Leaving Your Wack Show: Britain to pull 5,500 troops out of Iraq
Defence chiefs are planning to reduce the size of the British military force in Iraq from 9,000 to 3,500 troops within 12 months as part of a phased withdrawal from Iraq, The Telegraph can reveal. In the first stage of Britain's "exit strategy", troops will be withdrawn from three of the Army's five military bases in southern Iraq by April 2006. The withdrawal of British troops is possible because Iraqis are ‘starting to take control of their own situation’ The move also fits in with a plan to increase British troop numbers in Afghanistan in a renewed attempt to hunt down Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qa'eda figures who are believed to be hiding close to the country's border with Pakistan. Senior American and British military figures believe that withdrawals can begin by April next year because coalition forces will have trained enough members of the Iraqi defence and police forces to take control of security throughout Iraq. The disclosure coincides with an announcement by a senior United States Marine Corps general that America would probably start withdrawing its troops in 12 to 24 months. [more]