LONDON, Oct 22: A fairly good number of Britons seem to disagree with Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to re-deploy 850 British troops from their base in Southern Iraq to regions further north.
Even some of his cabinet colleagues are said to have asked him some searching questions before they endorsed his decision. Many of his Labour party members have already gone public opposing the move.
A large number of those who are opposed to the decision seem to believe that the decision has been taken on the request of the US specifically to help boost Bush's chances at the November 2, elections.
Many of these people seem to be seriously concerned about the question of command and control of the Black Watch group (the name of the British troops to be moved) when it is re-deployed in the region from where the US proposes to release its troops to launch a final assault on Falluja before November 2.
Though the government has reassured that these troops will take their direct orders from the British commander, these people still think that their strategic command and control will be in the hands of the US officers.
The most over-riding worry of those opposed to the move is that those US troops whom the Black Watch would be replacing would cause heavy civilian casualties when the launch their assault on Fallujah and that would bring a bad name for the British troops.
And the question that is being increasingly asked on the streets of London is: Why do the Americans need 850 of British troops when they have has many as 140,000 of their own in Iraq.
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has answered this question saying that less than one-third of these US troops have the capability that is possessed by the Black Watch group of Britain.int4
