Thursday, September 25, 2003 The Mongols Come to Iraq
Part Deux
NY Times:
LAN BATOR, Mongolia, Sept. 22 � In 1258, the Mongol general Hulegu, a grandson of Genghis Khan, sacked Baghdad, killing 800,000 people and ending its primacy as the largest city in the Arab world.
This month, the Mongolians returned to Iraq. Ferried into the country on American military transports, 180 Mongolian Army soldiers � all male, all volunteers � are guarding pipelines and working on construction projects under a Polish command.
"This is not like the 13th century," Col. B. Erkhenbayar, commander of Mongolia's Peacekeeping Operation Battalion, said here, smiling so widely his eyes disappeared. "Then, we went to invade. This time, we are going to build Iraq."
In the Bush administration's roster of 34 nations serving in Iraq in the American-led "coalition of the willing" about half are formerly Communist countries like Mongolia. Like many other normally overlooked nations that have sent soldiers to Iraq, Mongolia did so more out of geopolitics than concern for Iraq. Mongolia's offer of troops surprised the American government because it had not asked Mongolia for help, said Steven R. Saunders, president of a private, Washington-based group promoting business ties with Mongolia.
Around this dusty city with its Cyrillic character signs left over from the Soviet era, Mongolians talk of supporting democracy in Iraq, of bolstering geopolitical ties with the United States and of returning their nation's long-eclipsed name to the world stage. Go, read the rest. Very interesting info on a little known part of the world. -- posted by Chuck at Thursday, September 25, 2003 | E-mail | Permalink | Main |
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