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Turkish troops not welcome
09/10/2003 09:09 - (SA)
Baghdad - Ankara's decision to send troops to Iraq caused an uproar in Iraq and in Turkey, as the United States faced new diplomatic setbacks in its effort to win more outside assistance in the war-torn country.
And as US troops continued to be targeted by ambushes, the military announced the capture of 112 Iraqis, including a general said to have had links with former president Saddam Hussein.
A statement said troops from the US 3rd Armoured Cavalry captured Abed Hamed Mowhush al-Mahallowi, a Republic Guard air defence commander who also allegedly had ties with financiers of anti-coalition activities, in an operation on Sunday in the western Al-Anbar province.
An Iraqi police officer was killed and another badly wounded on Wednesday when gunmen fired a rocket-propelled grenade at their checkpoint in the northern city of Kirkuk, Iraqi police said.
A US soldier was wounded when a convoy based near Saddam's hometown of Tikrit came under rocket-propelled grenade attack, US Major Josslyn Aberle said.
And another convoy was targeted in a grenade attack near the flashpoint town of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, a witness reported. There were no American casualties, but an Iraqi woman was said to have been wounded.
Separately, US troops uncovered substantial arms caches and arrested nine people north of the capital, Aberle said.
Several members of Iraq's US-appointed Governing Council condemned Turkey's plan to send troops across the border into Iraq, whose ethnic Kurdish population is alarmed at the prospect.
"Sending these troops would delay our regaining sovereignty," said council member Nasseer Chaderchi, cautioning the deployment could affect relations between the two neighbours.
Chaderchi said Turkish authorities recently told council members they would not send troops to Iraq without their approval.
But Turkey's parliament authorised on Tuesday the dispatch of troops for a maximum of one year, leaving the decision on the size, location and timing of the deployment to the government to work out with the United States.
The Turkish troops - Ankara has talked of sending up to 10 000 -- would join a US-led force already numbering more than 155 000 from 34 countries, the overwhelming majority from the United States.
'The wrong thing to do'
"It is the wrong thing to do. It does not add to security," said member Mahmud Othman.
Turkey's ambassador in Baghdad, Osman Paksut, on Wednesday told governing council head Iyad Allawi that Turkish troops would not come to Iraq as an occupation force but to help in reconstruction and stabilisation.
In Istanbul, protesters chained themselves to the wire fencing of an American school and shouted "we will not allow our soldiers to be killed." Others gathered separately on central Taksim Square and in front of the offices of the governing Justice and Development Party.
Turkey's main Kurdish party, the Democratic People's Party, also denounced the decision describing it has having "brought Turkey to the edge of war".
But Washington welcomed the move, which US officials hope will ease the strain on their forces, which face almost daily casualties amid rising scepticism among Americans about the war.
In western Baghdad, about five thousand angry Shiite Muslims gathered outside a mosque demanding the release of two clerics detained by US forces after publicly denouncing the Americans.
Thousands of members of the Mehdi Army militia run by firebrand cleric Moqtada Sadr, wearing black headbands and waving Iraqi flags, marched around the Ali al-Bayaa mosque as uneasy US troops looked on.
US setback at UN
Meanwhile, the United States faced a new setback at the United Nations as its draft resolution on Iraq appeared to have been put on hold after criticism from UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.
A disagreement over how soon Iraqis could take political control of their country and how big a UN role might be during that transition led Annan to come out against the US proposal last week, in remarks that galvanised its opponents.
"People are telling us that basically if you're going to go around with a tin cup, you need to show a little humility," a US official said in Washington.
"The official line is that we're looking at all the options but the feeling here is that the resolution is dead," the official said.
The United States now appears unable to muster the Security Council votes needed to pass the resolution, which it had hoped could convince other nations to contribute cash and troops for Iraq.
France, in particular, announced unhappiness with the US draft, saying it ignored the suggestions given to the United States.
Sovereignty first
Like Annan, France wants Iraq to get sovereignty first and only later write a constitution and then hold elections. The United States favours the reverse order, which means a later transfer of power to Iraqis.
The disagreement prompted Germany to suggest delaying a Madrid conference on post-war reconstruction aid for Iraq, which is set for October 23-24.
A postponement "would not be inappropriate" as US expectations were currently difficult to meet, a German government official said after talks between Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The World Bank and the United Nations have estimated $36bn will be needed for the reconstruction of Iraq for the period 2004-2007 in 14 priority sectors.
- AFP
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