Hoon to make troops statement

Ananova.com ^ | 17 Oct 04 | Staff

[Ginifer]

The Ministry of Defence has said Geoff Hoon will make a "holding" statement in the Commons regarding UK troops in Iraq.

The spokesman said that while Mr Hoon would confirm that a request had been received from the Americans to deploy troops outside the UK controlled-sector, no decisions had been made.

Labour's former Defence Secretary Lord Healey has opposed the deployment of British troops around Baghdad.

He told Sky's Sunday with Adam Boulton that British forces should leave Iraq as quickly as possible.

"If we do anything it is better to do it in Basra where we have managed to keep the bulk of the population on our side.

"The Americans, by bombing civilians without any real care or attention, have turned the whole of the Iraqi people against them and indeed the whole of the Muslim world."

Only a UN force under the direction of the Security Council would command Iraqi support, he said.

However, Health Secretary John Reid rejected a suggestion that deploying British troops to the US was a "political gesture".

"For people to suggest that there is some tawdry political deal here, I think, diminishes the effort that has been made by our soldiers on the ground," he told BBC1's Breakfast with Frost programme.

"There will be occasions when you are fighting in coalition when, at a given tactical level, you operate under your ally's control. But the decisions will be made on an operational ground."

[badpacifist]

"The Americans, by bombing civilians without any real care or attention, have turned the whole of the Iraqi people against them and indeed the whole of the Muslim world."

With allies such as these............