Posted on 07/12/2002 5:19:04 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Britain is to withdraw most of its 2,400 troops from Kosovo, fuelling talk it is preparing to provide support to any US military attack against Iraq.
A senior Nato official in Brussels said the Ministry of Defence in London "was mentally preparing for new challenges". When asked if this would involve Iraq, he retorted: "Well what do you think?" suggesting that the British Army was readying itself for a possible war in the Middle East. A British diplomat agreed that there would be speculation about future deployments - "plans further east - but not too far east", indicating that he himself was surprised by the suddenness and scale of the withdrawal.
British officials insisted, however, that London was withdrawing troops from Kosovo for purely practical reasons. Rumours of US plans for an attack on Iraq have been building in Washington for several weeks but the Bush administration has given no information about deployment of troops in the region.
"We are reviewing our troops deployed abroad," said a British official. "We are simply overstretched at the moment. We have troops serving in over 80 countries."
The extent of the phased withdrawal, expected to begin in a few weeks, has also surprised some of Britain's European allies, particularly France and the Netherlands. Only a few hundred British troops will remain in Kosovo.
"The US does not hide that it may need its troops serving in the Balkans to be reduced in number and deployed in the fight against terrorism further afield," said a Nato diplomat. "What are we to make of the British reductions?"
Yes the question here is do you think? Based on what you have said before and now, the answer to this question is no. How many of Iraqis died during the Iran/Iraq war that resulted in a stalemate, meaning the battle lines where the same at the end of the conflict. How many of Sadam Hussains citizens have been silenced by his secret police. How many Kurdish sons and daughters died as a result of chemical agents that the madman Sadam Hussain had his thugs unleash on them. The big question here is how many Iraqis secretly want Sadam gone but say nothing because of fear???? Again you have engaged mouth before putting brain into gear.
Red Two...:)
By contrast, the supposedly "secular" "ally" Turkey has killed or expelled virtually all Christians since 1915, so that the 4,000,000 who lived there a century ago (Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians) are all gone. And that was AFTER the Turks had been oppressing the Christians of the Balkans and Middle East for many centuries.
In both cases, there is a Muslim majority, so one can not be accused of religious bigotry in pointing out these obvious differences.
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