Military

DATE=9/4/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=BRITAIN / FORCES (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-307138

BYLINE=TOM RIVERS

DATELINE=LONDON

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: British cabinet members indicate more troops could be heading to Iraq to cope with the growing number of attacks on coalition forces. Tom Rivers reports from London.

TEXT: British Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon has ordered a review of British force levels in Iraq. The move has come after weeks of heightened insecurity in the country.

Britain currently has a force of about 11-thousand in Iraq. They are based in the southern part of the country, primarily around the city of Basra. Eleven British soldiers have died since May first, when President Bush declared that major fighting had ended.

The announcement by Geoff Hoon Thursday came shortly after a published report in Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper in which Foreign Secretary Jack Straw reportedly called for the deployment of five-thousand additional troops.

The article is based on notes taken from a recent meeting between Mr. Straw and Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The paper quotes the Foreign Secretary as saying "the linked problems of security, infrastructure and the political process are undermining the consent of the Iraqi people to the coalition presence and providing fertile ground for extremists and terrorists."

The Foreign Office would not respond to the leaked document, but it adds that Mr. Straw and the Prime Minister discuss Iraq on a regular basis.

The talk of increasing British troop levels comes as the United States is asking the United Nations to take an expanded role in Iraq. In its draft U-N resolution, Washington calls for a UN-authorized multinational force to be deployed under the unified command of the U-S. (Signed)

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