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British troops may go to Baghdad
as cover for American offensive
The Independent, Kim Sengupta in Baghdad
16 October 2004
British troops may be sent to Baghdad to help US forces poised
for a major assault on Fallujah.
Under plans being considered, a battalion of the Black Watch
will deploy in the Iraqi capital to replace American troops
needed for the offensive against fighters led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,
and other Sunni militant groups in the rebel stronghold.
Another possibility under discussion is for the British troops
to be stationed further north, near Kirkuk and Irbil, freeing
US forces there for Fallujah. The American high command,
however, has stated that it would prefer the British presence
to be in Baghdad.
There are no plans to send the Black Watch to Fallujah. But
the Iraqi capital has been the scene of some of the worst
violence in recent months.
Defence sources stressed last night that no decision had been
made on the deployment. Contingency talks have been held with
the US, however, and the Black Watch battalion, a reserve
force, is being kept specifically for such an eventuality. One
senior officer said "the decision is 50-50 whether they go
north. There are serious reservations".
Any such move is bound to prove highly controversial. It will
identify British troops with US military actions and this may
have repercussions in the Basra area, where the British forces
have a far better relationship than the Americans with the
local population.
A small force of Royal Highland Fusiliers has been in Baghdad.
They are not, however, in the front line. A replacement of
Americans bound for Fallujah will mean the Black Watch will be
undertaking combat duties.
The Independent has learned that British military commanders
have resisted two previous request by the Americans to send
troops to Baghdad and other parts of the Sunni triangle. In
the months following the fall of Baghdad, they faced pressure
from Downing Street to acquiesce to a US call to send the 16
Air Assault Brigade to the capital. Each time the request had
been refused officially on the grounds of "overstretch".
If any troops are sent this time, it will be one battalion, of
around 600, plus support of another 100, of mechanised
infantry supported by Warrior armoured cars.
* A British security guard has been shot dead near Kirkuk, it
was confirmed yesterday. The man, an employee of the
London-based ArmorGroup security firm who has not been named,
was killed on Monday in the northern enclave of Taza. He had
been involved in securing an area where engineers were working
on infrastructure rebuilding projects.
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