British troops to leave Iraq by July 31, Brown says
Britain's prime minister, in a surprise visit to Baghdad, urges Iraqi lawmakers to approve a pact on the withdrawal. The pullout will leave the U.S. as the only major foreign force.
Reporting from Baghdad — British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that his nation's forces would withdraw from Iraq by the end of July, leaving the United States as the only major foreign military presence in the country.
Meanwhile in Baghdad, where Brown made an unannounced visit, nine people were killed in a pair of bombings in the center of the city. At least 43 others were injured when a car bomb and a roadside bomb exploded in sequence. The British withdrawal of its remaining 4,100 troops had been long expected. The forces will cease operations by May 31 to begin their exit. In the future, Britain might send soldiers to train Iraqi forces if the Iraqi government requests it.
At least 178 British troops have died in Iraq since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion. The British presence has grown increasingly unpopular at home, becoming a liability to the Labor Party under Brown's predecessor, Tony Blair.
When Brown became prime minister in 2007, he made it clear that he planned to greatly reduce the number of British troops in Iraq. His initial plan, to bring the number down to about 2,500 by the end of last year and to withdraw completely by the end of 2008, stalled after an Iraqi army offensive prompted major clashes with Shiite Muslim militias last spring in the southern city of Basra, where the British contingent is based.
Southern Iraq has quieted down since then and Iraqi police and soldiers now patrol the region, which is home to strategic oil reserves and the country's sole ports.
Brown and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki, at a news conference during Brown's visit, said that violence had fallen in the south and that Iraqi security forces were now better equipped to stand on their own.
Brown's visit came a day after Iraq's Cabinet passed on to parliament a resolution outlining the withdrawal timetable. Brown urged lawmakers to approve the pact.
The accord is similar to the Status of Forces Agreement governing the U.S. troop presence that was approved by parliament Nov. 27. It takes effect Jan. 1 and replaces the United Nations mandate, expiring that day, that oversees the role of foreign forces in Iraq.
The pact governing the British operation also includes about 500 troops from Australia, Romania, Estonia and El Salvador. It is not clear whether the remaining forces will adhere to the July 31 deadline. Missions ended Wednesday for troops from Lithuania, and soldiers from Albania are leaving at the end of the week.
