The World
Hello, I Must Be Going...
Even as the United States sends more troops to embattled Iraq, the so-called coalition of the willing is pulling up stakes. Britain, America's closest ally in the war on terrorism, announced last week that it will be drawing down forces in Basra. Also leaving: soldiers from Lithuania and Denmark. U.S. officials insist that the Basra security situation has improved, but the Pentagon's latest quarterly report to Congress cites the key southern port city as one of just two regions "not ready for transition" to Iraqi control. If Iraqis are unable to handle security there, U.S. military officials concede, more American soldiers will be tapped to back them up. A major worry is that Shiite militias supported in part by Iran, already powerful in Basra, could take control.
News of the troop departures came in a week in which a truck bomb loaded with chlorine exploded in the town of Taji, northwest of Baghdad. The explosion, the third in a month to use chlorine, killed nine and sent dozens to the hospital with skin rashes and difficulty breathing. Military officials say this incident represents the most successful of many recently discovered attempts "to use all types of chemical mixtures" to make car bombs more lethal.
Military officials worry, too, that their helicopters are becoming more vulnerable, with the eighth chopper reported downed since January 20. Initial reports indicate that the Black Hawk was felled by enemy fire. The No. 2 commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno, told reporters last week that at least some of the helicopters were shot down in "some sort of ambush ... . My guess," he added, "is that we have a cell out there that's somewhat effective."
Deadlines Come, and Deadlines Go
Another deadline ignored, another round of negotiations triggered. With the passing of a United Nations Security Council deadline last week for Iran to stop all of its nuclear-fuel activities, the ongoing story of diplomatic efforts to rein in Tehran added another chapter-with more likely to follow. The Security Council on December 23 had formally demanded compliance within 60 days and set some initial sanctions on Iran's nuclear and missile programs. U.S. pressure on Iran's international finances and on its personnel in Iraq is also building, and signs of domestic Iranian unease over the government's hard-line stand are growing. But Tehran still looks unwilling to acquiesce.
The Bush administration is now likely to begin pushing for tougher U.N. sanctions. But Russia and China are opposed, and America's European allies-sensing some rethinking in Tehran-are not in a hurry to order up additional penalties. "The [Iranian] leaders understand they're in a vicious circle," says a senior European diplomat.
Still, an update from the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, last week confirms that Tehran is pushing ahead: At its Natanz plant, it has already installed hundreds of centrifuges-the machines that spin out enriched uranium-and has readied 9 tons of the feedstock gas for use there. Iran intends to have 3,000 centrifuges spinning by May. Iran is also continuing to build a heavy-water production plant and reactor and, the IAEA says, withholding cooperation on unanswered questions about its past nuclear work.
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