South Korea cancels troops for Iraq

[carolinayellowdog]

South Korea cancels troops for Iraq


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The Associated Press



March 18, 2004 | SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korea has canceled plans to send troops to the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, citing U.S. pressure to participate in "offensive operations" that are contrary to Seoul's mission of peaceful reconstruction, the Defense Ministry said Friday.

The ministry said that it was looking for a new location to send the 3,600 troops it has promised to dispatch to Iraq to aid in rebuilding the country.

"South Korea and the United States share the understanding that it was inevitable to change the location of our troop dispatch because the security in Kirkuk, our original candidate area, has worsened," the ministry said in a statement.

"The United States cited inevitability for offensive operations to keep security in order in the Kirkuk area, and proposed that a certain number of U.S. troops would remain in Kirkuk to continue to conduct stabilization operations under the tactical control of South Korea," the statement said.

http://salon.com/news/wire/2004/03/18/skorea/index.html

[Moderator]

1. Please provide the link

Thank you

[tridim]

2. The coalition of middle fingers

Or if the FCC isn't watching, The coalition of "fuck off Bush".

[Qanisqineq]

3. Kirkuk is not a safe place for peaceful reconstruction

Too many pro-Saddam rallies and attacks on troops. My husband was stuck up there most of his time in Iraq.

[peekaloo]

4. Haha...Is this the reason why DimSon had such a hard time today

properly naming our Korean ally.

[bedtimeforbonzo]

5. not cancelling troops for iraq

so much as deploying them to a less dangerous area.

That's what I got out of it, anyway.

[carolinayellowdog]

6. canceling the planned deployment

and still looking for a substitute location-- which is not what the US wanted them to do.

on edit-- we have to use the original title, which in this case isn't as precise as one might hope.

[MasonJar]

7. Stump does not really need a reason to have a hard time re-

membering anything.

[daleo]

8. Finding a safe place for foreign troops in Iraq

There is some kind of black humor lurking in that phrase.