http://www.cnsnews.com//ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\200408\FOR20040824b.html
Muslim Malaysia Backs Korea's Troop Deployment to Iraq
By Patrick Goodenough
CNSNews.com Pacific Rim Bureau Chief
August 24, 2004
Pacific Rim Bureau (CNSNews.com) - The government of Malaysia, an influential voice in the Muslim world, is supporting South Korea's decision to send thousands of troops to join the multinational force in Iraq.
During a visit to Seoul, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi expressed "full understanding" of the deployment and said he hoped it would help to bring peace to Iraq, according to presidential spokesman Kim Jong-min.
The endorsement is noteworthy, coming as it does from a government that chairs both the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement, a grouping of 116 mostly developing countries.
It may also be another sign the predominantly Muslim Southeast Asian country is shifting its stance under Abdullah, whose predecessor, Mahathir Mohammad, was a leading critic of the West.
Since Mahathir's retirement late last year, relations have warmed between Kuala Lumpur and both the U.S. and Australia.
Last month Abdullah told President Bush during a visit to Washington that Malaysia was prepared to send "a sizable medical team" to Iraq and to do whatever it could to help the post-war reconstruction effort.
Australia, which was another perennial target of Mahathir's stinging criticism, is about to launch its first training program at a new regional counter-terrorism center based in Malaysia.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun's decision to send 3,000 troops to Iraq earlier this month in addition to the 660 army engineers and medics already there drew strong protests from some quarters.
Leftist civic organizations that opposed the war and generally espouse anti-U.S. sentiment demonstrated against the move, which makes South Korea the biggest partner in the U.S.-led coalition after Britain.
Roh went ahead with the plan despite the kidnapping and murder of a South Korean civilian who worked for a company that supplies the U.S. military. Terrorists beheaded Kim Sun-il in June after Seoul rejected their demands to scrap the plan to send the troops.
The U.S. and other allies have praised Roh for standing firm under pressure, but South Korea has also been seeking approval for its decision from Muslim nations.
According to Roh's office, Abdullah responded positively when the president asked Malaysia to help Seoul's diplomatic efforts to muster support for the troop dispatch from Islamic and developing nations.
Meanwhile a senior representative of another leading coalition member, Poland, has reiterated the importance of participating nations staying the course in Iraq.
Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, who is visiting South Korea, said his country had no plans to pull its troops out of Iraq early, despite deaths and injuries sustained by Polish forces.
"We should continue this mission, especially in the coming months before the Iraqi elections," Cimoszewicz said Monday. "This is a crucial period. That would be a mistake if anybody withdraws."
Last month the Philippines withdrew its small contingent from Iraq ahead of schedule in exchange for the release of a Filipino civilian kidnapped by terrorists and threatened with death.
Spain's new Socialist government withdrew its 1,300 troops from Iraq shortly after taking office earlier this year.
Malaysia Support Update Ping
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1181105/posts?page=5#5
Our free American reporters continue to bow down to the enemy.
The church continues to surrender territory to the enemy in American communities.
Our blind opposition isn't that brave.
If Christian community leaders wrote letters to the editor, rallied their flocks - would our reporters, political leaders, parents, teenagers find the courage to say "NO" to the jihadists?