Posted on 02/18/2005 1:10:12 PM PST by jb6
As of today pullout of the Ukrainian peacemaking contingent from Iraq is number one task, President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko claimed presenting new Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko today.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, the President said that the Ukrainian servicemen fulfilled their tasks in Iraq at a high level, and now the diplomats and other departments will start the work for implementation of the Ukrainian national interests in this question.
V.Yushchenko has said that the rules and schedule of pullout of the peacemakers must be the principle questions, which have to be co-ordinated with the partners of Ukraine for the coalition.
According to his words, the main tasks of the Defense Ministry is to pullout the contingent operatively and without the victims, and the task for the government is to conduct the corresponding negotiations with the partners starting from the Iraqi government and finishing with the Polish military command, in which zone the Ukrainian contingent stays in Iraq.
The President said that the lives of the servicemen and the authority of Ukraine on the whole depends on success of this operation.
V.Yushchenko believes that in due time the decision about bringing in of the Ukrainian military contingent in Iraq was sound and corresponded the international interests of Ukraine. The president underscored that Iraq has the tremendous reserves of oil.
According to the words of the President if to draw a straight line from Iraq and Iran to Europe, this line will run via Ukraine, which is as of today has 72 thousand gas- and oil-pipe-lines and is the largest transit country of Ukraine. It will be clever if the questions of the energy conception of Europe will be solved including the Ukrainian interests.
I'm glad for democracy in Ukraine, and it's great news for the long run.
In the short run, I'm sorry they're being so cowardly about helping Iraq become democratic.
I would agree. I like Yuschenko since he won't let Russia walk all over Ukraine but I really wish he could reconsider the decision to pull out of Iraq. Ukraine has one of the largest contingents in the country. We can still use their assistance there.
==V.Yushchenko believes that in due time the decision about bringing in of the Ukrainian military contingent in Iraq was sound and corresponded the international interests of Ukraine.
Change last word to read "Soviet Russia" and the sentence makes sense.
I've heard that most foreign troops in Iraq have little or no military value at all. (By "foreign troops," of course, I don't mean troops from the UK.) But these foreign troops have some symbolic value and I'm sorry to see this pullout.
With the strengthening of the U.S-Japanese alliance, hopefully we can get some reinforcements in Iraq, presuming the Japanese can amend their constitution.
Didn't the Ukrainians bug out of al-Kut during Sadr's uprising?
Instead he runs and begs the European Soviet Socialist States to let him in.
The Ukrainian contingent did indeed bug out during al-Sadr's offensive. However, I beg to differ on foreign troops having little if any military value. Didn't the Salvadorian contingent do pretty well? But then again, they had over a decade of combat experience with the FMLN.
I think there as a Salvadoran guy who did very well from what I heard. (This soldier fired his weapon until out of ammo, then charged his attackers with a pocket knife, buying time for help to arrive. Now that takes guts!)
I'm sure the value of foreign help varies a lot from country to country -- I really didn't mean to cast aspersions on all the foreign help we've received and I'm sorry that my comment (mistakenly) came out that way.
bump
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