Mongolia united as U.S. 'strategic partner'

Washington Times ^ | Friday, July 16, 2004 | By David R. Sands

[JohnHuang2]

The Washington Times
www.washingtontimes.com

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Mongolia united as U.S. 'strategic partner'

By David R. Sands
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published July 16, 2004

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Mongolia considers the United States a "strategic partner" in the war on terrorism and will not pull out of the U.S.-led security operation in Iraq, Mongolian President Natsagiin Bagabandi said in an interview yesterday.
    The president said Mongolia's cliffhanger June 27 elections, which produced an almost evenly divided parliament, would not affect the country's deployment of about 130 troops to Iraq, the third rotation of Mongolian forces in the country since the war concluded last year.
    "So far in our country, there is no disagreement among the political parties over dispatching our forces to Iraq, and there is no disagreement on our strong relationship with the United States," Mr. Bagabandi said, speaking through an interpreter with editors and reporters of The Washington Times.
    President Bush noted Mongolia's contribution to the postwar Iraq mission in an Oval Office meeting with the Mongolian president yesterday afternoon.
    With several nations in the U.S.-led coalition either ending or scaling back their deployments to Iraq, White House spokesman Scott McClellan cited Mongolia as one piece of proof that the coalition still enjoys strong international support.
    Mongolia's deployment in Iraq is more than twice the size of the Philippine contingent of 51 troops, which Manila said this week it was recalling ahead of schedule after an Islamist militant group threatened to execute a Filipino hostage.
    With just 2.5 million people in a landlocked nation twice the size of Texas, Mongolia in recent years has pursued an unexpectedly prominent and activist foreign policy, cultivating relations with neighboring China and Russia while preserving strong military and political ties with the United States.

[Torie]

With just 2.5 million people in a landlocked nation twice the size of Texas, Mongolia in recent years has pursued an unexpectedly prominent and activist foreign policy, cultivating relations with neighboring China and Russia while preserving strong military and political ties with the United States

The place with a goat herder primitive image has come a long way baby - honest free elections and a skillful and principled foreign policy to boot. I think the population figure is wrong though. I will check.

[GVnana]

Mongolia has troops in Iraq?!?!? This I didn't know. Like what I read about US aid in development. Nice to see two countries cooperating, instead of the steady diet of bad news presented by the UN and it's sympaticos.

[Torie]

2,751,314 (July 2004 est.). That is from the CIA factbook. So I was wrong. I had no idea it was so lightly populated.

[GeronL]

Mongolia: The next asian superpower

[Heatseeker]

Yeah, and they know how to handle unruly folks in this part of the world, too. From: http://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/sources/baghdad.htm:

The Mongol's besiege and capture Baghdad in 1258

Prior to his invasion of the Middle East, Hulagu asked the Abbasid caliph, al-Muta'sim, the thirty-seventh of his dynasty, to recognize Mongol sovereignty as his predecessors had once accepted the rule of the Seljuk Turks. The prince of the faithful, overconfident of his own prestige, sent word to the conqueror that any attack on his capital would mobilize the entire Muslim world, from India to north west Africa. Not in the least impressed, the grandson of Genghis Khan announced his intention of taking the city by force.

Toward the end of 1257 he and, it would appear, hundreds of thousands of cavalry began advancing toward the Abbasid capital. On heir way they destroyed the Assassin’s sanctuary at Alamut and sacked it’s library of inestimable value, thus making it for impossible for future generations to gain any in-depth knowledge of the doctrine and activities of the sect.

When the caliph finally realized the extent of the threat, he decided to negotiate. He proposed that Hulagu’s name be pronounced at Friday sermons in the mosques of Baghdad and that he be granted the title sultan. But it was too late, for by now the Mongol had definitely opted for force. After a few weeks of courageous resistance, the prince of the faithful had no choice but to capitulate. On the 10th of February 1258 he went to the victor’s camp in person and asked if he would promise to spare the lives of all the citizens if they agreed to lay down there arms.

But in vain. As soon as they were disarmed, the Muslim fighters were exterminated. Then the Mongol horde fanned out through the prestigious city demolishing buildings, burning neighbourhoods, and mercilessly massacring men, women, and children- nearly eighty thousand people in all. Only the Christian community was spared, thanks to the intercession of the Khan’s wife. The prince of the faithful was himself strangled to death a few days after his defeat.

[Bonaparte]

Last time these guys were in Iraq (13th C.), they tore the place up.

[neb52]

Lower Mongolia is currently part of China, don't know how many live there. I think Mongolia has given up on ever reclaiming Lower Mongolia.

[broadsword]

The ChiComs have murdered 80% of the Mongolian people in Inner Mongolia. It's lost to them. How sad and ugly.

[broadsword]

Yeah, give these guys some horses and bows and turn them loose on the Muslirats.

[wolficatZ]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

President Bush meets with Mongolian President Natsagiyn Bagabandi

 in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, July 15, 2004, in Washington.

 (AP Photo/Susan Walsh

 

[wolficatZ]

http://www.mongoliatoday.com/

[MitchellC]

On the 10th of February 1258 he went to the victor’s camp in person and asked if he would promise to spare the lives of all the citizens if they agreed to lay down there arms. But in vain. As soon as they were disarmed, the Muslim fighters were exterminated.

Sounds like he was a Liberal before it was politically correct to be a Liberal.

[Heatseeker]

Yup, imagine that, a liberal Muslim.