MP Says Sending Troops Back to Iraq Inappropriate Now

Givi Targamadze, a senior ruling party lawmaker, said he throught it would be inappropriate now to send Georgian soldiers back to Iraq.

U.S. C-17 cargo planes brought 2,000 Georgian soldiers from Iraq back to Georgia on August 10 and 11 after Georgia requested the U.S to help redeploy Georgian troops amid armed conflict with Russia.

“This decision [on sending Georgian troops back to Iraq] should be taken with the threats Georgia is facing in mind,” Targamadze, who chairs the parliamentary committee for defense and security, said in an interview with the Georgian daily Rezonansi, published on September 5. 

“I think we should not do that at this stage. This force should be concentrated in Georgia. We have seen that prompt redeployment of those troops appeared to be somewhat problematic, which created some problems during combat operations,” he added. “That’s why I think it would be inappropriate to send our troops back on peacekeeping operations, unless immediate threats [in Georgia] are fully removed.”