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OTTAWA (CP) - About 1,800 Canadian troops have been officially notified they are going to Afghanistan in August to help maintain order as part of an international force. The notification, which comes almost three months after Canada committed to sending a large peacekeeping force, was confirmed Monday by Defence Minister John McCallum. McCallum also said Canada has formally offered to take over leadership of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) during the Canadian contingent's second six-month rotation beginning next February. The Canadian contribution to the 22-country, NATO-led force in Kabul will include three main elements: - A battle group comprised...

Hoon to send fresh troops to Iraq By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 01/05/2003) Britain is sending another brigade of troops to Iraq to relieve some of those involved in the invasion and to take part in the post-war stabilisation force, the Government announced yesterday. British forces are so stretched that nearly a quarter of the replacements sent to Iraq will have to be reservists. Some of the regular troops who are being pulled out will have to be sent back again within weeks while others already there have been told that their tour of duty is being extended. Admiral...

TORONTO (AP)--Canada offered police, legal experts, engineers and transport planes Tuesday to help in the reconstruction of Iraq, signaling the end of a rift with the United States over the war. Prime Minister Jean Chretien said three C-130 Hercules aircraft in the Gulf region would expand their role and that Canada could send ``police, corrections and legal officers'' as well as units of Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team. He said the offer responds to U.S. requests for assistance, and that further contributions could be made. ``There are engineers that will be available to help restore water and electricity,'' Chretien said...

(English-language translation) The 311th Company of the Army Reserve did not leave for Kuwait on Tuesday night as originally scheduled because, for the time being, it will not be needed in the theater, official sources reported. However, its 175 members remain quartered in Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Ceiba awaiting additional orders. Puerto Rico Reserve press spokesman José Pagán indicated that the Army Central Command determined that the 311th Decedent Affairs Company not leave for now because "it is not needed in the operation." "We found out yesterday (Tuesday) morning. They were en route to Roosevelt Roads when we found...

Some of New York's Finest may be heading to Iraq to help restore order. The New York Post reports Thursday the U.S. State Department wants to find at least 1,000 present and former police officers to train police and set up new court and prison systems in Iraq. The officers would not enforce law, just advise the Iraqis. The search is nationwide, but sources say the organizers are particularly interested in NYPD officers, with their wide-ranging experience. A salary for the advisers hasn't been set, but officials tell the Post that a close estimate would be about $80,000 a year....

<p>The State Department is looking for present and former NYPD cops willing to help restore order in Iraq by rebuilding and training new police departments in the post-Saddam Hussein era, The Post has learned.</p> <p>During the next month, the federal government wants to find as many as 1,150 cops, correction officers and other law-enforcement and criminal-justice experts to participate in the proposed establishment of U.S.-modeled police departments and court and prison systems.</p>

More Diggers Iraq-bound? By Ian McPhedran in Baghdad April 17, 2003 AUSTRALIA is under increasing pressure from the US and Britain to provide peacekeeping troops to post-war Iraq. They have specifically requested a light infantry battalion based with the Ready Brigade at Townsville. The 1000 or so troops are on high readiness and can begin to deploy within days. It is understood US and Britain have told Australia the troops would not be engaged in frontline combat roles, but would become part of a peace-keeping force. Australian involvement would be vital in convincing other nations to join the peace-keeping effort....

ROME - The Italian government asked parliament Tuesday to authorize the deployment of up to 3,000 people to Iraq, including military policemen and relief workers, to help restore order and provide humanitarian assistance. The proposal, outlined by Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, was expected to be endorsed by the legislature, where Premier Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives have a solid majority. "We can't allow the aftermath of the war to make more victims than war itself," Frattini told Italian senators. The full contingent would number between 2,500 and 3,000, including a military component that Frattini said was essential to make sure supplies would...

<p>WASHINGTON — Steve Buyer wanted to serve his country in Iraq. He had his duffel packed with the things he remembered needing on his first tour of duty in the Persian Gulf 12 years ago. He had a skill his Army Reserve superiors said they need.</p>

Lviv, 6 April: A Ukrainian battalion of radiological, chemical and biological defence completed its deployment to Kuwait yesterday. The last six flights with 26 servicemen and seven pieces of equipment on board took off from Lviv's Sknyliv military airfield yesterday, heading for Kuwait. Thus, the deployment of the 19th detached battalion to Kuwait has been completed. As of the morning of 5 April, a total of 422 Ukrainian troops and 118 units of equipment were stationed in Kuwait. [Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma took the decision to send the battalion to Kuwait in order to protect Kuwaiti civilian population from possible...

Romania sends anti-biowarfare specialists to Gulf BUCHAREST, April 4 (Reuters) - Romania said on Friday it sent an unspecified number of troops trained in responding to chemical, nuclear and biological attack to Kuwait following a request from U.S.-led forces fighting the war in Iraq. Romania has offered a total of 278 non-combat troops and technical help to Washington, similar to offers made by other ex-communist states grateful for U.S. support during the years of Soviet domination and for backing their efforts to join NATO. "A section of the non-combat troops took off early on Friday aboard American planes from Timisoara...

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) -- Bulgaria signed an agreement Friday with the United States for deployment to the Gulf region of a 97-member military unit for protection against chemical and biological weapons, officials said. Bulgaria and the United States reached an agreement about the status and tasks of the unit, clearing the way for it to leave. The United States will cover all expenses for the maintenance and transport of the unit, the Defense Ministry said.Officials didn't say when the unit was to leave or where it was going. Local media have reported it is to be deployed in Jordan.In February,...

S. Korean Assembly Votes to Send Troops to Iraq by Hong Seok-joon (udo@chosun.com) The National Assembly today passed the bill to dispatch troops to Iraq, with 179 legislators voting in favor, 68 against and 9 abstentions. In an earlier vote, the amended dispatch bill, to send only a medical support group, was rejected with 44 in favor, 198 against and 14 abstentions. The bill clears the way for the Ministry of National Defense to send 600 military engineers and about 100 medics to Iraq in May. The ministry is planning to recruit dispatch troops by the end of this week...

PRESIDENT Roh Moo-Hyun has urged South Koreans to back his pledge to send troops to Iraq, saying support for the United States now was essential to resolving the North Korean nuclear crisis. "For a peaceful solution to the North Korea nuclear issue, solid South Korea-US cooperation is very important," the president said in a speech to the National Assembly to rally support for the dispatch of 700 non-combatants to Iraq. Roh's backing for the war has triggered the biggest challenge to his administration since he took office in February. Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets in opposition to...

If this is already posted I apologize. News 4 New York has reported that a battalion of 2nd Armored Cav is now deployed to protect the supply lines going past Nasariyah. They will replace Marine units that have been required to provide security and allow those units to rejoin their parent units near al Kut.

Additional U.S. and British troops were expected to deploy to the Persian Gulf to reinforce coalition forces fighting the Iraqi military, and British intelligence officials said they now have evidence of a direct link between the Iraqis and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network. News report said late Thursday some 30,000 soldiers of the 4th Infantry Division and other units based at Fort Hood, Texas, were to be deployed to the region in the next few days. Another 100,000 ground troops were expected to be deployed in the next month. A defense official told United Press International there was nothing new...

WASHINGTON -- In the largest operation in their storied history, elite special operations forces are waging a shadow war in Iraq whose success could determine whether coalition forces can topple the regime of Saddam Hussein quickly or whether the conflict will drag on for months, say military officials and specialists. The military's ''silent warriors,'' as President Bush called them yesterday, were involved in the first operations of the war and are likely to conduct some of the last, including helping spearhead the birth of new civil institutions in a post-Hussein Iraq. Details of their activities in recent weeks -- from...

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., knows how many parents around the country are feeling right now — he’s the only member of Congress with a child serving as an enlisted member in the military.

(English-language translation) A unit of 167 Military Police from the [Puerto Rico] National Guard is being mobilized to the Middle East, Adjutant-General Francisco Márquez informed yesterday. Meanwhile, the National Guard Bureau has been asking Márquez about preparations for two other Puerto Rican units comprising 500 troops. The personnel are sent from camps in the United States, where they train, to Saudi Arabia. "They are heading towards the theater of operations. Initially, they will arrive in Saudi Arabia," Márquez indicated. He added that he has no major details about the final destination of the troops because this is information that is...