UK to send more troops to Iraq

US Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met Polish commanders controlling a central sector of Iraq as he wound up a three-day tour yesterday encouraged by news of a small reinforcement in British troops.

Rumsfeld also visiting a mass grave at Mahawil, south of Baghdad, containing up to 15,000 bodies said by locals to be mainly Shiites killed in former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein's crushing of an uprising after the 1991 Gulf War.

Having firsthand Iraq's deteriorating security situation, Rumsfeld pledged attacks on the US-led occupying forces would not drive them out of Iraq.

"The coalition will not be dissuaded from its mission in Iraq, not by sabotage, not by snipers, and not by terrorists with car bombs," he said in an interview videotaped for broadcast by the US-created Iraqi Media Network.

With 67 US soldiers having been killed since major combat was declared over on May 1 and the financial cost of occupying Iraq also spiralling, Washington is pressing for a UN resolution to get more troops and cash from other countries. That has run into opposition from Russia and France -- both veto-wielding Security Council members -- as well as Germany, although diplomats have hinted an accord may be worked out.

President George W. Bush, taking increasing flak from political rivals over his handling of postwar Iraq, was due to discuss Iraq in a television address tonight.

Washington's ally, Britain, was sending 120 more soldiers from Cyprus to Iraq over the weekend and is considering a larger redeployment to boost its 11,000-strong force in Iraq.

The US military has about 150,000 soldiers here, while other nations apart from Britain have sent some 9,000. Rumsfeld said he saw no need to commit more US troops to Iraq, but wants allies to send an extra 15,000 soldiers.

Russian Minister Igor Ivanov joined the leaders of France and Germany on Friday in rejecting the draft, saying it "still needs further, very serious work."

US of State Colin Powell said he wanted France and Germany to make specific proposals on the future of Iraq.

"If you didn't like it in this particular form and you want to see something different, then make a proposal in addition to an editorial comment," Powell told reporters.

British Secretary Jack Straw said he was optimistic agreement could still be reached on the proposal, which would authorize a multinational force to contribute to "the maintenance of security and stability in Iraq."