Turks May Not Send Troops To Iraq

Turks May not Send Troops to Iraq

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that Turkey has not made a “must go” decision about sending troops to Iraq, and that they will not be sent unless they are wanted. The Iraqi Interim Governing Council is unanimously opposed to their coming and opinion polls suggest that so is 90 percent of the Iraqi public.

Pakistan has also declined to send troops. Although Japan and South Korea may send small contingents, the US now has little hope of raising the 3 divisions it had desired from the international community.

India was likewise cautious after the new UN resolution, citing the continued coolness of France, Germany and Russia to the US occupation of Iraq and the lack of a specific timetable for regaining Iraqi sovereignty.

If the security situation remains bad enough in Iraq to require the continued presence of over 100,000 US troops into 2005, it is hard to see how the US can manage that without further imposing on reservists.

2003/10/19/1066502049942.html

article.php?id=106