UK agrees to U.S. troops request
Blair denies decision aimed at helping Bush
 |  British troops leave Basra Thursday. |
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 Blair under pressure within his own party. CNN's Robin Oakley reports (October 20)
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LONDON, England -- Britain has agreed to a U.S. request to redeploy about 850 troops to central Iraq, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon told lawmakers.
Hoon said the elite Black Watch battalion and supporting units would relieve U.S. troops for a period of "weeks rather than months."
"The government has decided that we should accept the U.S. request for assistance," Hoon told the House of Commons on Thursday.
"A UK armored battle group consisting of the 1st Battalion the Black Watch and supporting units will deploy ... to relieve a U.S. unit for other tasks."
Hoon's statement came just hours after Britain's Cabinet met Thursday morning and approved the U.S. request.
A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said the Cabinet had given "unanimous support ... for the troops and their commanders on the ground and respect for their judgment."
He also said the Cabinet was determined that "government should do all that it can in helping with the process of bringing free elections to Iraq in January, to help finish the job that they have set out to do."
Blair has faced strong opposition from within his own Labour Party over the U.S. request. Many lawmakers suspect the move is designed to bolster U.S. President George W. Bush's re-election campaign -- something Blair has fiercely denied.
The Cabinet approval came after a forward reconnaissance team delivered its report to Britain's chief of defense staff, Gen. Michael Walker.
"After careful evaluation, the chiefs of staff have advised me that UK forces are able to undertake the proposed operation, that there is a compelling military operational justification for doing so and that it entails a militarily acceptable level of risk for UK forces," Hoon said.
Hoon said he could not give lawmakers any more detailed information about the deployment because "to do so would risk the operational security of the mission and potentially the safety of our forces."
He said the troops being moved would remain under the operational command of the British general currently in charge of their existing area of operations, Maj. Gen. Bill Rollo.
"On a day to day basis, the Black Watch will of course have to coordinate their activity within the U.S. chain of command in the locality, but any changes in the mission or the tasking would have to be referred back to Gen. Rollo," Hoon said.
British commanders have refused to specify where exactly the Black Watch will be sent, beyond saying that it is in the U.S.-controlled sector to the south and west of Baghdad designated Multi-national Force (MNF) West.
Hoon said the 1st Battalion Scots Guards -- equipped like the Black Watch with armored vehicles -- would take over as Britain's reserve force in the southern sector of Iraq.
Meanwhile, the senior UK commander in Iraq, Gen. John McColl, has suggested that up to two more British battalions could be sent to Iraq to boost security ahead of elections set for January.
"There may be a request to surge additional forces into Iraq in the run-up to the elections -- that has been discussed," The Times newspaper quoted McColl as saying. "But it is no more than prudent planning at this stage."
The Ministry of Defence would not comment on the report. "The military advice is coming in and being considered. The decision process is still ongoing," a spokesman said.
But Hoon on Thursday said there were no plans to send a further 1,300 troops as had been reported.
Hoon also said it was not true, as some lawmakers had suggested, that any of the 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq could have fulfilled the U.S. redeployment request.
He said fewer than a third of the U.S. forces had the "requisite combat capability and of those even fewer have the armored capability that is needed."
"I emphasize again that this was a military request and has been considered and accepted on operational grounds after a thorough military evaluation by the chiefs of staff," Hoon said.
American commanders had asked the British to send the Black Watch to cover for their own forces so they can be freed to join the U.S. assault on the rebel stronghold of Falluja.
Britain has about 9,000 troops in Iraq, operating around the southern port city of Basra. Sixty-eight British soldiers have been killed in Iraq, compared with more than 1,000 U.S. troops.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
