Posted on 02/20/2007 2:22:06 PM PST by Smogger
Just a breaking news alert so far.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Looks like Harry won't be going.
And if violence increases does that put the idiotic thought to rest that fewer troops will force peace to break out?
"The other shoe drops. Some allies."
Britain has done a lot more than any other country to help. Disappointing news, but gratitude is still in order for what the Brits have done overall.
Here is what is on the BBC's website:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6380933.stm
Blair 'to confirm Iraq timetable'
Tony Blair is expected to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of UK troops from Iraq.
The prime minister is due to make an announcement in the House of Commons on Wednesday in which he is expected clarify the details.
Mr Blair is expected to say hundreds of troops will return from Basra within weeks with more to follow later.
Some 7,000 UK troops are currently serving in Iraq and about 1,500 are expected to return within weeks.
According the BBC?????
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.
URGENT
Blair expected to announce withdrawal of some British troops from Iraq, BBC says
LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Tony Blair on Wednesday will announce 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 say during his weekly appearance at the House of Commons that a total of about 3,000 British soldiers will have left southern Iraq by the end of 2007, if security there is sufficient, the British Broadcasting Corp. said Tuesday, quoting unidentified government sources.
Ping. Maybe Blair is trying to ensure a timeline that's more favorable to the US, than what Gordon Brown will do in a few months.
7000 troops still in Iraq. Wow! I think Blackwater Security has more people over there. Sorry to be down on the Brits, but that's just how I feel. This will be spun into a victory for the Islamacists just as they were reeling from the surge.
On C-SPAN2, every Wednesday:
07:00 AM EST
0:30 (est.) LIVE
Foreign Legislature
Question Time
British House of Commons
Tony Blair , Labour, United Kingdom
Ah, the loophole.
More details. Not exactly a unilateral or total withdrawal..
This from the British press association:
Prime Minister Tony Blair is tomorrow expected to announce the withdrawal of some of Britain's 7,000 troops from Iraq.
Mr Blair is expected to announce that 1,500 servicemen and women will leave within weeks, with 3,000 home by Christmas, according to reports in The Sun.
Mr Blair last week announced the success of Operation Sinbad in securing the key southern city of Basra, which he said would pave the way for the handover of security responsibility to homegrown Iraqi forces.
A spokesman for 10 Downing Street would neither deny nor confirm the reports, saying only: "It is right that the Prime Minister should update Parliament first."
Mr Blair is due to appear before MPs tomorrow for his regular weekly half-hour grilling at Prime Minister's Questions, though this would be an unlikely forum for him to make such an announcement.
Downing Street this evening declined to comment on whether Mr Blair would be making an oral statement to the Commons.
It is understood that, following the initial withdrawal of 1,500 troops in April, further drawdowns of UK personnel over the following months would be dependent on the conditions on the ground. Suggestions that Mr Blair will announce the complete withdrawal of British forces by 2008 were thought to be wide of the mark.
If confirmed, the announcement of British troop withdrawals would come just weeks ahead of the fourth anniversary of the start of the 2003 Iraq War on March 19.
And it comes shortly after US President George Bush launched a "surge" of 21,500 additional American troops in a bid to pacify the north of Iraq and capital Baghdad, which has been plagued by sectarian fighting and terrorism.
Mr Blair previously pledged to update MPs on his plans for the future of the deployment following the completion of Operation Sinbad, which has seen UK and Iraqi troops go through Basra neighbourhood by neighbourhood, rooting out insurgents and rebuilding infrastructure.
On Sunday, Mr Blair used a TV interview to announce that Sinbad "is now complete... and it has been successful".
More details in #15...
The Brits have been totally hands off in southern Iraq letting the Iranians and Medhi Army do whatever they want.
I have been quite dissapointed about them handing off the south of Iraq to thugs and killers.
It's not a withdrawal. It's part of a planned draw down after a successful operation in Basra to allow local Iraqi forces to take over. the majority of British forces are still scheduled to remain in Iraq into 2008...
It is a new world. We are on our own with Israel.
Give Blair the credit he's due for being a stalwart ally for over 5 years. Consider the fact that he leads the Labour Party -- Britain's answer to the left-wing of the Democratic Party. Imagine the pressure he's been under from his own party. Imagine what a U.S. Democratic President would have done -- years ago. Also consider that Britain is still one of the few NATO countries in the thick of fighting in Afghanistan (Canada being another).
****
Exactly.
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