Final withdrawal of British troops from Iraq could be announced "this year".

Final withdrawal of British troops could be announced "this year".

news.bbc.co.uk

The final withdrawal of British troops from Iraq could be announced by the end of the year, the BBC has learned.

Discussions have begun about forces pulling out of the country - if the security situation continues to improve as it has in recent months.

Ministers are under pressure from the military to release the 4,000 troops who are currently serving in Iraq while pressures are mounting in Afghanistan.

Previous plans to reduce troop numbers to 2,500 were put on hold in March.

This followed a bout of violence dubbed the "battle of Basra".

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[edit on 9/6/08 by Ste2652]

I suspect this will depend upon who wins the US Presidential elections in November, but the government seems to have been looking for a way out for quite a while now.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

Labour need to do something of significance to get back on track, they're getting absolutely battered at home. The latest poll shows the Tories are 16points ahead of Labour. Pulling the troops out will do Labour a lot of good. I just hope they're doing it for the right reasons, and not just to win a bit of popularity back. Labour=Spin.

reply to post by paul76


Well, I'm sure politics plays a part in the decision (it always does). It's likely that the troops withdrawn will be sent to Afghanistan (where they're needed quite urgently).

And if Obama wins in November and the US decides to pull out, we'll be leaving too.

of course it is for spin/political reasons.

Bush is coming out of office and Britain has a reason to leave. The question will be why Britain waited for Bush to leave, which will damage the government even more.

The BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, has posted a little more info on his blog. Apparently there will be a cut from 4,000 to 2,500 in July if the security situation holds up, with a final withdrawal announced towards the end of the year.

You can read the entry here.