With the idea of sending Islamic troops to Iraq on the table, Egypt is advising caution, reports Dina Ezzat Egypt has systematically declined all requests for contribution of military forces to Iraq. Even when it briefly considered the potential of sending a limited number of troops under UN leadership to provide protection for a UN mission in Iraq, the kidnapping of a member of Egypt's diplomatic mission in Baghdad quickly dampened the idea. In fact, the kidnappers only released their hostage after repeated statements emerged from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry indicating that there was no intention of sending troops. For that reason, the Saudi Arabian proposal -- floated during US Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent regional tour -- suggesting Egypt and other Muslim nations contribute limited forces (even for training purposes) to Iraq, has received a rather muted response in Cairo. Senior Egyptian officials consulted by Riyadh before the ideas were made public cautioned that despite the proposition's positive intentions, the situation on the ground in Iraq might make the suggested mission too difficult. While the Iraqi interim government and the US have been persistently calling on Arab and Muslim countries to send troops, Egyptian officials said the vast majority of Iraqi political forces have publicly spoken out against the idea. With this in mind, Riyadh re-engineered its initiative, proposing instead that a limited number of Arab nations in North Africa, along with Oman, Bahrain and several other Muslim countries, send a few thousand troops each to work under a multinational, UN-led mission that should act primarily as a peace-keeping force within Iraqi cities. The US-led troops, meanwhile, would pull out of the cities where they have been involved in endless confrontations with Iraqis. Eventually, the numbers of US-led troops would be significantly reduced. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and three other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates) would provide the project with $2 billion in start- up funds. According to the revised plan, Egypt would be providing technical assistance, which involves the training of Iraqi armed and police forces, on the condition that the training would not actually take place in Iraq itself. Washington has been uneasy about Egypt's role. Egyptian officials told Al-Ahram Weekly that during his visit to Cairo last Wednesday, Powell insisted that, in its capacity as a leading regional country and a good friend of the US, Egypt should not be shying away from sending troops, or being deterred by "terrorists who want to deny the Iraqi people the hope for a free and democratic Iraq". During his joint press conference with Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit, Powell argued that the Iraqi people should not be left on their own, and that concerned countries "should not be deterred" by the hijackings of their nationals in Iraq. One diplomat's reaction to Powell's suggestion: that it was "easier said than done". Egypt is very keen to work with the US on Iraq, he said, not just to please the US -- "as some critics may say" -- but mainly because "it is not in Egypt's interest to be isolated from the developments there." The Weekly also learned that Cairo did not completely reject the American request. The answer was more along the lines of, "we cannot be sending troops now, but we will see what will happen in the future." The request for Arab and Muslim troops had its genesis in Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi's July tour of Arab capitals. Informed Iraqi sources opposed to the interim government said the request actually originated with the US. According to one Iraqi politician, "this is not even something that the interim Iraqi government wants." The interim government, he said, does not mind Islamic countries, but does not want Arab troops because it fears that even the remotest Arab country would still have interests at stake, even by proxy, in Iraq. An informed Arab diplomat confirmed that, "the fact of the matter is that the current US administration is stuck in Iraq at a time where it is going to crucial elections. It is only expected that the US president wants out of the current crisis, and that he would use all the pressure he has on his Arab and Muslim allies to get him out of the crisis before the elections." Another Arab source suggested that the Saudi Arabian royal family was so angry with some of the anti-Riyadh statements made by US Democratic candidate John Kerry that it proposed the troops initiative to help US President George W Bush. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has said it was prompted by genuine concern over current developments in Iraq. Egypt, meanwhile, is not particularly worried about the motives, but genuinely concerned about where such an initiative could lead, especially in view of a general Arab atmosphere that seems unmistakably hesitant about sending troops. The idea of sending Arab and Muslim troops was debated at a meeting of the so-called Arab summit troika (consisting of Bahrain, Tunisia and Algeria, the former, current, and future presidency of the summit), in the Tunisian capital on Thursday. Afterwards, however, there were conflicting reports about whether or not a tentative agreement was reached. According to Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa, who attended the meeting, "the fact of the matter is that there are certain conditions that have to be met for Arab countries to be able to commit troops to help the Iraqi people." One obvious condition that he and other Arab diplomats insist on is that if Arab troops are going to Iraq they should not be under the command of American or any other foreign forces. "This is out of the question, or else they would be considered by Iraqi political forces [opposed to the interim government] as working with, or even assisting the occupation," said Ali Garoush, director of the league's Arab affairs department. Garoush, who meets with members of the Iraqi interim government and other political forces on a regular basis, was willing to admit that Iraqis feel that Arabs have not done enough to help them. At the same time, he said sending Arab troops in, under the auspices of the US military, was not the right way to help. The league has been consulting with many of its members about potential Arab involvement in Iraq. Egyptian officials said they have proposed more collective Arab involvement in the reconstruction process. Other Arab capitals, including Damascus, have proposed more involvement in, and support of, the Iraqi political process. At the meeting in Tunisia, a tentative plan of action was drafted, which includes economic and political moves, as well as the potential conditions for any military assistance. "These steps will be reviewed by the Arab foreign ministers in their upcoming ministerial regular meeting in September," Garoush said. Cairo is going to use the coming few weeks to step up its contacts with Iraq and key Arab capitals to decide its next move. However, as Abul-Gheit has repeatedly stressed, "Egypt is not at all planning to send troops to Iraq." Informed Egyptian diplomats add "certainly not now" to the minister's comment, while others said, "not now, and not later."
