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More British troops for Iraq
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Britain is sending around 1,200 extra troops to Iraq, in addition to the 11,000 already there, the UK defense ministry has announced. Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said Monday there was an "immediate requirement" for two battalions, plus additional specialist personnel and equipment, to go to the UK's area of operations in the south of the country, around Basra. In a TV address on Sunday night, U.S. President George W. Bush said that more multinational troops were needed to secure occupied Iraq, and the U.N. had a "responsibility" to enable such a move. (Full story) An announcement had been expected that up to 3,000 more British troops could be dispatched to area around Basra because of the worsening security situation. In a statement to parliament, Hoon said: "We will immediately take steps to identify and reduce notice to move for some additional headquarters and units, to allow further deployments as rapidly as possible in response to this accelerating program of work." The troops will be from 2nd Battalion The Light Infantry and 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets. Hoon, in his statement, paved the way for further troop deployments, saying a full review of force strength was under way and "the full scale of the requirement ... has yet to be developed." Hoon said going to Iraq were the balance of 2nd Battalion The Light Infantry, 120 of which were sent at the weekend. The 600-strong battalion will be involved in supporting current operations, and in offering additional protection to the Coalition Provisional Authority, he said. The second deployment would be of Britain's current 600-strong spearhead battalion (on-standby fast-response unit), the 1st Battalion The Royal Green Jackets, who would go to Iraq immediately, Hoon said. They would help increase force protection, accelerate training of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps and to improve information gathering, Hoon said. Later Monday in a statement to the House of Commons UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said that an Iraqi force was being trained and armed to guard Iraq`s electricity and oil facilities as well as bridges and dams from terrorist attacks. Straw said Britain was in close touch with the United Nations about what further security measures can be put in place to help them restore their activities in Iraq. Eleven British troops have died in Iraq since May 1, when President Bush declared major combat operations over. "This response is not a knee-jerk response to recent attacks. It's part of a strategic plan to achieve the goals I have set out," Prime Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said. The spokesman, quoted by The Associated Press, characterized the deployment as "a targeted response to achieve these objectives with one clear objective in mind, and that's to put the Iraqi people in charge of their own areas at national level, as they are in 90 percent of towns and cities." Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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