U.K. To Start Iraq Withdrawal

Blair: Initial Reduction From 7,100 to 5,500, Basra A Success

(CBS/AP)  Statements out of the White House, as well as from Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice — both traveling overseas — attempted to put a good face on the British troop reduction.

"The British have done what is really the plan for the country as a whole, which is to transfer security responsibility to the Iraqis as the situation permits," Rice said at a press conference in Berlin, where she was in meetings on the Mideast peace process. "The coalition remains intact and, in fact, the British still have thousands of troops deployed in Iraq."

Cheney called it good news.

"I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well," Cheney told ABC News while in Tokyo.

Britain has long been the most important coalition member in Iraq after the United States. But Blair knows the British public and politicians from his own Labour Party want the troops out as quickly as possible, and don't want to see Britain stick with the United States in Iraq for the long haul.

Johndroe said that "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 ... It's the model we want to emulate, to turn over more responsibilities to Iraqis and bring our troops home."

At a news conference in Brussels on Jan. 15, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was not bothered that Britain was "planning a drawdown at some point this year in their forces in the south."

He said Basra's security situation was much different than Baghdad's.

Currently, according to the Brookings Institution, besides Britain, the major partners in the coalition include South Korea (2,300 troops), Poland (900), Georgia (800), Romania (600) and Denmark (460).

The British decision to reduce its troop numbers in Iraq will not cause Australia to follow suit, Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday.

Australia has 550 troops in two southern Iraqi provinces helping to train domestic security forces. It has more troops in other parts of Iraq, including forces guarding Australian diplomats in Baghdad. In total, Australia has 1,400 troops committed to the war, in Iraq and neighboring countries.

Some say there is little point in boosting forces in the largely Shiite south of Iraq, where most non-U.S. coalition troops are concentrated. Yet as more countries draw down or pull out, it could create a security vacuum if radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stirs up trouble there.

Blair, who has said he will step down as prime minister by September after a decade in power, has seen his foreign-policy record overshadowed by his role as Bush's leading ally in the unpopular war.

Last month, Blair said 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 Basra. The operation was completed Sunday, and Blair's spokesman called it a success.

Treasury chief Gordon Brown, who is likely to succeed Blair, has said he hoped several thousand British soldiers would be withdrawn by December.

In November, Defense Secretary Des Browne said he believed the number of British troops based in Iraq would be "significantly lower by a matter of thousands" by the end of 2007.

[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.

[thgdriver]

Clinton is as mush to blame for 9/11 as the stain on on Monica's dress.

[thgdriver]

Bill Clinton was a pusssy, he left the terrorists thinking they could do as they please while he "talked" about what he was going to do "someday" to "somebody" "somewhere'.

He had the military launch a few exercet missiles, how lame was that for the bombing of our embassies. They figured him and our whole county to be fools.

The terrorists were laughing again at this as$ as they blew our warship and 17 sailer's to smiter's.

Did you ever hear the expression "Caught with your pants down"? It sure describes him.

[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.