Reports: UK to begin withdrawing Iraq troops

[sa_butta]

LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce Wednesday a timetable for withdrawing hundreds of British troops from Iraq in the next few weeks, the British Broadcasting Corporation reports.

The BBC and The Sun newspaper said Blair will make the announcement in the House of Commons.

The Sun reported that 1,500 soldiers will be back in Britain within weeks and that 3,000 of Britain's contingent of 7,000 will be back by the end of the year.

"Control of the south of the country, unaffected by the civil war raging around Baghdad, will be handed back to the Iraqis," The Sun said.

CNN is working to confirm.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/02/20/uk.iraq.troops/index.html

[Oh, Gee!!]

more spin from the left

[ChumpDumper]

Blair to announce Iraq withdrawal plan

By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 10 minutes ago

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce on Wednesday a new timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, with 1,500 to return home in several weeks, the BBC reported.

Blair will also tell the House of Commons during his regular weekly appearance that a total of about 3,000 British soldiers will have left southern Iraq by the end of 2007, if the security there is sufficient, the British Broadcasting Corp. said, quoting government officials who weren't further identified.

The announcement comes even as
President Bush implements an increase of 21,000 more troops for Iraq.

But Blair said Sunday that Washington had not put pressure on London to maintain its troop numbers. The BBC said Blair was not expected to say when the rest of Britain's forces would leave Iraq. Britain currently has about 7,100 soldiers there.

Blair's Downing Street office refused to comment on the BBC report.

Blair and Bush talked by secure video link Tuesday morning, and Bush said Britain's troop cutbacks were "a sign of success" in Iraq.

"The president is grateful for the support of the British Forces in the past and into the future," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Washington. "While the United Kingdom is maintaining a robust force in southern Iraq, we're pleased that conditions in Basra have improved sufficiently that they are able to transition more control to the Iraqis.

"The United States shares the same goal of turning responsibility over to the Iraqi Security Forces and reducing the number of American troops in Iraq," Johndroe said. "President Bush sees this as a sign of success and what is possible for us once we help the Iraqis deal with the sectarian violence in Baghdad."

"We want to bring our troops homes as well," Johndroe said. "It's the model we want to emulate, to turn over more responsibilities to Iraqis and bring our troops home. That's the goal and always has been."

Blair said last month that he would report to lawmakers on his future strategy in Iraq following the completion of Operation Sinbad, a joint British and Iraqi mission targeting police corruption and militia influence in the southern city of Basra....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070220/ap_on_re_eu/britain_iraq

[clambake]

The Coalition of the Leaving.

[Yonivore]

Maybe they see something you idiots don't.

That we're winning and the end is drawing nigh'

[ChumpDumper]

Me too. Funny how things are going so well we had to send in another 20,000 combat troops.

[Yonivore]

i hope so
Me too.

Here, for another optimistic report, go here (http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/02/degrees-of-freedom.html).

Something's afoot in Iraq...and, I don't think it's defeat.

[Yonivore]

Me too. Funny how things are going so well we had to send in another 20,000 combat troops.
Funny how that seems to have turned things around.

[ChumpDumper]

Funny how that seems to have turned things around.:lol I hope you're right, but you have never admitted to one mistake ever being made in Iraq the past four years. Your record speaks for itself.

[ponky]

Me too.

Here, for another optimistic report, go here (http://fallbackbelmont.blogspot.com/2007/02/degrees-of-freedom.html).

Something's afoot in Iraq...and, I don't think it's defeat.

uh, a blog? this is your report from iraq, a freakin' blog?!?!?!

[Jelly]

7 whole thousand troops..wow..what an ally

That's fewer troops than we have stationed at Leakenheath (sp?), an Air Force base in England.

[boutons_]

http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/printer_friendly/news_logo.gif

Assessing Blair's Iraq troop plan

Analysis

By Nick Assinder
Political correspondent, BBC News website

Tony Blair's long-awaited announcement on troop withdrawals from Iraq may inject a note of optimism into the biggest "legacy issue" hanging over his looming retirement.

But, even as it was being welcomed by many, there were claims it was either too little too late or, alternatively, too much too soon.

The prime minister has certainly been eager to see some good news out of Iraq in the run up to his departure, so he will have to dismiss suspicions it was being motivated by domestic political considerations.

( Blair's "I'm a US lap-doggy" legacy is even more fucked than dubya's and dickhead's )

As he stressed in the Commons, it was always planned that the announcement would come in the wake of the completion of Operation Sinbad, which was designed to hand over frontline security in Basra to Iraqi forces.


Turn the tide

The beginning of the draw-down is believed to be some time in May, although Mr Blair refused to be too specific, coinciding with the expected announcement from the prime minister of a timetable for his departure from Downing Street.

The details set out by the prime minister in the Commons - of a cut from 7,100 to 5,000 by the end of summer with further cuts by the end of the year if all goes well - will be studied closely.

It has been suggested, for example, that the withdrawal process has actually been slowed after pressure from President Bush as he mounts his own policy of sending a "surge" of troops into Baghdad in an attempt to turn the tide in that part of the country.

It is always pointed out that conditions in Basra and Baghdad are entirely different and that, as senior military chiefs have previously suggested, the removal of British troops in the south may improve the situation further by removing a possible provocation.

Mr Blair appeared to agree with that point in a BBC interview on Sunday when he said he did not want British troops "to get in the way" of progress in Basra.

Intensify attacks

The question being asked is whether this is the beginning of the end of UK military involvement in Iraq - something that is already being used by President Bush's opponents to demand a similar move from him.

If it is the beginning of the end, is it a withdrawal in the wake of success or is it, in effect, retreat in the face of an impossible situation?

Military experts have pointed out the dangers of any withdrawal as insurgents intensify attacks in an attempt to suggest they have got British troops on the run.

There are still questions as well, raised most recently by Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell, that the US troops surge in the north lead to a displacement of violence into the south.

( we've already seen new attacks on US troops outside of Bagadad during The Surge Within Bagdad )

The plan is for a considerable number of British troops to withdraw to a base outside Basra where they will be available to support the Iraqi forces as necessary.

But any decision to send them back into the city in response to an increase in violence could prove disastrous for the prime minister.

Many, like former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown, believe this points to only one conclusion. That, for good or ill, this is the beginning of the end of UK forces' involvement in Iraq.

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6381703.stm

Published: 2007/02/21 13:48:06 GMT

© BBC MMVII

[boutons_]

"That we're winning and the end is drawing nigh'"

dubya hisself said "we're not winning, we're not losing".

dubya has fucked up too many ways (starting with getting elected) for too long to salvage his legacy, which is his primary concern now, not US lives, not the war on terr.

The end is drawing nigh, the dubya's Iraq military/geo-political fiasco will become official history, immune to spin from dubya-suckers.

[Yonivore]

uh, a blog? this is your report from iraq, a freakin' blog?!?!?!
Better than a freakin' forum.

[ChumpDumper]

You've been saying the end is drawing nigh for four years. Our skepticism is warranted..

[DarkReign]

Sooooo, obviously the next prime minister election in the UK will be solely based won or lost on who is less of an American lapdog...

Where does that leave us? Seriously. The time when the Uk always had our back is drawing nigh, not just in Iraq.

[PixelPusher]

So Blair can implement a timetable for withdraw, and instead of the "emboldening the enemy" padlum that normally comes from the right wing noise machine, he gets kudos from the White House. That's a neat trick.

[boutons_]

"he gets kudos from the White House. "

where did you see that? the BBC article said "there was talk" the UK withdrawal was getting pressure from the WH NOT to withdraw.

Blair also wants to leaves office with some UK progress in Iraq so he can salvage his own legacy. The UK people were majorly against UK involvement before the invasion, and now are overwhelmingly against the cock-up and Blair.

[Oh, Gee!!]

we'd be withdrawing as well if Bush had a son fixing to go to Iraq.

[boutons_]

And now Denmark withdraws from Iraq.

I'm sure they figure it's lost, was a lost cause from the beginning, they know the Iraqis will NOT "stand up" in southern Iraq.

Nice of the Danes to go help out a bit more in Afghanistan.

==============



Denmark to Withdraw From Iraq
The Associated Press

Wednesday 21 February 2007

Copenhagen, Denmark - Denmark is considering boosting its contingent in Afghanistan by 200 troops to 600, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Wednesday.

Earlier, the government presented plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. Fogh Rasmussen said no firm decision had been taken on the Danish troops serving under NATO command in Afghanistan, "but we cannot exclude that we will go from the present 400 to 600."

The prime minister said Wednesday that his country will withdraw its 460-member contingent from southern Iraq by August and transfer security responsibilities to Iraqi forces, and that the decision had been made in conjunction with the Iraqi government and Britain, under whose command the Danish forces are serving near Basra.

Fogh Rasmussen said Denmark would replace the troops with surveillance helicopters and civilian advisers to help the Iraqi government's reconstruction efforts.

"The Danish battalion will be brought home by August," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen. "We expect that the Iraqis during 2007 will take over security in southern Iraq."

Denmark would also boost training of Iraqi soldiers and increase support to Iraqi refugees in nearby countries, the prime minister said.

Fogh Rasmussen had earlier said he hoped Denmark would be able to start scaling back its Iraq troops this year, without setting a precise timetable.

The Danish announcement Wednesday came as British Prime Minister Tony Blair said his country would withdraw about 1,600 troops in coming months if local forces can secure the southern part of the country.

Six Danish soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

[ChumpDumper]

Mongolia has no plans to withdraw!

[clambake]

From the AP: "Upon hearing of UK troop withdrawal, Luxembourg pledges to send a fruit basket".