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Mongolians join multinational force. (Three cheers for the Golden Hoard!)
The Guardian ^ | Monday September 29, 2003 | Rory McCarthy, Babylon

Posted on 09/30/2003 12:03:53 PM PDT by .cnI redruM

Captain Byambaa Chinzorig is, perhaps not surprisingly, a little touchy about 1258 and all that. When Mongolian forces last came to Iraq, led by the great warrior Prince Hulagu, grandson of Genghis Khan, they sacked Baghdad, killed an estimated 800,000 people, brought to a bloody end the Abbasid caliphate and destroyed a vast array of ornate public buildings and a sophisticated irrigation system. Today, 745 years later, their plans are much more modest.

"We all know the history of the 13th century when the Mongolian soldiers captured Iraq but this time is completely different," said Capt Chinzorig, 30, a proud graduate of the Military University of Mongolia, Ulan Bator's equivalent of Sandhurst or West Point. "Of course, we have a different mission."

Eight centuries on, and current world military power means that the Mongolian armed forces are now one of the smaller contingents that make up America's military allies in Iraq. The 171 Mongolian troops - a single infantry company - are part of the 17-country Multinational Division which, earlier this month, took over responsibility from the US marines for five provinces south of Baghdad.

Within the Polish-led division the Mongolians do not play the most prominent role. They are not the smallest force - Kazakhstan contributed just 28 soldiers and Lithuania 45 - but their work is largely confined to construction and logistics at their base outside the town of Hilla. They do not patrol and have not yet been involved in direct gun battles with the Iraqi resistance fighters who strike around 20 times a day against US military patrols further north.

Yet for Mongolia this mission in Iraq is unprecedented and it is its first active deployment overseas since the country won independence from China in 1921, helped by the Soviet Union. Since the fall of the communists a decade ago Ulan Bator has quietly developed growing links with the US military, a small effort towards self-protection in the face of its two giant neighbours, Russia and China.

Capt Chinzorig and many of his troops have been sent on training exercises in America, and US marines have visited Ulan Bator. The result is that the Mongolian military, although small, quickly committed itself to the US as a ready ally in George Bush's war on terror. "We support any anti-terror activity in the world," said Capt Chinzorig.

The 15,000 troops of the Mongolian military, all volunteers, have so far been confined to border patrols at home and disaster relief, apart from brief training exercises in Kazakhstan and Bangladesh. Their mission in Iraq is likely to be the first of a series of international peacekeeping roles.

Yet for an army trained to operate at temperatures of 40C (104F), adjusting to life in Iraq brings its own challenges.

Food in the "chow hall" of the division's headquarters, in a large camp by the ruins of Babylon on the banks of the river Euphrates, is a little too heavy on vegetables and salad for the Mongolian troops.

"It is mostly American and European food. It is not too bad but we like a little more meat," said the captain. Rations of dried beef strips have been sent out, along with portions of dried milk.

"Everybody loves those," said Captain Sukhbaator Togtmol, 28, a medic with the unit.

The troops have summer uniforms but were sent out with heavy black leather boots. Capt Togtmol, and others, have already switched to the lighter US-issue desert boots. The soldiers live in a former Iraqi military barracks which they rebuilt at their base in Hilla. The officers, however, sleep in large white air-conditioned tents which are stifling when the power breaks down. "I would say extreme cold is better than this," said Capt Chinzorig. "When it's extremely hot there's just no way to get out of it. Sometimes the electricity doesn't work and we're just sweating."

One Mongolian volunteer came with the unit to act as a translator, although it proved more difficult than expected. "We have English language training for our soldiers and some Arabic too, although that wasn't so successful," Capt Chinzorig said. "We had one volunteer who had studied Arabic but he had never been to an Arab country before."

Families in Ulan Bator, just like those across Britain and America, were anxious when the deployment orders were issued. "My family refused to let me come out here because of the news on the television," said Capt Chinzorig. "They heard that American soldiers are dying and that people at the UN are dying. But the military is the military. My generals gave me an order to come so I came. It is not for a long time, just six months. It's not all my life."


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ally; coalition; genghiskhan; goodnews; iraq; mongolia; mongolians; multinational; poland; stabilizationforce; troops; wotallies
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Negotiations to recruit Atilla The Hun remain ongoing. The French are no longer considered a necessary part of the coalition.
1 posted on 09/30/2003 12:03:55 PM PDT by .cnI redruM
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To: .cnI redruM
That would be "horde", not "hoard".
2 posted on 09/30/2003 12:04:50 PM PDT by RonF
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To: .cnI redruM
Rations of dried beef strips have been sent out, along with portions of dried milk.

So, what you're telling me is that these guys want some beef jerky? Damn, someone clean out a 7-11 and send it off to these guys.

3 posted on 09/30/2003 12:06:58 PM PDT by RonF
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To: RonF
That would be "horde", not "hoard".

We don't know yet what persuaded them to join in....

Could be "whored." ;-)

4 posted on 09/30/2003 12:07:12 PM PDT by r9etb
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To: .cnI redruM

5 posted on 09/30/2003 12:07:19 PM PDT by KantianBurke (Don't Tread on Me)
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To: .cnI redruM
Interesting. The liberal antiwar propaganda machine has reached all the way to Mongolia.
6 posted on 09/30/2003 12:09:03 PM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: RonF
True - thank you.
7 posted on 09/30/2003 12:10:28 PM PDT by .cnI redruM (redruM's Advice -- NEVER steal the ID of a registered sex offender!)
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To: .cnI redruM
This is HUGH!
8 posted on 09/30/2003 12:11:53 PM PDT by Bosco
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To: RonF
There you go. Slurpees would be popular in Iraq as well...
9 posted on 09/30/2003 12:12:18 PM PDT by .cnI redruM (redruM's Advice -- NEVER steal the ID of a registered sex offender!)
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To: .cnI redruM
Wow! What a story...if their last duty in Iraq was 745 years ago they may find the country largely unchanged :o)
Glad to have you aboard gentlemen.

Best regards,
Liberty
10 posted on 09/30/2003 12:14:29 PM PDT by Liberty Valance (Keep a simple manner for a happy life :o)
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To: .cnI redruM
The 171 Mongolian troops - a single infantry company

I didn't know the Mongols even had infantry. I thought they were all mounted archers.

11 posted on 09/30/2003 12:18:08 PM PDT by sailor4321
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To: Liberty Valance
It hasn't been rebuilt since Genghis leveled it the last time!
12 posted on 09/30/2003 12:18:25 PM PDT by .cnI redruM (redruM's Advice -- NEVER steal the ID of a registered sex offender!)
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To: Cicero
When I taught a class to farmers there and when I asked what their biggest problem was some of them said global warming as they were going through a drought then.

When I asked them what they were most proud of they ALL said being Mongolian! If you asked that here I am not sure what you would get.

Good people there......admire them greatly as they were privitizing all the govt industry. Lots of rough spots but lots of good things too.

Believe me, they know how to deal with cold, hot is another matter for them.
13 posted on 09/30/2003 12:20:29 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple
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To: sailor4321
The horsed archers might accidently destroy a few of The Strykers.
14 posted on 09/30/2003 12:21:09 PM PDT by .cnI redruM (redruM's Advice -- NEVER steal the ID of a registered sex offender!)
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To: .cnI redruM
...Is the Mongolian Candidate involved in this?
15 posted on 09/30/2003 12:32:22 PM PDT by Consort
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To: Consort
The only card for that individual is the Joker.
16 posted on 09/30/2003 12:37:44 PM PDT by .cnI redruM (redruM's Advice -- NEVER steal the ID of a registered sex offender!)
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To: .cnI redruM
“Byambaa Chinzorig” is a totally cool name.

Best wishes to the Mongolians! They sound like great guys. (And there's nothing wrong with having them on the Blue Team in case the balloon ever goes up between us and the Chicoms.)
17 posted on 09/30/2003 1:03:50 PM PDT by B-Chan (Catholic. Monarchist. Texan. Any questions?)
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To: RonF
Someone post an address to send a few packs of beef jerky.
18 posted on 09/30/2003 1:17:24 PM PDT by DUMBGRUNT (Sane, and have the papers to prove it!)
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To: B-Chan
One of the conditions getting them over there is a Free Trade Agreement. Whatever our two governments hash out, means we will be much more involved in Mongolia. I am sure the Chicoms will be peeing in the pants soon. If not coming out with rhetoric, that we should not be over there. Mongolia is a small nation little over 2 million peeps. I am surprised China hasn't added them to their One China plan along time ago.
19 posted on 09/30/2003 4:29:47 PM PDT by neb52
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To: RonF
Actualy it is Ordou or Urdu.
I wonder how the Iraqis feal about the Kazakhs?

It just isn't the same without composite bows, sabres, and horses..

20 posted on 09/30/2003 5:03:19 PM PDT by rmlew (Copperheads are traitors)
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