Straw visits Baghdad
The Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has arrived in Baghdad following a visit to the southern Iraqi city of Basra earlier today.
The highest profile UK leader to visit the Iraqi capital since the end of major hostilities in the region, Mr Straw insisted that the US-led coalition would continue to provide security in Iraq for “as long as it takes”.
His comments come amid increasing concerns over the security of US and UK troops in the Middle Eastern state as frustrations grow at the continued presence of the occupying powers.
There have been several attack on troops since the war ended, with 23 Americans having lost their lives following the official end of major hostilities.
International peacekeeping forces, including thousands of British troops, are being sent to the Gulf in a bid to diffuse the situation.
In a related development, the bodies of six Royal Military Policemen killed in an ambush by angry Iraqis last week arrived back in Britain today.
Against the backdrop of such tensions, Mr Straw today expressed optimism about the likely timeframe of a transferral of power to an Iraqi interim administration, suggesting that it may take place as soon as the middle of July.
And he emphasised that the coalition wanted the international community “fully involved” in the reconstruction of Iraq.
However, the Foreign Secretary dismissed the notion of handing over security duties to UN troops as politically unrealistic and “impractical”.
“You wouldn’t find UN blue helmeted troops and their countries behind them to do this kind of operation”, he told BBC Radio Four’s ‘The World At One’.
“The military commanders, both the US and the UK are determined with the full political support of their governments to do whatever it takes to deal with these remnants of the Baathist regime and criminals alongside them who are causing disruptions to the security situation”.
US-UK leaders had insisted prior to the recent conflict that the United Nations would play a “vital role” in the reconstruction of Iraq.
But critics have accused the coalition of sidelining the UN from the post-conflict process.
Elsewhere today, the six UK servicemen killed in an ambush in the south of Iraq last week were repatriated in a ceremony at RAF Brize Norton, Oxfordshire.
Their coffins, each draped in the Union flag, were loaded onto a Royal Air Force C17 transport aircraft on Tuesday evening following a repatriation service at Basra International Airport.
The soldiers died at a civilian police station in Al Majar Al-Kabir in southern Iraq on June 24th during an armed battle with locals.
Residents claim that troops fired plastic bullets at a demonstration against ‘intrusive’ weapons searches by British soldiers. However, the Ministry of Defence denies that UK troops fired first and insist they fought back in self-defence. Four Iraqis also reportedly died in the gun battle.
An inquest is expected to be opened and adjourned after the repatriation ceremony and the Ministry of Defence is conducting its own investigation into the incident.
Prime Minister Tony Blair praised the men for doing ‘an extraordinary and heroic job’.
The military policemen had been in the region to train Iraqi civilian policemen, and were from 156 Provost Company, attached to 16 Air Assault Brigade, stationed at Colchester, Essex,
