Mongolians Return to Baghdad, This Time as Peacekeepers

[Gman]

<snip>
By JAMES BROOKE

Published: September 25, 2003

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."
</snip>

The institutional memory of the Middle East is extremely long. Of all the stupid things. IMHO, this adds more insult to injury to the Iraqi people. Not only are they experiencing the new "Crusades" (for oil), the Mongols are back.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/25/international/middleeast/25MONG.html?tntemail1

[Paschall]

1. For the record

It would be interesting to have more information on Steven R. Sanders, since he is quoted in this article.

<snip> 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. </snip>

Anybody got these books handy to check them for info on Saunders? It looks like a very interesting list. :-)
http://www.namebase.org/main4/Steven-R-Saunders.html

<snip> At the training ground for the peacekeeping unit, the rear window of a Soviet-made jeep carried two fresh stickers in red and gold: "Semper Fi" and "USMC," souvenirs from 50 United States marines who left last week after leading a training exercise. ...

"We are squeezed between two superpowers, so having an army is not enough," Prime Minister Enkhbayar said in English honed at the London School of Economics and Americanized in trips to Washington. "We have to secure our sovereignty and independence through diplomatic measures, economic measures, international organizations."

Two weeks ago, as the last Mongolian soldiers arrived in Iraq, Mongolia, whose trade with the United States was only $180 million last year, formally proposed to Washington a free trade pact.

"Negotiations could be concluded in one weekend," Mr. Saunders said over a pineapple pizza lunch at the California Restaurant, one of the latest American cultural imitations here {Ulan Bator, Mongolia). </snip>

The DOJ lists Saunders as having provided the Japanese company Seiko Epson Corporation with information on US trade policy in 2000; but I can't find any more recent information.

And anyone know anything about the US ambassador to Mongolia, Pamela J. H. Slutz?

[SoCalDem]

2. And anyone know anything about the US ambassador to Mongolia,

All I "know" about her.. She was teased mercilessly about her horrible last name????:shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

3. A small profile

The new US Ambassador to Mongolia

The new US Ambassador to Mongolia was appointed. The Honorable Pamela Slutz will be sworn in on July 18, 2003, at the US State Department. She is expected to take up her duties in Ulaanbaatar in August, replacing Ambassador John Dinger.

Pamela J.H. Slutz of Texas was nominated by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate to be Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to the Republic of Mongolia earlier this year. A career member of the Senior Foreign Service, she has served as Deputy Director of the American Institute in Taiwan since September 2001. Prior to that assignment, she was a Political Officer in Jakarta. Previously, she served as Director of the Office of Regional Security Policy for the Bureau of East Asian Affairs and as Deputy Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs. Earlier in her career, she worked as Political Officer in Shanghai and Kinshasa. Ms. Slutz is a graduate of Hollins College (VA) and earned her master's degree from the University of Hawaii. Her husband, Mr. Ron Deutch, is a retired career Foreign Service officer who previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the American Embassy in Ulaanbaatar.

http://www.asuult.net/nemesis/mongolian_judiciary/newsusambassador.htm


More info. in a press release written in 2001:

September 10, 2001

PAMELA J. H. SLUTZ TAKES OFFICE AS DEPUTY DIRECTOR
AMERICAN INSTITUTE IN TAIWAN

Pamela J. Slutz assumed office as Deputy Director of the American Institute in Taiwan on September 10, 2001.

Before joining the American Institute in Taiwan, Ms. Slutz was a career Foreign Service Officer. She joined the Foreign Service in 1981 and served abroad in Zaire (1982-1984), Indonesia (1984-1987 and 1999-2001), Geneva (as a member of the U.S. Delegation to the Nuclear and Space Talks with the Soviet Union, 1987-1989), and China (1990-1994). Her assignments in the Department of State included stints in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs: the Office of Korean Affairs (1981-1982), Deputy Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs (1995-1997), and Director of the Office of Regional Security Policy and Planning (1997-1999).

Ms. Slutz earned her B.A. in Politics from Hollins College (1970) and her M.A. in Asian Studies/Political Science from the University of Hawaii (1972) where she was an East-West Center Fellow. She speaks French, Indonesian and Mandarin. Ms. Slutz is married to Ronald J. Deutch, a career Foreign Service Officer currently serving a six-month assignment with the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee.

http://www.ait.org.tw/ait/PR/2001/pr0128e.htm

[Paschall]

6. Very interesting and very curious

She's returned as ambassador to the city where her husband served as deputy chief of mission. Sounds like it might be interesting to know more about Ron Deutch, too.

(Ulan Bator and Ulaanbataar are different transliterations for the name of the Mongolian capital.)

(Why am I so suspicious of every move this administration takes, I wonder?)

[blairs]

4. Re: "Mongolians Return to Baghdad, This Time as Peacekeepers"

I don't think your last paragraph is very fair. If that were the case, we wouldn't be able to trust Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Icelanders etc., as former Viking marauders.

The Mongolians of today are not the Mongols of yesteryear and I'm pretty confident the Iraqis know that. What's more, IIRC, most Mongolians are Muslim, at least nominally.

[Paschall]

5. Uh, not quite

96 percent of Mongols are followers of Tibetan Buddhist Lamaism, at least according to the CIA.

It's a widely recognized fact that the British presence in Iraq is problematic precisely because they were the last western nation to have occupied the country. They have not been cantoned in southern Iraq--one of the region's most hostile to Saddam--just out of courtesy to Mr. Blair. Vikings notwithstanding.

[blairs]

7. Re: "Uh, not quite"

Yup, after I wrote that I had a sick feeling. Oh well, happy to be corrected. Thanks.

Still, the U.K. was involved in Iraq THIS century. The same cannot be said for the Mongols, who have not been there for SIX centuries.

Besides, the problem with the U.K. may be due to the fact that they are NOW occupying the country.

[Paschall]

8. Granted

Time certainly heals some wounds. But humans have a funny way of "remembering" things sometimes. Do you know on the northeastern coast of England people still use a dialect understood by Norwegians, descendants of the Vikings who once pillaged that coastline?

I don't know how good the collective memory of Iraqis might be. But I suspect it's rather vast. Six centuries is not so long ago when the country's history goes back directly to the very birth of civilization. The Tigris and the Euphrates and all that.

[blairs]

11. Re: Granted

Indeed, I was aware of the dialect thingie. Even more interesting is the fact that the "founders" of small some communities in the north-west of England are easily identified by the toponymy, as well as by the dialect, meaning that villages founded by Danes and those founded by Norwegians will have different dialects.

My dad was from Scotland. He used words for everyday items that Norwegians (and, one assumes, many of the Norsemen) would have used. "Bairn" and "barn" ("child," in Scots and Norwegian, respectively) "kirk" and "kirk" (church.) The Western Isles and the Shetlands of Scotland also features places named Uigg and names like Ranald, with obviously Norse links.

One of the best studies I ever saw of this was "The Story of English" on PBS years ago, partly written, and presented by Robert MacNeil of the MacNeil/Lehrer report. I heartily recommend the book.

On the Mongolians, all I can say with certainty is that my wife was in Ulan Bator last year for work, and she maintains that the Mongolians are some of the nicest people one could ever hope to meet. I hope that works in the favour in Iraq.

[Gman]

9. I posted this because it struck a chord with me

about Bush's ignorant use of the word "crusade" and the backlash that it caused. It's my understanding that there is a very, very long institutional memory in the Middle East that often keeps alive grudges that go back literally thousands of years. I saw this as just another insensitive blunder by the Bushies.

[newyawker99]

10. Hi blairs!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast: