France Long Way From Sending Troops To

France “a long way” from sending Troops to Iraq: Chiraq

Likewise, on a visit to Spain French President Jacques Chirac just said, “Today we are a long way from being in a situation where France could participate militarily in Iraq.” With Iraqi opposition to Turkish and Jordanian troops (and Jordan’s unwillingness to send soldiers), the list of countries from which the US could get help is shrinking. Apparently Colin Powell expects at most a division, or about 20,000 troops, from the United Nations altogether. That is a tiny force, and will not substantially help the US effort on the ground, since the US will have to rotate out more than a division in spring of 2004, and the US doesn’t have a spare division.