Allies reconsider Iraq troop pledges

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Japan put off a decision Thursday on sending troops to Iraq, a day after the deadliest attack on coalition forces since the war, and South Korea capped its contribution at 3,000 soldiers — new setbacks to U.S. hopes for easing the pressure on its forces.

On the eve of a visit to Tokyo by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Japan decided the time wasn’t right to send its forces to Iraq, indicating its deployment might be delayed until after the first of the year.

Japan had hoped to send troops to Iraq to help rebuild the country by the end of 2003, but chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuo Fukuda backed off, saying Iraq is still too unstable.

"Japan has said it wants to think about the timing" of its deployment, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice said in Washington, D.C. "We understand that."

South Korea also decided to limit its contribution to 3,000 troops, President Roh Moo-hyun announced. South Korea also ordered its 464 troops in southern Iraq to suspend operations outside coalition bases. Denmark rejected a push by two Danish soldiers’ unions to bolster its 410-member force by 100 more troops.

Many countries and agencies in Iraq, including Spain, the Netherlands, the United Nations and the international Red Cross, have been reconsidering their presence since they became targets.

The reassessments came a day after Wednesday’s suicide truck bombing at a base for Italian forces in the southern city of Nasiriyah killed at least 32 people — 18 of them Italians — and wounded more than 80. Officials said several of the wounded are not expected to survive.

Speaking to reporters today en route to Asia, Rumsfeld said countries that decide to participate in military operations in Iraq should do so only if they believe it is in their own interest.

"It’s a dangerous country, it’s a violent country," Rumsfeld said. "It’s been a violent country for a long time, and it very likely will be for a long time. Certainly, people need to participate there with their eyes open."

Brig. Gen. Ahmed Ibrahim said Iraqi police arrested six people, including four foreigners, in operations Thursday. He refused to identify the nationalities, but a police officer said they included a Syrian, a Yemeni and an Afghan.

The Nasiriyah attack has raised fears that Iraqi resistance groups are gradually extending their area of operations to include the country’s mainly Shiite Muslim southern regions, which have generally been well-disposed toward the U.S.-led coalition. The insurgency, which originated in the "Sunni Triangle" north and west of the capital, has spread in recent weeks to the northern city of Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest.

In Tampa, Fla., Gen. John Abizaid said the forces opposing the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq total no more than 5,000 insurgent fighters.

"They’re a despicable bunch of thugs that will be defeated," said Abizaid, who heads the U.S. Central Command.

The largest and most dangerous portion of the opposition forces consists of those still loyal to Hussein, he said.

"The goal of the enemy is not to defeat us militarily," Abizaid said. "The goal of the enemy is to break the will of the United States of America, to make us leave."

There are 130,000 U.S. forces in Iraq and more than 22,000 other coalition forces.

For a second straight night Thursday, explosions shook Baghdad after sundown, part of a "Operation Iron Hammer," the U.S. campaign against insurgents.

American troops also shelled a dye factory on the southern outskirts of Baghdad in retaliation for rebel attacks on coalition headquarters. The plant, which has been idle since the war that deposed Saddam Hussein, was rocketed by Apache helicopters Wednesday evening. U.S. commanders said it had been used by insurgents to store ammunition.

On Thursday, U.S. soldiers with loudspeakers drove through the neighborhood warning occupants to leave before the impending strike. Later, at least nine large-caliber shells were fired into the empty plant, heavily damaging the structure.

The tactical goal was not immediately clear, since this sprawling metropolis of 5 million people has other sites to launch attacks.

People also reported a series of explosions late Thursday in Fallujah and Khaldiyah, cities west of the capital.

Faced with a worsening security problem, coalition authorities said Thursday they were closing a major bridge over the Tigris River that reopened about two weeks ago for the first time since the city fell in April. Coalition spokesman Charles Heatly said the 14th of July Bridge would be closed indefinitely "following recent serious events."