U.S. wants more Australian troops in Iraq: Report

Associated Press ^ | 08-24-03

[Brian S]

CANBERRA — Australia is resisting U.S. requests for a fresh contribution of troops to Iraq, as the security situation deteriorates, a newspaper reported today.

The Australian reported unnamed Australian sources said U.S. officials were raising the issue of a peacekeeping contribution through informal channels but no formal appeal had been made.

Australian government officials were not immediately available for comment.

The report said the approaches had been made in "recent days" and follow an escalation of violence in Iraq and last week's truck-bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad, which killed the top United Nations envoy and at least 22 others.

Since May 1, when President George W. Bush declared major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 135 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, the latest U.S. Department of Defense figures show.

Prime Minister John Howard has been a stalwart supporter of Washington's war against terror and contributed about 1,500 troops to the Afghanistan conflict and 2,000 to Iraq. Australia brought home all of its combat personnel without a single casualty.

About 900 Australian military personnel are still in Iraq and the Persian Gulf working in various roles, including air-traffic controllers at Baghdad airport, searching for weapons of mass destruction and on patrol with a navy frigate in the Gulf.

None are working as ground troops. Canberra has said several time its active military contribution in Iraq was over and it was unlikely to send more.

Australia currently has about 2,000 troops and police in the Solomon Islands, a southwestern Pacific country on the brink of anarchy since a coup in 2000 plunged it into lawlessness.

[zarf]

Clearly, a European or Asian version of September 11th will be a prerequisite before a more serious effort is contemplated.

[optimistically_conservative]

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but AP et al seem to have changed tactic in casualty reporting from Iraq. Instead of the 62 US KIA over the 114 days since May 1, 2003 - with the 1 killed per day to nearly 1 killed per day - they are now reporting the larger ALL fatalities (136) that includes non-hostile deaths, plus casualties which include minor injuries, plus Iraqis killed or injured, etc. etc. etc.

It's a noticeable change in reporting and I think it's in response to the fact that the US was successfully preventing fatal attacks.

A good site for keeping track is at Iraq Coalition Casualty Count

[Imperialist]

Good pick up. I was thinking the same, KIA is around 62 since May 1st.