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"This is war"
Norwegian soldiers serving in Iraq are baffled by politicians calling their mission a "humanitarian action". Norway's forces consider themselves at war and report that they have been instructed to fire if they feel threatened, newspaper VG reports.
"This is a lack of decency from Norwegian politicians," Didrik Coucheron of the BFO (Officers Organization).
On the BFO's web site there is a presentation of e-mails received from Norwegian soldiers serving in Iraq, and the group concludes that their reality has very little in common with how the situation is being presented.
"The mission in Iraq is not a humanitarian one, here war continues, no matter what some politicians have said about the war being over," one soldier wrote.
Other reports express bafflement about the expression "humanitarian mission", describe battle conditions and explain that their Rules of Engagement include combat if threatened.
The BFO report questions media and political reports that cover the Norwegian military effort in Iraq as an important and humanitarian mission, voicing concerns that information is being covered up to avoid the embarrassing admission that the country is once again involved in a war.
"Anyone can see that a uniformed soldier with a helmet, shrapnel vest and an AG3 across his stomach is a soldier and not a humanitarian construction worker," Coucheron told VG's web site.
Coucheron now wants Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik to publicly admit that Norwegian forces in Iraq are at war, in line with the PM's admission earlier this year that he should have called their Kosovo effort a war.
Norway's soldiers in Iraq do not earn a basic risk bonus of NOK 3,000 () a month - as their colleagues in Afghanistan do - since their mission is defined as humanitarian.
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article.jhtml?articleID=678337
