Irish Forces for Iraq?

UN SECRETARY General Kofi Annan has sought participation of Irish defense forces in UN “battle groups” which could be deployed in Iraq.

It has emerged that Annan made the call during his visit to Dublin last week when he met the Minister for Defense Willie O’Dea. The Irish government says it will not consider the issue until the situation in Iraq has stabilized significantly.

O’Dea stressed that such a UN operation would not be carried out until the country had a “much more peaceful environment than in Iraq at present.”

But the government will consider Annan’s proposal to set up UN “battle groups” which could be sent quickly to trouble spots around the world where genocide is threatened.

Upsides: Non-American and non-British Irish troops usually do relatively well in peacekeeping. Few but the most insane radicals hate Ireland just for being Western.

If we're going to do things by international acclaim, it's best to get as diverse a force possible together to avoid perceptions of favoratism or ulterior agenda.

Downsides: I suspect a larger or more visible role in such activities will make Ireland more of a target for terrorists.

Thoughts?

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What have you done for your people today?

Will Ireland be spared?

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I'll get nicer when you get smarter.

...but I suppose it largely depends on how accomodating they are to Muslims.

It's getting pretty PC over there as is.

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What have you done for your people today?

restricted citizenship? Every place is PC these days...Except the Arab world.

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I'll get nicer when you get smarter.

the irish army! what will they do..nibble their bum!?

nice idea in that it diversifies the force, but it sounds like giving a cancer patient a band-aid.

Do people think Annan was making a point that he could build a bigger coalition than that other guy in the White House?

I say we pull all troops from the middle east and send in a bunch of drunk Irishmen to deal with the terrorists. Coupled with a few divisions of squirrel-stew eating Texans and British soccer hooligans, I think we could easily win the war on terror.

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"Violence isn't always evil. What's evil is the infatuation with violence."
Jim Morrison

we can send it the IRA and tell them the Insurgents are really Protestants. That will fix them. LOL

I had a look at the Irish army website a while back

Not exactly the greatest fighting machine in the world, but I'm willing to bet that because its small, the troops are very well trained.

I think that their participation will make the occupation look more legitimate, but I do agree with Willie (, I'm so immature) that they shouldn't endanger Irish lives just for the sake of it.

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"I see no reason why...there should not arise a United States of Europe" Winston Churchill, 1946