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British Troops Could Be Out of Iraq By the End of 2006

Posted on: Monday, 14 November 2005, 09:00 CST

By ANDREW WOODCOCK

BRITISH troops could be out of southern Iraq by the end of next year, Defence Secretary John Reid indicated yesterday.

Mr Reid was responding to the remarks of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who said he expected homegrown troops to be ready to take over security responsibilities in the UK-patrolled southern sector of the country by the end of 2006.

Neither the British nor Iraqi authorities have so far been willing to set a timetable for the withdrawal of multi-national forces, who have been in Iraq since the war of 2003.

Mr Reid was careful to stress that the Government's aim of beginning a draw-down in the course of the next year was dependent on the security situation on the ground.

In a statement, the Defence Secretary said: "President Talabani's comments are consistent with our aims.

"As I have consistently said, we will stay in Iraq until the job is done and the Iraqis are able to provide their own security.

"This process of handover to the Iraqis is one which could begin in the course of the coming year."

Mr Reid was backed up by the Army's most senior officer, Chief of General Staff General Sir Mike Jackson. In an interview on BBC1's Sunday AM, Gen Jackson said that Mr Talabani's prediction of a British departure by the end of 2006 was "well within the range of what is realistically possible".

But he said it was unhelpful to regard the withdrawal process as being driven by time considerations.

President Talabani made clear he was not committing himself to any deadline for the removal of foreign troops from Iraqi soil, and warned that a rushed withdrawal could lead to "catastrophe".

But he told ITV1's Jonathan Dimbleby programme that no Iraqis want UK soldiers to remain indefinitely in their country.

"We don't want British forces forever in Iraq," he said. "Within one year - I think at the end of 2006 - Iraqi troops will be ready to replace British forces in the South."

Immediate withdrawal would be a "catastrophe", he warned, adding: "It would lead to a kind of civil war and ... instead of having a democratic, stable Iraq, we will have a civil war in Iraq, we will have troubles in Iraq (and they) will affect all the Middle East."

Mr Talabani called for a gradual pull-out, with close co- ordination between coalition nations and the Iraqi authorities.

He acknowledged that an upsurge of violence could be expected in the run-up to National Assembly elections scheduled for December 15, but denied that insurgents would have an impact on the result"They will try by all means, but I don't think they will affect it," said the Kurdish politician.

"I think they will fail."

Mr Talabani denied there was any link between Britain's involvement in the war in Iraq and the July 7 terror attacks in London.

"I cannot accept this," he said. "I think the terrorist activity... is not depending on the war of Iraq." Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell predicted that a reduction of international forces in Iraq would begin in the spring of 2006, and would be driven by domestic political concerns in the USA.

Republicans would not want to fight mid-term elections with a deployment of 160,000 troops in Iraq, he said.

Sir Menzies said there was "a moral obligation" for the coalition to do its best for Iraq.

But, referring to Remembrance Day commemorations, he added: "Equally, on this weekend, of all weekends, we have a moral obligation to our own young men and women who are daily at risk of their lives in the southern part of Iraq

Source: Daily Post; Liverpool

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