The Hindu : Sending troops to Iraq was not discussed: Myers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 30, 2003

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Sending troops to Iraq was not discussed: Myers

By Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI JULY 29. The senior-most military officer of the United States today wrapped up two days of talks here on strengthening military-to-military ties and exchanged views on the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, but did not reopen the issue of sending Indian troops to Iraq.

This was stated by the U.S. Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Richard B. Myers, at a news conference in the morning and confirmed later by his interlocutors who included the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, the Defence Secretary, Ajay Prasad, and the Chief of Army Staff, N. C. Vij. Having arrived from Baghdad on Monday, Gen. Myers left for Islamabad in the afternoon.

Confident of militarily suppressing resistance to the Anglo-American combine in a ``challenging and complex environment'', Gen. Myers said any contribution to peacekeeping in Iraq and Afghanistan was welcome but it was up to individual countries to send troops. ``New Delhi's refusal doesn't bother me. It is up to the countries to decide. The U.S. is a good friend of India. I am grateful for India's cooperation in the war against international terrorism,'' he said.

At the same time, he referred to the ``robust international coalitions'' policing Iraq and Afghanistan and the substantial international commitments that were in the offing. In Iraq, 19 nations were part of the stabilisation force and 15 more had promised troops. Afghanistan was host to 10,000 American troops and 2,500 more from other countries. The purpose was to develop a stable Iraq and Afghanistan where terrorists could not gather, he explained.

Gen. Myers repeatedly denied discussing the ``troops-for-Iraq'' issue and insisted his visit was purely reciprocal.

Its planning began three months ago when there was no talk of requesting India for troops for Iraq, he said on being asked to comment on the perception here that his visit was arranged on short notice and the primary purpose was to renew the American request. ``It has nothing to do with India sending troops to Iraq. It has everything to do with my counterpart's visit.''

However, the Iraq situation and some subjects that could impact the ``troops-for-Iraq'' issue were discussed with senior security planners. In his interaction spread over two days, ``some thought'' was given on a possible U.N. resolution mandating international peace-keepers but no definite discussions were held. Casualties being suffered by American troops on a near-daily basis was also raised, with Gen. Myers pointing out that the trouble spot was confined between Baghdad and Tikrit.

He reportedly told Mr. Mishra and Mr. Prasad that his troops were now receiving hard intelligence that was helping them neutralise resistance in central Iraq where 80 per cent of the security incidents took place. Iraqi people were coming forward with information leading to the discovery of huge ammunition caches. ``They wanted an update of the situation and we have provided that,'' Gen. Myers said earlier in the day.

His discussions with the chiefs of the Army, Air Force and Navy centred around military-to-military relationship and ways to further it. ``All the U.S. services have held various exercises and training events, and will continue to do so fairly robustly.''

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