Fighting between coalition forces and Shiite Muslim militiamen across a wide swath south of Baghdad presents a major test of the resolve of America's partners to stay the course in Iraq.
The mounting unrest, triggered by the US crackdown on firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, will also test the American strategy of avoiding traditional alliances and international institutions in favor of "coalitions of the willing" in a military conflict.
Washington's inability to bring along its major partners in the NATO alliance into the Iraq conflict means the US has no ready pool of well-trained reinforcements -- apart from its own troops -- in case the Pentagon decides more forces are necessary to maintain order.
Instead of binding treaty obligations, Washington will have to rely on arm-twisting and powers of persuasion to hold on to its coalition partners, some of whom face pressure to send their troops home.
Since violence erupted on Sunday in Shiite areas south of Baghdad, coalition soldiers from Europe and Latin America have come under armed attack after months in which the Americans have born the brunt of the fighting -- and the casualties.
By Tuesday night, the toll from the Shiite fighting included three dead -- one soldier from El Salvador, another from Ukraine and a civilian truck driver from Bulgaria. At least 12 Italians, five Ukrainians, three Bulgarians and two Poles have been wounded.
Those numbers pale alongside American losses -- 417 battle deaths and about 3,000 wounded since the war started in March last year.
However, coalition partner losses are significant in smaller countries where support for the war has never been as strong as in the US, Britain or Australia.
Since the explosion in the Shiite areas, none of the coalition partners have spoken of abandoning the mission.
Before the flareup, however, the incoming Spanish government announced it will withdraw its 1,300 troops unless the UN takes over the mission by June 30, when Washington returns power to a new Iraqi government.
"Fleeing from the mission in Iraq is unthinkable," Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Tuesday.
However, signs of trouble are emerging.
The Dutch government, for example, favors keeping its 1,300 soldiers in Iraq after their tour ends on July 1. On Tuesday, however, several leading Dutch politicians called for a parliamentary debate on Iraq next week.
"It's not a foregone conclusion that we'll stay in Iraq," one of them, Boris Dittrich, said.
In Norway, an opinion poll released last week showed that 51.2 percent of the 1,505 people surveyed wanted the country's 150 troops home. The margin of error was 5 percent.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS