The government is aiming to pull the vast majority of British troops out of Iraq by the middle of next year, defence sources have revealed. While there are no plans to withdraw before George W Bush hands over to the new American president at the turn of the year, the decision is now expected to be made “in the first half of 2009”.| That's fine, southern Iraq is doing better and as long as Maliki can stay tough the Brits should be able to go. Perhaps they'll move some troops to Afghanistan. |
In an indication of BritainÂ’s keenness to withdraw, Des Browne, the defence secretary, emphasised last week that Iraqi troops were better able to keep southern Iraq peaceful than British soldiers.
| That turns out to be true ... |
His comments followed the leaking of an army report that criticises the Treasury for fuelling unrest in southern Iraq by failing to fund reconstruction quickly enough. The paper, written in 2006 and overseen by Lieutenant-General Bill Rollo, now deputy coalition commander, said “too few resources, both human and financial, were allocated”.