Author Topic: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit  (Read 5424 times)

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Henny

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Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« on: February 21, 2007, 11:59:08 AM »
21/02/2007
LONDON, (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair will on Wednesday announce a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq just as thousands of additional U.S. troops are arriving there to try to restore order in Baghdad.

Blair, whose popularity at home has suffered greatly because of his participation in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, will make his announcement on the troop pullout to parliament in the afternoon, a government source said. He said Blair would say Britain's 7,100-strong Iraq force would fall to 5,500 by the end of the year. The Defence Ministry was expected to flesh out the details on Thursday.

Media reports said the first British troops could leave Iraq around the middle of this year. Sky News television said the government wanted to have all troops out of Iraq by May 2008.

Denmark was also expected to announce plans to cut its Iraq troop commitment on Wednesday but Australia ruled out bringing its soldiers home for now.

U.S. President George W. Bush has ordered a "surge" of 21,500 extra troops to Iraq where U.S. forces now number more than 140,000. Vice President Dick Cheney said the United States wanted to finish its mission in Iraq and "return with honour".

Blair, who is due to step down later this year, was expected to say the British withdrawal reflected its success in southern Iraq, where command of the main Iraqi army unit in Basra was handed over to Iraqis on Tuesday.

Since the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, British troops have been responsible for Iraq's southernmost four provinces, which are mainly Shi'ite and have been quieter than mixed or mainly Sunni areas patrolled by Americans.

Bush, who spoke to Blair on Tuesday, was upbeat about the British plans and hoped U.S. forces could follow suit when conditions allowed, the White House 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," Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said.

Cheney, on a visit to Japan, said Washington would not back "a policy of retreat" despite growing calls at home for a pullout from Iraq, where more than 3,000 U.S. and over 100 British soldiers have been killed. "We know that if we leave Iraq before the mission is completed, the enemy is going to come after us. And I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat," Cheney said. "We want to complete the mission, we want to get it done right, and we want to return with honour," he said aboard USS Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier at Yokosuka Navy Base near Tokyo.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen will announce plans to start drawing down Denmark's roughly 470 troops in Iraq on Wednesday, the Danish news agency Ritzau said. But Prime Minister John Howard ruled out reducing Australia's 1,400-strong force in and around Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has called the U.S.-backed security crackdown in Baghdad which started last week a "brilliant success", but a spate of car bombs that have killed scores has tempered early optimism.

A car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint near a busy market in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf on Wednesday, killing 11 people, a doctor at a local hospital said.

Blair said on Sunday that Britain would cut its force once Iraqis were responsible for security in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city and key centre for oil exports.

The British handed over security responsibility for two of their four provinces to Iraqis last year and abandoned their main base in a third.

Lanya

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2007, 05:18:16 PM »
I don't think it's a coincidence that just recently, Prince Harry (I think) was in the news, he's going to Basra as a part of his unit.
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sirs

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2007, 06:04:44 PM »
I thought they annoucned this a couple of days ago.  Apparently things are moving along well, that Britain can start moving more of their forces out.  That's a good thing, right Lanya?
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Amianthus

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2007, 06:19:14 PM »
I don't think it's a coincidence that just recently, Prince Harry (I think) was in the news, he's going to Basra as a part of his unit.

The British don't seem to have a problem with the Royals serving in war zones. Prince Andrew served during the Falklands War aboard HMS Invincible, one of the ships in the task force that liberated the islands.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2007, 08:16:31 PM »
I thought they annoucned this a couple of days ago.  Apparently things are moving along well, that Britain can start moving more of their forces out.  That's a good thing, right Lanya?

Yeah right- Just as the Bushidiot is surging, Tony the poodle is unsurging. You really are a pathetic joke in your innocent stupidity.

sirs

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2007, 10:37:50 PM »
That's strange, I wasn't aware that British troops were predominantly located in Bagdhad.  Oh wait....they're not.  I realize this is an impossible task knute, but try to think before you post
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

BT

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2007, 10:57:45 PM »
I'm pretty sure Knute's posts are non-binding.

sirs

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2007, 11:17:08 PM »
I'm pretty sure Knute's posts are non-binding.

"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Lanya

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #8 on: February 22, 2007, 12:04:23 AM »
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=166&id=262682007

The British are leaving because the war is not supported any more by the people.  The  White House is spinning it as 'their job is done, all is well' but I don't buy it.
 Tony Blair name is mud at home.  Italy's prime minister may be stepping down.  I think we may find it very hard to get allies when we really, really need them (like for N. Korea).  This has been a very ruinous decision, going into Iraq, and we may feel the effects for many years.
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hnumpah

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #9 on: February 22, 2007, 12:07:20 AM »
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Plane

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #10 on: February 22, 2007, 12:13:53 AM »
http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=166&id=262682007

The British are leaving because the war is not supported any more by the people.  The  White House is spinning it as 'their job is done, all is well' but I don't buy it.
 Tony Blair name is mud at home.  Italy's prime minister may be stepping down.  I think we may find it very hard to get allies when we really, really need them (like for N. Korea).  This has been a very ruinous decision, going into Iraq, and we may feel the effects for many years.


So we might should have won it , then the reprecussions would not be so bad.

Or maybe it isn't over?

sirs

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #11 on: February 22, 2007, 12:19:03 AM »
The  White House is spinning it as 'their job is done, all is well' but I don't buy it... Tony Blair name is mud at home

Of course you don't.....you can't in fact.  Bush is that bad, the Iraq war is that wrong.  They have to be leaving because it's an utter failure, it just can't be because they no longer need so many British Troops...because that would mean *gasp* the war is going better now, and we sure as hell can't have that      :-\     News Flash Lanya....the British people haven't supported the war since the get go, if you hadn't noticed
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle

Plane

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #12 on: February 22, 2007, 01:12:06 AM »
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070222/wl_nm/australia_afghan_dc

Australia withdrew its special forces commandos from Afghanistan last September, but The Australian newspaper said Australia would send about 250 special forces troops back to Afghanistan, as well as extra helicopter support.

Nelson said while Australia had not yet made a formal decision to deploy extra troops to Afghanistan, he had discussed the issue with the Netherlands, British and U.S. governments and Australians should not be surprised if extra troops were sent.

Amianthus

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #13 on: February 22, 2007, 01:25:06 PM »
I don't think it's a coincidence that just recently, Prince Harry (I think) was in the news, he's going to Basra as a part of his unit.

Also, it's my understanding that Prince Harry is still being deployed to Iraq. The partial troop pullout has not changed the Prince's current deployment.
Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen. Keep in the sunlight. (Benjamin Franklin)

sirs

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Re: Britain to announce start of Iraq troop exit
« Reply #14 on: February 22, 2007, 01:29:06 PM »
Also, it's my understanding that Prince Harry is still being deployed to Iraq. The partial troop pullout has not changed the Prince's current deployment.

Nor has Blair's comments changed that the reason for his pulling troops out of the region is the successes they've (Coalition forces) been having, and in acknowledging the the new majority Shiite rule

But that can't be the reason.  It just can't be
"The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal." -- Aristotle