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British combat troops to leave Iraq 'within a year'
TimesOnline ^ | August 15, 2008

Posted on 08/16/2008 9:58:57 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican

All British combat troops are to be withdrawn from Iraq by the middle of next year, leaving a few hundred military trainers to continue instructing an Iraqi army division based in Basra, according to proposals confirmed by defence sources yesterday.

The British sources also said that the Government had no plans to maintain a permanent base in Iraq, although they emphasised that no final decisions had been taken.

Details of the new British personnel structure are to be negotiated in the status-of-forces agreement to be signed with Baghdad. Yesterday The Times disclosed, after an interview with Hoshyar Zebari, the Iraqi Foreign Minister, that all American combat troops are to be withdrawn from Iraq within three years.

In his first comments since handing over command of British Forces in Basra on Tuesday, Major-General Barney White-Spunner said that the troops in Iraq — 900 inside Basra but most of the 4,100 based outside the city — had nearly completed their mission. “I think we're getting close to what we intended to do in southern Iraq,” he said.

Gordon Brown announced last October that he planned to reduce troop levels to 2,500 by the spring of this year but this decision was put on hold when Operation Charge of the Knights was launched against Shia militia by thousands of US-backed Iraqi troops in March.

No British troops had been in Basra for six months because of a secret deal with the Shia militia under which all the soldiers withdrew to the airport base outside the city.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: basra; geopolitics; iraq; islam; mohammedanism; timetable; troopwithdrawal; uktroops

1 posted on 08/16/2008 9:58:57 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: MinorityRepublican
Within a year?

Yep. Me too.

2 posted on 08/16/2008 10:00:21 AM PDT by Allegra (Goodness me, goodness me, industrial disease...)
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To: MinorityRepublican

They left a year ago - or might as well.


3 posted on 08/16/2008 11:02:28 AM PDT by golfisnr1 (Democrats are like roaches - hard to get rid of.)
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To: Allegra

Why leave when things are going so well?


4 posted on 08/16/2008 2:04:22 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: golfisnr1

Yes, the British aren’t worth anything in a fight any more. The Iraqis flat out despise them. Many of the mistakes early in the war were due to U.S. officials listening to British moslem “experts.”

The Iraq war would have gone a lot better without the rest of the “coalition of the willing.”


5 posted on 08/16/2008 2:04:28 PM PDT by tvdog12345
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To: tvdog12345

The British have joined the EU whether they realize it or not!


6 posted on 08/16/2008 3:21:57 PM PDT by Dr. Ursus (( commander of the simian host))
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To: tvdog12345

Hah!

Can I assume you no longer want our forces fighting in the same theatres as your good selves?

These troops coming home will only get sent straight out to reinforce an Afghan war that is under-manned, and not glamorous enough for some.

Afghanistan is where the battle is now, so the sooner we send our lads out there the better for everyone.

Or would you rather we sent all our lads home?


7 posted on 08/16/2008 3:44:12 PM PDT by Mercia
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To: Dr. Ursus

Well just to clear this up, the UK joined the EU (or its predecessor) back in ‘73.

I think we all realize that we are part of the EU, otherwise we would need our passports to travel across the continent.

I can’t believe you didn’t know, that we know, that we are part of the EU.

Well, now you know. That we know...


8 posted on 08/16/2008 3:48:36 PM PDT by Mercia
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To: tvdog12345

found this story that paint a bit of a different picture. from the gob of a retired US general no less...

http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/DefenceNews/MilitaryOperations/TopUsOfficerPraisesBritishArmysEffortsInBasra.htm


9 posted on 08/16/2008 3:51:35 PM PDT by Mercia
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To: MinorityRepublican
I'm not leaving anytime soon. But I've been here nearly five years.

I said in '05 that I would stick it out until I saw it all coming together. I'm working in the reconstruction mission now and it's finally going like gangbusters.

It's eventually going to be time to go home and resume my life there. After all, I have season tickets to the Houston Texans and they're finally starting to look pretty darn good. ;-)

10 posted on 08/16/2008 11:12:35 PM PDT by Allegra (Goodness me, goodness me, industrial disease...)
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To: Mercia

Sorry,I didn’know you ratified the EU constitution. Also,I don’t have any English Euros,yet.


11 posted on 08/17/2008 2:48:16 AM PDT by Dr. Ursus (( commander of the simian host))
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To: Dr. Ursus

You can still be part of the EU without Euro’s. As we are. Our £ is simply stronger. Stronger than the Euro, stronger than the dollar.

As for the constitution; there are many documents that were previously signed that ratified the UK’s position inside the EU. The Lisbon Treaty (or the EU Constitution to the layman) was a stramlining on the rules and regs that already exist inside the EU.


12 posted on 08/17/2008 4:04:30 AM PDT by Mercia
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To: Mercia

Thanks,by the way, London is our favorite city. Also,Dickens
and Churchill are two of my favorites of history and we
like and respect Tony Blair.


13 posted on 08/17/2008 4:12:57 AM PDT by Dr. Ursus (( commander of the simian host))
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