Bush: More Foreign Troops for Iraq, Battle Changes

Reuters ^ | 08-22-03

[Brian S]

Fri August 22, 2003 07:05 PM ET By Randall Mikkelsen

SEATTLE (Reuters) - President Bush said on Friday more foreign troops would join U.S. forces in Iraq and the occupation was becoming a battle against "al Qaeda type fighters."

"We do need and welcome more foreign troops into Iraq and there will be more foreign troops in Iraq," Bush told reporters during a visit to Seattle. He faced questions on Iraq for the first time since a truck bomb on Tuesday killed 24 people at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

Bush gave no signs that he was prepared to cede more authority to the United Nations as demanded by countries such as France, Germany and Russia as conditions for a new U.N. mandate to recruit more troops.

Asked whether he would accept increased U.N. authority in order to increase the foreign troop presence, Bush said only that talks were underway on a new resolution and he wanted a "vital role," for the United Nations, a longstanding U.S. position.

Bush said the mission in Iraq had changed since the U.S.-led ouster of Saddam Hussein. "Iraq is turning out to be a continuing battle in the war on terrorism," Bush said.

"There's a foreign element that's moving into Iraq. And these will be al Qaeda-type fighters. They want to fight us there (in Iraq) because they can't stand the thought of a free society in the Middle East," Bush said.

U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in a television interview some of the people attacking U.S. forces in Iraq are slipping across the border from Saudi Arabia.

U.S. officials have long suspected some militants have come through Iran and Syria and has warned both against interference in Iraq but have not previously singled out Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally because of its vast oil reserves. However, Riyadh's cooperation on fighting terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States has left some U.S. officials disappointed.

"The borders are quite porous, as you'd imagine, and the fact that we've captured a certain number of foreign fighters in Baghdad and around Iraq indicates that the ways that these people are getting into the country is from Iran and from Syria and from Saudi Arabia," Armitage said in an interview with Arabic-language television channel Al-Jazeera.

"I'm not in any position to assert that the governments of Iran or Syria or Saudi Arabia are in any way responsible. But, as a minimum, I can state that they're not -- these fighters -- are not being stopped at the borders, and this is something that causes us a great deal of concern," he added according to a transcript of the interview provided by Al-Jazeera.

Bush said adding more foreign troops to the occupation force would increase the ability to protect Iraqi infrastructure and let U.S. forces take the battle to their enemies. "That will help free up our hunter teams," he said.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush's prediction of more foreign troops was based on recent U.S. talks with potential contributors, which he did not identify. The United States already led a coalition in Iraq, he said, adding "that coalition will expand."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said on Wednesday he saw no need to send more troops to Iraq. The United States has about 139,000 soldiers in Iraq, and there are another 24,000 from some 30 other countries, with Britain contributing the largest share.

Countries such as India, Pakistan and Turkey are reluctant to send troops to Iraq without another U.N. mandate and some have doubts about serving under a U.S. command.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said this week the United States had not discussed the possibility of ceding authority, but left the door open to "additional language and a new resolution."

[templar]

"We do need and welcome more foreign troops into Iraq and there will be more foreign troops in Iraq,..."

I thought that was the problem. At least that's what I've been hearing; that the current wave of attacks are from foreign troops that have come into Iraq to fight the US and the UN.

[marron]

We need to field more Iraqi troops. The establishment of an Iraqi constabulary is of the utmost urgency. At the beginning they should be blended with US special forces.

They will be far more effective than Euro troops. They can recognize the enemy. To a Euro they will all look alike.

But building an effective force will not go quickly. Until then, we will just have to tough it out. Abandoning the task at this state is not an option.

[arete]

Times sure have changed.

Richard W.

[aculeus]

I like this president but why can't he avoid using the unacceptable term "foreign troops"?