RSS Feed
I’m not really seeing what all the hooplah is about but Blair announced that 1600 troops are leaving, but to hear the left talk, it’s the modern ride of Paul Revere with “The British are leaving, the British are leaving”. Let’s look :
• British PM says troops to remain “as long as we are wanted and have a job to do”
• Denmark to also withdraw 460-strong contingent of coalition troops by August
• Remaining British troops to play support and training role for Iraqi security forces
“The actual reduction in forces will be from the present 7,100 — itself down from over 9,000 two years ago and 40,000 at the time of the conflict — to roughly 5,500,” Blair said.
He said the withdrawal reflected the relative stability in Basra, where the sectarian rifts that have turned Baghdad and northern Iraq into a powderkeg are less of a problem.
“The next chapter in Basra’s history will be written by Iraqis,” Blair said.
Britain’s plans prompted U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, speaking at a news conference in Berlin with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, to reject suggestions the American-led coalition in Iraq was crumbling.
“The British have done what is really the plan for the country as a whole, which is to be able to transfer security responsibilities to the Iraqis as conditions permit,” she said.
Rice said that “the coalition remains intact and in fact the British will have thousands of soldiers deployed in Iraq in the south.”
Blair said British troops would increasingly play a support and training role with Iraqi forces assuming responsibility for security operations. (Watch Blair announce troop withdrawal
.)
He said there would be no diminution in British combat resources and said a military presence would remain into 2008 “for as long as we are wanted and have a job to do.”
Others blogging:
- Ed Driscoll.com
- British Troops To Leave Iraq at Conservative Times–Republican GOP news source.
- The Political Pit Bull
- BBC: Blair to Set Timetable for U.K. Withdrawal :: SOTUblog
- Hot Air
- Sister Toldjah » Excitement in the air for the Nutroots as Blair announces beginning of troop withdrawal from Iraq
6 Responses to “Blair: 1,600 troops to leave Iraq. Otherwise, it’s business as usual”
TrackBack URL
We all know what the Simpsons’ Nelson would say now, right?
The begining of The End.
It’s only a matter of time before we withdrawl from Iraq. And the security and political situation on the ground will not be much different then from what it is now.
We’re wasting time and American lives…
Of course it is a matter of time, but not the Democrats timeline.
face it, peejz…
the republicans are getting the blame for starting this unnecessary and wasteful war while the democrats are getting the credit for pushing us to get out of it.
as of 2006, and coming up in the near future, the american public rewards the politicians who run on an anti-war platform of varrying degrees.
politicaly speaking, it’s possible the debacle of the iraq war might put your party in a minority position for decades to come.
failure. and it’s all bush’s fault.
4- It is all in the execution of the withdrawl, and I have yet to hear a positive reaction to the behavior of the Democrats.
The only failure will be if the Democrites have their way and truly turn this into another Vietnam, as they are trying so hard to do.
I believe that the majority of the American people are frustrated and angered by the situation, but they want to win and not cut and run and fail. They do not want what the Democrites are trying to do.
So if the Democrites think they are doing the will of the people, they are quite wrong. Watch them pay the price in 2008.