THE deaths and injuries of Bulgarian troops in the Iraqi city of Kerbala have raised many questions and sparked controversy across Bulgarian society.

Did the members of the Bulgarian Government react adequately after the news broke of the fatal attack?

Were the Bulgarian servicemen in Kerbala adequately prepared for such an attack?

Was it right to let Bulgarian soldiers die for another country's cause and not for Bulgaria? Whose cause was it at all?

Just days before the scheduled departure of a second battalion to relieve the first deployed in Kerbala, more than 40 soldiers requested that they be withdrawn from the deployment.

At a meeting on Tuesday, with Defence Minister Nikolai Svinarov and armed forces chief General Nikola Kolev, the soldiers asked for an increase of their daily duty pay to $100. Svinarov agreed.

He said that the replacement battalion would be deployed and would perform their duties in Kerbala even with 40 or 50 fewer troops.

The second battalion includes 490 servicemen. A sub-unit will then include not 10, but eight or nine soldiers, Svinarov said. At present, the Bulgarian privates in Kerbala receive between $63, for privates, up to $68, for colonels. A further increase in duty pay may be decided only after talks with President Georgi Purvanov.

Svinarov was also addressed with requests for the provision of technical equipment.

The special operations forces unit has suggested that the structure of the contingent should also undergo certain changes.

According to the commander of the battalion, Nasko Lyutskanov, there will be no differences in the tasks assigned to the first and the second battalion. He also said the soldiers had good command of English, and this deployment will include several servicemen able to speak Arabic.

The Bulgarian military contingent in Iraq is scheduled to withdraw before 2006, the year in which the coalition forces are supposed to leave Iraq, according to British military expert Paul Beaver, cited by the BBC. Beaver also said that the Polish commanders should realise the significance of a good co-ordination with the other troops in the region under Polish command.

The role of the Polish command in coming to the assistance of the Bulgarians during the attack was the subject of considerable public discussion in the past two weeks.

Former deputy defence minister and father of current commander of the Bulgarian contingent in Iraq, Ilia Marinov, caused an outburst of reaction by hinting that there might have been a "deal" between the Polish command and the Iraqi sheikhs. As a result of this alleged secret agreement, the Bulgarian camp suffered a severe loss, while the Polish military base was almost unscathed.

The Ministry of Defence and the President distanced themselves from Marinov's allegation after the Polish defence ministry and Polish president Alexander Kwashnevksi rejected the allegations.

"We appreciate Bulgaria's participation highly. I know the joint work between the Polish command and the Bulgarian contingent has been proceeding very well. In my opinion, any attempts to further fan up this issue and work 'someone up against someone' within the division is simply a mistake," Kwashnevski said.

In a telephone conversation, Purvanov told his Polish counterpart that the good partnership between the contingents of the two countries in Kerbala, as well as between their commands, had been very successful.

Purvanov also raised the issue of boosting the presence of coalition forces in support of the Bulgarian contingent in Kerbala before power is handed over to civilian authorities in Iraq. Purvanov reiterated Bulgria's resolve to honour the country's commitments in Iraq.

On December 30, Svinarov ordered the setting up of a committee to investigate exactly what happened in Kerbala. The report is to be ready in a week.

There was also reaction from former prime minister Ivan Kostov, now an opposition MP, as well.

"The Bulgarian army cannot give up on its commitments in Iraq, because this would mean an invitation to the terrorists to Bulgaria," Kostov said in an interview with bTV. He said political responsibility should be accepted at top government level.

"The servicemen who are leaving for Iraq should be fully informed as to their future assignments in Iraq," Kostov said. In his opinion, had their successors been effectively prepared, the incident might have been avoided.

"The Bulgarian army has not completed the process of reform and has been assigned a complex task - to lead an anti-terror war and aid in the reconstruction of Iraq."

Kostov said the Bulgarian army was not prepared for such activities and this was why the period between December 27, the date of the attack, up till January 15, the rotation of the contingent, should have been declared a crisis period. The Cabinet security council should have been more active during the crisis period, Kostov said. He said that during the 1999 crisis in Kosovo, the council had met daily.

Kostov said that Bulgarian troops would have done a much more efficient job in the missions in Kosovo and Bosnia because they knew the mentality and language of the neighbouring people. The participation of Bulgarian troops in multinational missions is a good way for the military to accumulate practical experience, but missions in neighbouring locations would be a better option, Kostov said.