Ukraine may remove their military contingent from Iraq

News.ru ^ | September 24th

[struwwelpeter]

Incoming Ukrainian defense minister Aleksandr Kuz'muk declared that the Ukraine has a right to ask for a gradual cut-back in its contingent and to end its mission in Iraq, reports 'Interfaks'.

"In Iraq there is now a provision government, which now directs all processes in Iraq, in January there will be an election. And I believe that the Ukraine has full right to put forth the question of a gradual cut-back of it contingent and to end its mission in Iraq," said Kuz'muk on Friday.

Answering the question as to how his posting will effect the Ukraine's movement towards NATO, Kuz'uk declared that "this is the official course of our government, therefore the defense minister will support fully the direction of the Ukraine."

Earlier on Friday the president of the Ukraine signed an executive order naming Kuz'muk as minister of defense, after the removal of Evgeniy Machuk the day before. Kuz'muk has already been head of the defense ministry from 1996 to 2001.

[struwwelpeter]

Kuz'muk was forced to resign three years ago, after the scandal over the Ukraine shooting down a Russian airliner over the Black Sea.

Here's a little background from a post last April:

Aleksandr Kuz'muk is a member of the armed forces committee for questions of national security and defense, and also an army general and people's deputy in President Kuchma's majority party. From 1996-2001 he served as minister of defense of the Ukraine, and until now his only comments on the interview by his colleague-general Evgeniy Marchuk have been: "I won't even comment on this idiot." Well, Aleksandr Ivanovich (Kuz'muk) apparently knows what he's talking about. It's no coincidence that during his term of service at the #1 military slot he received the nickname "sharpshooter", since during many maneuvers his missiles hit anything besides their intended targets. (Note: a reference to the airliner one of his SAMs destroyed.)

But one gets the impression that the ex-minister is beginning to worry. There's enough information to guess that Marchuk's revelations of missile sales wasn't spontaneous, but done in order to keep attention off a major scandal by presenting a somewhat lessor one for the newspapers to gnaw on.

(snip)

And so, it's almost a paradox - Kuz'muk should owe Marchuk a great debt. While the Ukrainian MoD (together with their croneys at the Ukrainian security service and federal prosecutor's office) will go out and catch a few thieves who are breaking down museum relics for the rare metals, the stories about other rockets (each of which cost much than an entire Spring Sale) doesn't attract the slightest interest. It follows that Evgeniy Kirillovich (Marchuk) has all the more reason to take offense at Aleksandr Ivanovich (Kuz'muk) for his denounciation.

Simply put, it's known that the majority of Ukrainian politicians and bureaucrats do not suffer from feelings of gratitude, nor from elementary far-sightedness. We won't rule out that soon will be seeing yet another "rocket scandal".

Given the shury-mury going on in the upcoming Ukrainian elections:

Ukraine Opposition Leader Poisoned, Fears Foul Play
Who Next? Ukraine's Opposition Leader Fears Murder

Perhaps we're better off without them.

[Stonedog]

As the situation in Iraq firms up, I expect a lot of our allies will start to reduce deployment to Iraq. We should not denigrate our allies for following a perfectly reasonable path we ourselves will take in the future. We are winning in Iraq, and this is a sign of that, nothing more, nothing less.

[endthematrix]

When crap hits the fan in the Black Sea, who will the Ukraine call?

[struwwelpeter]

When crap hits the fan in the Black Sea, who will the Ukraine call?

Ghost busters?

[endthematrix]

If they aren't standing shoulder to shoulder, then they should be treated as an underling for advancing America's interests!

[ApesForEvolution]

Best for America to leave NATO and the UN, destroying all vestiges that remain on American soil...

[pcgTheDestroyer]

EXACTLY what I was thinking. They've been our friends, and they might just need to take care of business at home. While it's just a guess, I don't suspect they have a TON of troops there in the first place; thank them kindly, and be sure to get a contact number in case we need to ring 'em up again. :-)

[Jimmy Valentine]

Actually the soldiers of Ukraine like duty in Iraq.

1. They receive a major pay increase for going.

2. The U.S. effectively takes care of their logistics, which means they eat better, sleep in better barracks, are better supplied and have better health care in the field than they do at home.

Also we make sure that they do not have to do much "heavy lifting".

They will go home, richer, fatter, better dressed and in much better condition all around than if they had stayed at home.

Regards,

[Dave Burns]

I didn't know that the Ukraine was in Iraq.

[Jimmy Valentine]

You have confused me. The Republic of Ukraine, former Russian province has a contingent of soldiers in Iraq.

My post centered on the fact that this contingent is in better condition than if they had stayed at home.

Clear?