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UK to start withdrawing from Iraq by summer 2008
Britain plans to pull out nearly all its soldiers from Iraq by the summer of 2008, with the first withdrawals within weeks, a top military commander said in an interview on Tuesday.Lieutenant General Nick Houghton, Britain's most senior officer in Iraq, outlined a phased two-year withdrawal plan in an interview with the Daily Telegraph newspaper. "There is a fine line between staying too long and leaving too soon," he was quoted as saying. "A military transition over two years has a reasonable chance of avoiding the pitfalls of overstaying our welcome but gives us the best opportunity of consolidating the Iraqi security forces." Britain has given no firm timetable for the withdrawal of its 8,000 troops in Iraq, based in and around the southern port of Basra. Last Sunday, the U.S. military in Iraq said media reports that America and Britain planned to pull out all their troops by the spring of 2007 were "completely false" and reiterated there was no timetable for withdrawal. Two British newspapers reported in their Sunday editions the pull-out plan followed an acceptance by the two governments that the presence of foreign troops in Iraq was now a large obstacle to securing peace. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been under pressure to give more details of a pullout. Many Britons opposed their deployment to join the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003. Relations with Iraqi officials and people have soured. Houghton said a gradual withdrawal needed to begin soon to make it clear to the Iraqi people that British troops had no intention of staying forever. He said the timeline would work only if Iraqi politicians elected in the December general election formed a national unity government and sectarian tensions did not worsen. He said the proposals had been agreed with U.S. military chiefs, but were not set in stone. "It is reversible to an extent as there will be residual coalition forces present who can maintain a very low profile," he said. "There may be a need to go back in somewhere." British commanders have said the area they patrol has become more dangerous over the past 8-9 months as guerrillas develope deadlier forms of roadside bombs. Last month, two British soldiers were killed in an attack on a patrol in Amara, 360 km (230 miles) southeast of Baghdad. It took the British death toll in Iraq to more than 100. Houghton repeated the long-held position in Washington and London that his forces would only leave once security can be handed over to Iraqi forces. A Ministry of Defence spokesman in London said it was aware of the interview, but stressed no timetable had been finalised. "The general was commenting on recent speculation on the timing of handover," he said. "The key point is that no decisions on timing or future force levels have been taken." Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-03-07 |
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