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Bosnia offers to send troops to Iraq, host US bases
Bosnia is ready to send troops to Iraq and host US military bases on its territory, the country's Muslim president said after meeting US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman.
| Returning the favor, are they? |
Bosnia is ready to "assume its international obligations by sending its military to Iraq," Sulejman Tihic, the Muslim member of Bosnia's tripartite presidency, told a press conference after talks with Mr Grossman. He said Bosnian military chiefs would decide exactly what level of commitment the Balkan country could offer after a review of its capabilities over the next 10 days. Bosnia has been weighing whether to deploy soldiers in Iraq since August, even though it depends for its own internal security on more than 12,000 NATO-led international peacekeepers including some 2,000 US soldiers. Mr Tihic said it was important for US troops to remain in Bosnia and he would write to US President George W Bush to offer "other forms of military cooperation". "We plan to offer the stationing of [US] military bases here. We believe that it would contribute to overall stability, not only in Bosnia, but in the region," he said.
| See? My surprise meter's not really busted. Boy, did that needle jump! |
Among other countries in south-eastern Europe, Albania, Bulgaria and Macedonia already have troops in Iraq, while Croatia and Serbia have expressed their willingness to contribute to the international coalition there. Post-war Bosnia's two semi-independent entities - the Serbs' Republika Srpska and the Muslim-Croat Federation - have their own distinct armies. Under the reforms the two armed forces will have a central command, the same uniform and a common flag, but they will remain ethnically distinct.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-11-08 |
