Britain to Handover More Security Duties to Iraqis

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says about 1,000 British troops can soon leave Iraq. As VOA's Jim Randle reports, the British leader visited Baghdad for talks with top Iraqi officials.

Prime Minister Brown said about one-fifth of the British force can head home in the next few months, leaving a contingent of about 4,500 by the end of the year.

Mr. Brown met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and told journalists Iraqi forces can take over security duties in Basra province during the next two months. British troops recently turned over the city of Basra, in southern Iraq, to their Iraqi counterparts before withdrawing to a nearby base.

Mr. Brown says it will soon be time to turn over responsibility for the whole province.

"I believe that within the next two months, we can move to provincial Iraqi control, and that is the Iraqis taking responsibility for their own security in the whole of Basra. I believe that the 30,000 security forces that have been trained up, are capable of discharging these responsibilities for security," said Mr. Brown.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says the remaining British forces will be doing less combat and more training of Iraqi troops. Mr. Maliki says his forces will be ready to handle their duties in Basra and other parts of Iraq in two months' time.
VOA News - Britain to Handover More Security Duties to Iraqis

One step at a time.........:thumbsup:

Have a good one!:s4:

Looks like the Brits are smarter than we are. Our dumb asses will be there for decades, all in the name of freedom, JOKE, I mean oil.

The Brits already decided to pull out 100% (which takes time of course) because they're sick to death of this war, not because they've cleaned everything up. I hope the Iraqi's can handle things on their own, but it won't be easy. Either way this war will take many more years, dollars, and lives to finish (if it can be finished). There's already been too much money, resources, reputation, and lives wasted to make the end result worth it.

Seems nobody remembers that Iraq was an enemy state of Iran. How is creating a weak democratic nation that may or may not succeed, countering Iran? "Planting the seeds of democracy around them", what does that even mean? Iran had a dictator at their borders who hated them and gave Ahmadinejad one more enemy to worry about. Now we'll have a weakened Iraqi state that Iran could trample.
Strategically, it makes no sense. Terrorist recruitment has gone through the roof because of this war, Iraq has been infested with lawlessness, Iran no longer has an enemy at their borders to worry about (Iraq is way too tied up with insurgents to be any threat). America did Tehran a big favor by starting this mess. Good job George!:thumbsup:

LOL...will the clouds of gloom and doom ever lift.

Have a good one!:s4:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psycho4Bud

LOL...will the clouds of gloom and doom ever lift.

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Certainly. We will not continue forever to send are sons to die simply so GW doesn't have to admit he was wrong.