US Agrees Black Watch Rules

Soldiers of the Black Watch were preparing last night to take over trouble spots in the US-controlled sector of Iraq after the Americans agreed that British commanders would have total control over tactics.

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, ended days of uncertainty about a US request for British reinforcements by announcing that an 850-strong armoured battle group led by the Black Watch would be deployed outside the British sector.

It will relieve US troops who are preparing to mount an all-out attack on Fallujah and other insurgent strongholds in the coming weeks.

The 1st Bn the Black Watch, with supporting units, will be based at Iskanderiyah, 25 miles south of Baghdad, for a maximum of 30 days.

"There is an agreement on the mission and the tasks," British sources said. "How they are delivered is a matter for Lt Col James Cowan, the CO of the Black Watch."

The battle group will comprise three companies of Black Watch armoured infantry, a squadron of Scimitar armoured reconnaissance vehicles from the Queen's Dragoon Guards, 50 members of 40 Commando and other support troops.

The Cabinet unanimously approved the US request for assistance after being told that an assessment for Gen Sir Michael Walker, the Chief of the Defence Staff, showed there was "a compelling military operational justification" for doing so.

Mr Hoon, in the Commons, reaffirmed Tony Blair's pledge that the Black Watch would be "home by Christmas" and denied reports that the Government was planning to send a further 1,300 troops.

He insisted that the decision to send reinforcements was military not political.

Less than a third of the 130,000 US forces in Iraq had the necessary combat ability, and of those even fewer had the armoured capability that was needed, said Mr Hoon. Nicholas Soames, the Conservative defence spokesman, backed the deployment but called on Mr Hoon to apologise to the families of Black Watch soldiers for the "shabby" way they had been treated in the past few days.

Gen Walker said later that he had been "dismayed" by the public debate over deployment of the Black Watch.

It was "opening a door" to the insurgents to attack what they perceived "to be the weakness of any democratic society".

'Labour back-bench opposition was more muted than earlier in the week.

Gen Walker said later that he had been "dismayed" by the public debate over deployment of the Black Watch.

It was "opening a door" to the insurgents to attack what they perceived "to be the weakness of any democratic society".'

This is the real issue here, I reckon - speaking as a Brit ex-serviceman.

Why ever this purely military decision should have been questioned at such a high (governmental) level is sending a very bad message to the terrorists.

Unfortunately, such is the hatred of GWB (and, I regret to say the US in general) in the Labour government that the redeployment was questioned as being a move in active support of GWB's presidential campaign.

As if the movement of 650 UK front line troops into what had previously been a US- controlled area would normally have even been noticed by the voting public in the US!!

Not many in the US are really aware of how many in Tony Blair's government are the left-overs from the CND movement of the 60's and members of the current Anti-War factions here in the UK.

I am not a Labour supporter, but I have to admire Tony Blair's guts to face down the Left wing madmen in his own party.

These people are the supporters of the terrorists. The 'get the troops (the US) out of Iraq and let it turn to bedlam so that we can say that the US has been defeated.' folks.

They have not only lost sight of any constructive aim in their hatred of the US, but indeed their power of reason.

When the people of the US think that the UK is with them in this fight for civilization, please remain aware that there are many in positions of influence here in the UK that do not hold the best interests of the US, or Iraq, or real democracy at heart.

General Walker apparently, and many of us genuinely, here in the UK are seriously concerned at the spinelessness and hidden agendas of some of our representatives in the UK government.

We have the same problem over here. New book on the threat:

Unholy Alliance

by David Horowitz
Hardcover - (September 2004) - $27.95

In this tour de force on the most important issue of our time, David Horowitz, confronts the paradox of how so many Americans, including the leadership of the Democratic Party, could turn against the War on Terror. He finds an answer in a political Left that shares a view of America as the “Great Satan” with America’s radical Islamic enemies. In a remarkable exploration of the “Mind of the Left,” Horowitz traces the evolution of American radicalism from its Communist past to its “anti-war” present. He then shows how this Left was able to turn the Democratic Party presidential campaign around and reshape its views on the War on Terror.

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