WE’RE OUTTA HERE! ; Blair Visits Iraq As British Troop
By From BOB ROBERTS Deputy Political Editor in Iraq
BRITISH troops will begin a major withdrawal from Iraq in May next year, it was revealed yesterday.
On a surprise visit to Basra, the Prime Minister was told Iraqi troops will be able to take over 75 per cent of patrols within six months.
Senior British officials said troops will be pulled back into barracks after local elections in March.
A major withdrawal will then begin at the end of May or the beginning of June.
Mr Blair himself refused to be drawn on the timetable for withdrawal but sounded a positive note.
He said: “The troops here that I have talked to were rather more optimistic about Iraqi capability than I expected.”
Asked if British troops could begin their withdrawal within six months, he said: “It is our strategy. We want to draw down on our forces. We don’t want to keep people here longer than we need to.”
Standing on a low-loader at the Shaibah desert logistics base Mr Blair told troops: “I know it’s particularly tough being away from your families at Christmas and New Year.
“I just want you to know how grateful we are for the work you are doing here.
“However tough it is, I hope you have some sense of how important it is. It is important to try to help this country become the democracy people want it to become.
“That would be done by providing the security which allowed the Iraqi forces to build up their own strength. And then, of course, we can eventually draw down our own capability.” A senior official said: “It won’t be all one-way traffic. There will be bumps along the way.” But he said that the 8,500 troops were on course for a pullout beginning “at the end of May or the beginning of June”.
Mr Blair added that establishing a stable democracy would deal “a huge body blow” to terrorism across the world and added that a major step had been taken when 10million Iraqis voted in the last election. During his four-hour visit by RAF Hercules plane from Kuwait Mr Blair also held talks with the US commander in Iraq, General George Casey, and British Chief of the Defence Staff General, Sir Mike Walker.
The PM’s official spokesman also dismissed suggestions by former British Ambassador to Iraq Sir Jeremy Greenstock that British troops could be in Iraq for five more years.
The spokesman said Sir Jeremy did valuable work while in his post but added: “He has not been here for some time.” British officials confirmed that there were now 215,000 trained Iraqi security forces and that the Iraqi Army were increasingly taking on frontline tasks.
Mr Blair also paid tribute to the work done by British soldiers based in Iraq.
He said: “Whatever the controversies there are about the politics of this situation, people back home have enormous pride in our armed forces. This mission will be achieved successfully. When it is it will be down to people like you.” Meanwhile US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld yesterday flew in to Baghdad to meet military commanders.
He said any cutbacks in US troop deployment beyond a planned drawdown to the levels in place before last week’s elections would depend on assessments on the ground.
Speaking of his Democrat opponents Mr Rumsfeld said: “Basically they want a timetable and a timetable is not a good thing.”
The Pentagon has already announced that troop numbers will be scaled down to the 138,000 that were in Iraq prior to the country’s presidential elections last week. The current level is around 150,000. Britain’s military contingent in Iraq is second-largest after that of the US.
Ninety-eight British troops have died in Iraq since the invasion. Mr Blair has repeatedly said British troops will not leave Iraq until they are asked to go by the Iraqi government.
Speaking on television earlier this week President Bush said US troops would not pull out until the job was done.
He added: “Withdrawing before our work is done would abandon our Iraq friends – and signal to the world that America cannot be trusted to keep its word.”
Voice of the Mirror & Kerber and Black: Page 6