OTTAWA — Two opposition politicians think a Canadian general should be barred from serving on an exchange with an American military unit in Iraq -- but for different reasons.

The officer in question is Brig.-Gen. Walt Natynczyk. He is a deputy commander of the American III Corps based in Fort Hood, Texas. The corps headquarters is to go to Iraq in January to take overall command of American and coalition forces in that country.

Natynczyk said he has been cleared to go by his superiors in Ottawa, but NDP leader Jack Layton said that's a bad decision.

"When Paul Martin makes his first call to George Bush, he must tell him that Canadian soldiers won't be playing a lead role in the fiasco in Iraq," Layton said in a statement.

"Bush's war on Iraq was waged under false pretenses without any grounding in international law, and Canadian involvement in its aftermath is simply unacceptable."

The NDP leader said there is no room for ambiguity in this situation: "Martin will either heed Canadian and global opinion and keep Canada out of Iraq, or condone a war that was wrong from day one.''

He said Martin, who is to take office Dec. 12, has yet to render a judgment on the war.

"I think for many Canadians, Martin's thoughts on this war will be valuable insight into his world view."

A number of Canadian officers took part in the fighting in Iraq last spring while serving in exchange jobs with both the British and American forces, although few details were ever released about their roles.

Meanwhile, Canadian Alliance leader Harper said he'd prefer to see the Chretien government fully support the Allies' efforts in Iraq and leave the military commander there.

But if the government won't do that, Natynczyk should be withdrawn, he said.
Harper said it seems totally inappropriate to have somebody commanding a significant operation in Iraq if Canada is not officially part of it.