U.K. To Start Iraq Withdrawal

(CBS/AP)  Britain, America's most important ally in Iraq, will withdraw close to half its troops by the end of the year if local troops are able to secure the southern part of the country, Prime Minister Tony Blair announced Wednesday.

Blair, in a televised address from the floor of the parliament, said the security situation in Basra, the southern city where most British troops are based, is "very different from Baghdad", and that 1,600 troops based there could come home in the "coming months".

More than a quarter of the 7,100 troops now in Basra and southern Iraq — 2,100 — could be home by the end of the summer, reports CBS News correspondent Richard Roth.

The prime minister did not say when the remaining British troops might return from service in Iraq, but Roth reports government sources say they hope all the troops will have left by the end of next year.

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Jon Alterman, the director of the Center for Strategic and International Studies Middle East Program, discusses the possible consequences of the British withdrawal from Iraq.

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"The actual reduction in forces will be from the present 7,100 itself down from over 9,000 two years ago and 40,000 at the time of the conflict to roughly 5,500," Blair told the House of Commons.

Blair held Basra up as an example of how the handover of security duties to Iraqi forces should be carried out, touting it as a success to emulated in Baghdad.

He said there is little violence between Sunnis and Shiites in the Basra area now, and that most attacks are directed at British forces, offering what he deemed as further evidence that the situation would improve if the soldiers came home.

He told lawmakers that "increasingly our role will be support and training, and our numbers will be able to reduce accordingly."

Blair said Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki had agreed to the plan.

But the south of Iraq has turned into a battleground for rival Shiite militias, reports CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan, despite the presence of British troops.

Well-armed militiamen, like fighters from the powerful Mehdi army, compete for control of the oil-rich land. It is these militias — and no longer British troops — that are the law in the area.

Dependent on Iraqi capability, Britain would draw down further, "possibly to below 5,000," once a base at Basra Palace is transferred to Iraqi control in late summer, Blair said.

"What all of this means is not that Basra is how we want it to be, but it does mean that the next chapter in Basra's history can be written by Iraqis," Blair said.

The announcement comes as President Bush implements an increase of 21,000 more troops for Iraq, but while some of the other coalition partners are pulling out.

Almost as if taking a cue from Britain, Denmark's 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.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the decision had been made in conjunction with the Iraqi government and Britain, under whose command the Danish forces are serving near Basra.

Also Wednesday, a Lithuanian government spokeswoman said her country was "seriously considering" withdrawing its 53 troops from Iraq.

Defense Ministry spokeswoman Ruta Apeitkyte told The Associated Press that the Baltic country was considering not replacing the contingent when its mission ends in August.

The Italians and Slovaks have already left, and the South Koreans want to start withdrawing their force too.

The Bush administration said Wednesday that Britain's decision is a positive sign that fits with the overall strategy for stabilizing the country.

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[lars008-2009]

you are correct Gaye5

RIDICULOUSLY BACKWARD BARBARIC SCUM!!!
HOW MUSLIMS TREAT MODERATES
http://masada2000.org/kill-collaborator.mpeg

RUSSIAN PRISONER OF WAR
http://www.dafka.org/ContentFiles/videos/m-mpg.asx

HOW MUSLIMS TREAT RUSSIAN CIVILIANS
http://masada2000.org/Execution%20-Russian.asf

HOW MUSLIMS TREAT ORIENTALS
http://masada2000.org/shosei-koda-beheading-video.wmv

HOW MUSLIMS TREAT EUROPEANS
http://www.abrahamic-faith.com/audio/eugene-armstrong-beheading-video.wmv

HOW MUSLIMS TREAT YOUNG GIRLS
Search Three Indonesian Girls Beheaded
http://www.ogrish.com/archives/three_indonesian_girls_beheaded_images_Oct_30_200 5.html

How Muslims Treat Farm Animals
http://muzzybeastiality.org

http://masada2000.org/impalement.asx

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Terrorism&loid=8.0.241172591&par=0

http://www.faithfreedom.org/Gallery/8.htm

Iran to Stone 13 Year Old Incest Victim
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/008354.html
http://www.wfafi.org/wfafistatement12.htm
http://www.zhilaa.com/english.htm
VIDEO!!!!
http://www.apostatesofislam.com/media/stoning.htm

[patriotic9]

blainem9
Do you think it is justified for any other country to invade or bomb United States for the liberation of those young innocent American boys who have been SEXUALLY MOLESTED and SODOMIZED by the American HOMOSEXUAL PEDOPHILE PREISTS in the American churches.

[lars008-2009]

let the riots begin......

The float carried two identical cartoon-style papier-mache figures, each wearing a suicide-bomber's belt and carrying a dagger and a pistol. The first was labelled 'the cliche,' the second was labelled 'the reality.'

Both scowling figures were labelled 'mullahs,' a term used to describe both Shiite and Sunni clergy. The float was part of a carnival parade watched by more than half a million people in the western city of Dusseldorf.

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=24507_German_Muslims_Seething_at_Carnival_Parade&only
http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1265687.php/Carnival_attracts_3_million_in_Germany_-_Muslims_offended__Roundup_

[gaye5]

I was talking today to a woman from Bosnia, she so many horrific inhuman things were dont by the Muslims to her people. She would only tell me a couple of what she thought was the least of the horrific things that were done... she said that the Muslims would take the pregnant women and asked them if they wanted to know what the *** of their baby is and even if the woman said NO, they would then proceed to cut the baby out of the womb then hold the baby up and tell the dying woman the *** of her baby... and to the men they would put him over a very sharp pointed stake, and eventually he wouldn't be able to hold his weight up and he would fall and impale himself through the bowels and die a horrific death...
These people say that Allah is all merciful, Allah will let people submit and live, but if they dont submit they die, simple...so we either submit or we die,, just as the quran says, and our leaders seem hell bent in putting us in more and more danger, they have allowed the enemy to not only get behind enemy lines but to multiply like flies... They have to deal with the fast growing ever increasing Muslim problem at home and in every country that they have adopted...all other religions come and live happily all except Islam,,

[heetseeker]

"The Lesser Of Two Evils"

Beyond the lofty goal, is the stark reality. The truth of the mission in Iraq is that we are fighting to ensure that the "evil" we leave behind is lesser than the "evil" we deposed. The idea of a "flowering" democracy in the middle east is a distant hope. Even the objective of creating an Iraq that can govern itself, sustain itself & defend itself and be an ally in the war on terror, seems a long, long way off. Today the Iraqi government draws its support from the very militia that have been killing our soldiers and is heavily reliant on US financial support. Indeed, far from being an ally in the war on terror,it is now a proving ground for the most virulent strain of islamic extremism. Lofty goals, but painful reality.

The Iraq of the future will be a nation that is heavily influenced by Iran and Syria. Theocrats will play an increasingly dominant role and tensions between sectarian groups will, at best, be contained. For the 3,100 US troops who have died in Iraq, this is something well short of the administration's early vision. Yet, as I have previously posted "success" in Iraq will only now be measured in degrees of failure.

As for the British, I hope for the sake of their dead, Basra has indeed been a success. But like so much in Iraq, nothing is ever quite as it seems.

[mh4cbs1]

The "Coalition" has always been a FARCE. The second largest presence in Iraq is not Britan -- it is the US Taxpayer financed mercenaries and "contractors" like the Blackwater and Haliburton.

[mh4cbs1]

Headline: Cheney slams Democratic leaders in Congress, saying their approach would "validate the Al-Quaeda strategy."

Will Someone Please Throw this Disgusting lump of lard in JAIL!! This Sicko trying to suggest that Democratic critics are backing Al Quaeda.

JAIL CHENEY for WAR CRIMES

[moxford0]

Denmark is going to be withdrawing troops this year. Bush's puppies have also gotten wise.

[moxford0]

I would say that the poodle finally hiked his leg on his master. You can't always trust your pet.

[blainem3]

Patrotic,I bet if you had your family members including babies being killed for nothing,and some buried alive you would pray that another Country woul come and liberate you,the problem is our Country is too liberal,they should take people like you and put you on a boat to Sing Sing but forget to give you a paddle,I worry that people like you will run our Country some day but won`t have the gonads to fight the Islamic Exstremist, well I don`t have time to go back and forth, but I feel sorry for you.