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Plans to send UK-led Nato force to Iraq

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, June 19, IRNA -- Plans are being drawn up in the US and UK to 
send a British-led Nato force to Iraq to support the new interim 
government taking over the running of the country on July 1, it was 
reported Saturday. 
The force, which would include 3,000 more UK troops, is expected 
to be formally agreed at the forthcoming Nato summit in Istanbul, 
according to the Guardian newspaper. 
Britain`s chiefs of staff were said to have been working on plans 
for weeks involving the deployment of up to 3,000 troops to south 
central Iraq, including the holy city of Najaf, which has been the 
scene of clashes with US forces. 
But Prime Minister Tony Blair has been under growing pressure to 
reject a request from the US not to deploy more troops, especially 
outside the existing British sector in southern Iraq. 
The Guardian said the new force would consist of Nato`s Allied 
Rapid Reaction Corps, based in Germany under the command of a 
British general, Sir Richard Dannatt, reinforced by a British battle 
group. 
It would be publicized as "temporarily extracted" from Nato to 
make it more politically acceptable to members of the alliance - 
notably France and Germany - that were opposed to the war, as well 
as Russia and many Iraqi leaders, the paper quoted officials saying. 
Because of sensitivities, it was expected that the new force 
would not be deployed under a Nato banner but would be described as 
a British-led international force, with about 60 per cent of the 
corps` staff being British. 
The plan will increase pressure on Britain`s already overstretched 
army, but according to defence sources, the UK could live with the 
additional burden for a finite period, with a deployment of 18 months 
being envisaged. 
The Guardian also quoted Nato secretary general, Jaap de Hoop 
Scheffer, who was making a speech in London on Friday, saying that 
the Istanbul summit would also decide on "a stronger Nato presence" 
in Afghanistan. 
At present, there are around 20,000 foreign, mainly US, troops in 
Afghanistan in addition to the Kabul-based Canadian-led 6,400-strong 
International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), whose troops come 
from Nato. 
HC/1412