ARMENIA SAYS PULLING TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ "SENSELESS"
Tigran Liloyan
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
November 15, 2006 Wednesday 02:34 PM EST
Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan said it would be "senseless"
to withdraw Armenian troops from Iraq.
"The National Assembly of Armenia will consider the possibility of
extending the mandate of peacekeepers in Iraq. It’s a necessity,"
the minister said on Wednesday upon return from Baghdad, where he
had had talks with coalition troops commanders.
In his view, "Armenia cannot remain only a consumer of international
security but should make its own, even though modest, contribution
to this process."
He said the small but well trained contingent was carrying out its
mission on the level.
The national Iraqi government will take control of some provinces in
the spring of next year and the end of next year the Iraqi army and
police may control the whole country.