BAGHDAD, 14 November 2003 — A day after a devastating truck bomb attack on the Italian military police headquarters in Baghdad, America’s Asian allies backed down from troop commitments in the war-torn country. Japan said its planned dispatch of non-combat forces was not possible under existing conditions and South Korea said it would not send more than 3,000 troops, rebuffing Washington’s request for a bigger South Korean troop deployment.
The mounting death toll of US forces also forced President George W. Bush to declare it was time for Iraqis to take more responsibility for governing their country.
At least 18 Italians and nine Iraqis were killed Wednesday in Nassiriyah where Japan’s troops were expected to be based.
“There should be a situation where our country’s Self-Defense Forces can conduct their activities fully,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda told a news conference in Tokyo where he was grilled on the issue. “But to our regret, the situation is not like that.”
Asked whether the dispatch could be delayed until next year, Fukuda said: “That possibility has always existed.”
Fukuda had said on Wednesday Tokyo was determined to send troops by year-end to help rebuild Iraq.
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun instructed his government to send fewer than 3,000 troops to Iraq when he met Cabinet ministers. Even if an area is assigned to South Korean troops, Roh hopes that they would “focus on assisting rehabilitation while leaving security to Iraqi police and military,” presidential spokesman Yoon Tae-young said. During consultations in Washington last week, Seoul proposed sending 3,000 soldiers, while the United States requested more.
US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who goes to Tokyo today, said in Guam that countries contributing troops to the US-led mission in Iraq needed to do so with “with their eyes open.”
“It’s a dangerous country, it’s a violent country,” he said. “It’s been a violent country for a long time and it very likely will be for a long time. Certainly people need to participate there with their eyes open.”
In Washington, Bush said he was sending L. Paul Bremer, the top US administrator in Baghdad, back to the country to work with Iraqis on developing a plan to speed up establishment of an Iraqi government.
He said Bremer, in two days of urgent talks at the White House, reported that the Iraqis want to be more involved. “That’s a positive development. That’s what we want. We want the Iraqis to be more involved in the governance of their country.”
The president did not discuss governing options for Iraq although aides have talked about establishing an interim government before a new constitution is written, a significant change from the current strategy.
With casualties mounting, shrinking support from the American public, a troubling intelligence report and a stony silence from nations that have been asked for more peacekeeping troops, Bush wants to shorten the US occupation.
That involves accelerating efforts by Iraqis to take charge of security, write a constitution, hold elections and assume control over government institutions.
The US military said yesterday another soldier had been killed in an attack in Baghdad, and American soldiers in the flashpoint town of Fallujah came under fresh attack.
Italy’s defense minister surveyed the destruction at the shattered military police base in Nassiriyah.
As night fell, the sound of heavy gunfire and explosions echoed across the Iraqi capital for a second night as US forces stepped up a crackdown against suspected guerrillas. A military spokesman said US troops had launched ground and airstrikes against “enemy targets” as part of Operation Iron Hammer, launched Wednesday. — Additional input from agencies
