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TBILISI, January 30 (Itar-Tass) - In February, Georgia will send 550 Georgian servicemen to Iraq who will take part in peace-keeping operations there. The additional contingent will join 300 servicemen from Georgia who have been deployed in Iraq since last November, a representative of the Georgian Defense Ministry told Tass. The additional contingent will be airlifted to Iraq by planes of the US Air Force.

TBILISI (AFP) - Three hundred Georgian troops left for Iraq (news - web sites), nearly doubling the former Soviet republic's contingent there, as Tbilisi said it would soon dispatch another 500 soldiers. The 300 men left by plane from a military base in Georgia for Kuwait for deployment in Iraq, where they will replace the 157 Georgian soldiers now serving in the US-led coalition force. The two units from a batallion trained by US instructors are to undergo two weeks' more preparation at a US military base in Kuwait before starting a six-month mission in Baquba, 70 kilometres (44 miles)...

TBILISI, Georgia - President Mikhail Saakashvili said Friday that Georgia will increase its troop contribution to the U.S.-led mission in Iraq (news - web sites), linking the move to President Bush's re-election. Saakashvili made the announcement in a televised address but did not say how many extra troops would be deployed. Georgia said earlier this week that some 300 troops will join 150 in Iraq now, but it wasn't clear if Saakashvili was referring to these or additional troops. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on Thursday said that Georgia was increasing its troop strength in Iraq to 850. However,...