Pressian reports that according to a Pentagon report made public today on security and stability in Iraq, Korean troops are no longer needed in the Kurdish state of Arbil in northern Iraq.
According to the report, Arbil was designated “Ready to Transition” in the June 2006 Provincial Security Transition Assessment. In fact, in the case of the state of Muthanna, which was been designated “Provincial Iraqi Control,” multinational forces were withdrawn in July, while preparation are being made to withdraw the multinational force from the state of Dhi Qar, which was designated “Ready for Transition.”
The civic group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, which read the report, called for the immediate withdrawal of Korean troops from Iraq, noting that even a Pentagon report confirms they aren’t needed.
Meanwhile, the government plans to submit a motion in the National Assembly extending the mission of the Zaytun Unit in Arbil for another year, but with 1,000 troops fewer.
4 Comments
Who’s gonna maintain the electronic seats?
Without the Koreans there the Pentagon will have an easier time deploying another 2 ID brigade. Maybe some 19th ESC units, too.
I’ve continued to search for an “official” web site for the ROK unit in Kurdistan.
Continued to look on the official coalition web site, but still unable to find anything there about the Zaytun. Did find a wikipedia article which seems to be pretty current:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaytun_Division
The wiki article provides links to an official web site, one for Korean and one for English. When clicking on the English one, I get a “500 internal server error” message with some explanatory computer code; however, it looks like the link to the official Korean web site is at least partly operational:
http://www.zaytun.mil.kr/
I can’t get it to open fully on my slow dialup, can see a picture opening (and changing over to others) at the top of the page. Beneath that, the rest finally came up for me as “page cannot be displayed”, but maybe that’s just because I’m not set up (since I’m unable) to read Korean.
Maybe if one of you is interested and can get it to open, you can provide a synopsis. It’s always interesting to compare what the Koreans say to each other, vs what they say to the US; hey that’s the whole point of this blog, eh?
Maybe it won’t be difficult to translate into English vs translating into Australian.
Korean troops weren’t needid in Irbil in the fist place. Someone should tell them that toilets and nurses are needed in Ramadi.