British asked to ship troops near Baghdad

By ED JOHNSON
The Associated Press

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Britain has not made a decision, a ministry spokesman said.

Several British newspapers and the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC) have reported that Britain is considering sending 600 soldiers from the Black Watch regiment in relatively peaceful Basra to bolster U.S. operations in mostly Sunni areas west of Baghdad.

Media reports say the United States wants the British soldiers to replace units of the 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines in Iskandariyah, 30 miles south of Baghdad.

According to the reports, the regiment would free up U.S. troops to participate in an expected all-out offensive on Fallujah, a city 40 miles west of the capital that is considered the toughest stronghold of insurgents and believed to be the headquarters of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant who has claimed responsibility for dozens of car bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq.

U.S. forces began steady bombing of targets in Fallujah on Thursday after peace talks between the Iraqi officials and city leaders broke down. The Iraqi government has demanded city officials hand over al-Zarqawi. Fallujah officials say he is not there.

Sending British soldiers farther north into the U.S.-controlled sector, where there are more attacks by terrorists and insurgents, carries a risk of higher casualties and would be politically sensitive for Prime Minister Tony Blair. Blair's popularity slumped after the war, and his trust and credibility ratings plummeted. But recent opinion polls show his standing improving.

A minister in Blair's Cabinet played down concerns about British troops coming under U.S. command but declined to comment directly on the media reports.

"There have been occasions in Iraq when the Americans have operated under British control," Health Minister John Reid told the BBC. "There will be occasions when you're fighting in a coalition where at a given tactical level you operate under your ally's control, and the Americans have already been there."

The opposition Conservative Party said yesterday that the proposed redeployment would mark a significant shift in policy and insisted lawmakers must be informed.

"This latest development ... would signal a fundamental change in the nature of deployment of British troops," Conservative defense spokesman Nicholas Soames wrote in an open letter to Defense Minister Geoff Hoon.

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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