times a day against US military patrols further north.
Yet for Mongolia this mission in Iraq is unprecedented and it is its first active deployment overseas since the country won independence from China in 1921, helped by the Soviet Union. Since the fall of the communists a decade ago Ulan Bator has quietly developed growing links with the US military, a small effort towards self-protection in the face of its two giant neighbours, Russia and China.
Capt Chinzorig and many of his troops have been sent on training exercises in America, and US marines have visited Ulan Bator. The result is that the Mongolian military, although small, quickly committed itself to the US as a ready ally in George Bush's war on terror. "We support any anti-terror activity in the world," said Capt Chinzorig.
The 15,000 troops of the Mongolian military, all volunteers, have so far been confined to border patrols at home and disaster relief, apart from brief training exercises in Kazakhstan and Bangladesh. Their mission in Iraq is likely to be the first of a series of international peacekeeping roles.
Yet for an army trained to operate at temperatures of 40C (104F), adjusting to life in Iraq brings its own challenges.
Food in the "chow hall" of the division's headquarters, in a large camp by the ruins of Babylon on the banks of the river Euphrates, is a little too heavy on vegetables and salad for the Mongolian troops.
"It is mostly American and European food. It is not too bad but we like a little more meat," said the captain. Rations of dried beef strips have been sent out, along with portions of dried milk.
"Everybody loves those," said Captain Sukhbaator Togtmol, 28, a medic with the unit.
The troops have summer uniforms but were sent out with heavy black leather boots. Capt Togtmol, and others, have already switched to the lighter US-issue desert boots. The soldiers live in a former Iraqi military barracks which they rebuilt at their base in Hilla. The officers, however, sleep in large white air-conditioned tents which are stifling when the power breaks down. "I would say extreme cold is better than this," said Capt Chinzorig. "When it's extremely hot there's just no way to get out of it. Sometimes the electricity doesn't work and we're just sweating."
One Mongolian volunteer came with the unit to act as a translator, although it proved more difficult than expected. "We have English language training for our soldiers and some Arabic too, although that wasn't so successful," Capt Chinzorig said. "We had one volunteer who had studied Arabic but he had never been to an Arab country before."
Families in Ulan Bator, just like those across Britain and America, were anxious when the deployment orders were issued. "My family refused to let me come out here because of the news on the television," said Capt Chinzorig. "They heard that American soldiers are dying and that people at the UN are dying. But the military is the military. My generals gave me an order to come so I came. It is not for a long time, just six months. It's not all my life."
So, what you're telling me is that these guys want some beef jerky? Damn, someone clean out a 7-11 and send it off to these guys.
We don't know yet what persuaded them to join in....
Could be "whored." ;-)
I didn't know the Mongols even had infantry. I thought they were all mounted archers.
...Is the Mongolian Candidate involved in this?
It just isn't the same without composite bows, sabres, and horses..
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