US is direct in seeking troops

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration, struggling to secure a new United Nations resolution for more international assistance for postwar Iraq, has stepped up direct negotiations with more than a dozen countries to send troops, administration officials said yesterday.

Among the countries whose help the administration is seeking are Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and South Korea, which have large standing armies and are in a position to contribute significant numbers of troops to help ease the burden on American forces. The United States accounts for about 130,000 of the more than 150,000 soldiers now in Iraq, and senior military officers have set a goal of adding tens of thousands more foreign troops.

Administration officials, facing the prospect that attempts to get a UN mandate may fail because of opposition on the Security Council, hope to build on their success this week in persuading the government of Turkey to approve the deployment of 10,000 peacekeeping troops to its southern neighbor. US officials said they are prepared to offer a series of incentives -- including new foreign aid and loans -- in return for helping meet what they said is a pressing need for more help in stabilizing Iraq.

The administration is apparently meeting with some success: Officials said yesterday that Portugal has agreed to send an undisclosed number of troops to Iraq. Other agreements have recently been reached with the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway.

"There are other governments that our military people are in close touch with about making the final arrangements for . . . logistics, for transfer, for stationing and deployment, for what kind of capabilities people might bring forward," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday. ". . . A Security Council resolution is not the only way to generate support for this process."

A senior administration official said the State Department has been in "constant discussions" with 13 countries about possible troop contributions, adding, "I think what you see is a continuation of the discussions occurring domestically in these countries where you see some further movement."

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that South Korea has decided to dispatch a second survey team to Iraq as it considers a US request for at least 5,000 peacekeeping troops. The first survey group returned Monday and reported that much of Iraq is stabilizing and the threat to South Korean troops would be minimal -- a sign, officials said, that Seoul may agree to the American request despite heavy public opposition in South Korea.

"Our desire all along is to have a large number of international partners and eventually draw down the levels of US forces," the senior US official said.

A Defense Department official confirmed yesterday that "we are working with more than a dozen countries with a goal of standing up a third multinational division in the future." Two such divisions -- one under British and the other under Polish command -- are now operating in Iraq, with a total of 23,700 troops from 31 countries.

But administration officials and specialists insist that many more soldiers are needed to help stabilize the country while US forces concentrate on training police and civil defense for an eventual transfer to Iraqi control.

Philo Dibble, head of Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department, told Congress on Wednesday that there is "an obvious military necessity" for more foreign help.

"I heard a number of [US] troops [who are] less than thrilled about the idea of possibly having to go back within a fairly short time" for a second tour, said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution in Washington, who recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Iraq. "This is . . . definitely the biggest challenge to the Army since Vietnam."

Administration officials would not publicly identify all of the countries that are now being pressed into service, citing the sensitive nature of the ongoing negotiations. But with waning prospects for getting a Security Council resolution that countries insisted was necessary to provide them political cover to send forces to Iraq, military and diplomatic efforts to enlist more countries have intensified in recent days in an effort to reach some deals.

In addition to South Korea, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh have been key targets of the administration's diplomatic efforts. India and Bangladesh have said that a UN resolution would be necessary before dispatching forces to Iraq, because their governments and public largely opposed the US-led invasion in March.

"A lot of countries are still waiting on the UN," said a US military official who asked not to be named.

Critics of the administration have warned about the cost of such economic incentives. Officials said Turkey, which declined US requests before the war to allow American troops to cross its borders into Iraq, was offered $9 billion in loans. The missions of non-US troops currently in Iraq are being funded primarily with US government money. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, has said this approach smacks of "bribery."

Prime Minister Zafarullah Khan Jamail of Pakistan, who met with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in New York on Wednesday, said his government would closely follow deliberations at the United Nations before making a final decision. But he did not rule out sending troops if a resolution cannot be agreed upon.

"A Security Council resolution is only one part of this," Peter Rodman, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, said on Wednesday. "It would be good if there were a new resolution. I think it would help stimulate some effort. But I think whether there is one or not, we are continuing to mobilize international support."

The administration's full court press comes ahead of a scheduled donors conference to be held later this month in Madrid, where US officials plan to seek financial pledges for Iraq's reconstruction. Some European diplomats yesterday warned that they may try to postpone the conference if negotiations at the United Nations are not yet completed.