Saudi Arabia has proposed to the US that troops from Arab or Muslim nations could be sent to Iraq, Saudi officials said after talks with US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Wednesday.
The idea -- somewhat surprising given the reluctance of Muslim and Arab nations to contribute forces so far -- could shore up the US coalition and ease the need for US troops who are battling a fierce insurgency in Iraq.
As described by US and Saudi officials, the proposal could involve contributions of troops from across the Muslim world but not from Iraq's neighbors, which Iraqi officials have said they would not welcome. Saudi Arabia has a long border with Iraq.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told reporters he and Powell had a "preliminary discussion" on the idea but would not say who might contribute or what conditions might be attached.
A senior Saudi official who asked not to be identified told reporters that Riyadh had already discussed the idea with countries that might provide troops, with the Iraqi government and with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He said a UN mandate, from existing resolutions or a new resolution, would be needed.
The US welcomed the idea but a senior US official privately made clear Washington wanted to hear more details about a proposal both sides said was in its infancy.
While US and Saudi officials would not name nations that might be asked to participate, likely candidates could include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Algeria, Morocco and Indonesia.
A deployment by Muslim nations would be a public relations coup for the US, which has seen the US-led coalition in Iraq reduced by the withdrawal of the Philippines, Spain, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Honduras.
It could also drag the contributors into the cauldron of Iraqi violence. After a brief lull following the June 28 US handover of sovereignty, guerrillas have stepped up suicide car bombings, assassinations and kidnappings to try to undermine Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and the US led coalition.
No Arab nations are now in the US-led coalition.
There are about 160,000 foreign troops in Iraq, roughly 140,000 of them from the US, which invaded last year to topple former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein but now faces a fierce insurgency that it did not anticipate.
Adel al-Jubeir, a foreign policy adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, said his government put forward the idea in part because of a desire among Arab populations to help Iraq.
"We want to help the Iraqi people ... get back on their feet," Jubeir told reporters.
"We are doing this because instability in Iraq has a negative impact on Saudi Arabia and stability in Iraq has a very positive impact on Saudi Arabia," he said.
The Saudis appear to be betting that Muslim populations will support sending their troops to Iraq if they are seen as replacing coalition forces rather than propping up the US occupation of Iraq.
"The goal that they [the Saudis] have is to help the Iraqis establish security. It's a goal we support and we'll keep talking to them about it," US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
RSS