[Media-watch] Iraq carve up

[John Meed]

Dear All

Has anyone noticed a report of a meeting of military reps from 15 countries
that was held on Thursday May 8 at the Northwood base to plan the carve up
of Iraq during the 'stabilisation' period? Le Monde comments that the
meeting was kept as quiet as possible, and as far as I could see the
Guardian missed it though the Independent does obliquely mention 'secret
plans'. 

Both Le Monde and El Pais of May 9 make major features of it. According to
El Pais, the following countries have committed themselves to providing
forces to 'maintain security':

USA 20,000
UK 12,000
Spain 1,500
Italy 2-3,000
Denmark 380
Portugal 120
Poland (though they want America to pay them)
Australia
Holland

Other countries who may in principle offer support include Argentina,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Azerbajan, Qatar, South
Korea.

There seems to be some not very pretty haggling over who gets what. El Pais
says that while there seem to be lots of volunteers for the south (Spain and
Italy are arguing over who might 'control' Um Qasr) there are fewer for the
north where Poland seems to be having problems meeting its original
commitments.

Regards

John Meed