UK troops in Iraq for 4 years?
2003-06-17 08:06
London - British troops could be in Iraq for up to four years if pro-Saddam Hussein fighters continue to undermine attempts by the United States-led coalition to eliminate his former regime, The Times newspaper said on Tuesday.
Britain has deployed a 17 000-strong ground force in Iraq for between one and two years, but the duration could double if attacks by Iraqi militia on allied forces become more frequent, said British defence ministry sources.
On Monday, Major-General Freddy Viggers, a British commander appointed to serve at the US military headquarters in Baghdad, said coalition forces risked becoming bogged down in a Balkans-style policing mission unless they could capture or kill Saddam and prove his regime was finished.
About 1 600 British troops are still in Bosnia, 11 years after the end of that conflict.
Major-General Patrick Cordingley, commander of Britain's 7th Armoured brigade or 'Desert Rats' in the 1991 Gulf War said that the longer coalition faces remained in Iraq, the more resentful the Iraqis would become.
"But the American and British troops cannot possibly leave Iraq until the country is absolutely secure and back in Iraqi hands," he said.
But, sources close to Britain's defence secretary Geoff Hoon said he was determined to avoid a Bosnia-style commitment.
"The Iraqis have to take responsibility for themselves," the source said.