UK draws up Iraq 'pull-out plan'

BBC ^ | 7/10/05

[Crackingham]

The UK has more than 8,000 troops in Iraq Plans have been drawn up to withdraw thousands of UK and US troops from Iraq by the Spring of 2006. The paper, by Defence Secretary John Reid, suggests the UK's 8,500 troops in Iraq could be cut to 3,000, saving around £500m a year.

The document, leaked to the Mail on Sunday, also sets out US plans to cut its troops from 176,000 to 66,000. However, Mr Reid said this was only one possibility and troops would stay in Iraq "as long as they were needed".

He said in a statement that "no decision" had been taken over the future deployment of troops.

The document, called Options for Future UK Force Posture in Iraq, was marked Secret: UK Eyes Only. In it, Mr Reid, who confirmed he drew up the plan, said later this year Britain would need to reach decisions on troop levels for next year. The UK's troops in Iraq are currently deployed in four southern provinces.

In the document, Mr Reid said Britain wanted to hand over to Iraqi control the Al Muthanna and Maysan provinces in October 2005, and the other two provinces, Dhi Qar and Basra, next April.

"This should lead to a reduction in the total level of UK commitment in Iraq to around 3,000 personnel, ie small scale," the document said.

Mr Reid's also wrote of a "strong US military desire" for "significant" troop reduction.

He suggested the US wanted to hand over control to Iraqi forces in 14 out of 18 provinces by early 2006.

[1066AD]

Options for Future UK Force Posture in Iraq

Think it's called contingency planning.
There's probably other docs about increasing troop levels, how to counteract any new Russian expansionism and so on.

[Texas_Jarhead]

"... suggests the UK's 8,500 troops in Iraq could be cut to 3,000, saving around £500m a year."

Dang! 5,500 troops cost 500 million pounds per year? That's over 90,000 pounds per year per man. Sounds high but I guess it's possible.

[RichInOC]

I suggest that this doc was generated before last week's bombings and that the MOD now plans to offer the insurgents a reacharound in lieu of pulling out.

[grondram]

Yep, nothing wrong with contingency planning.
but why did it leak now?

Gotta say - it's been really encouraging to see the British character in response to the bombings... makes me glad to have them as friends. I hope all nations can follow that example - reactions like Spain pulling out of Iraq in response to terrorism practically guarantee more terrorism.

[Gum Shoe]

"Plans have been drawn up to withdraw thousands of UK and US troops from Iraq by the Spring of 2006."

Hopefully this is simply a play on words and this total withdrawal of the 140,000 coalition forces from Iraq will be across the Syrian border.

[kingu]

The media wants to view it as another Spain, but the ho-hum response from the British and the Americans is mostly about how secret reports are supposed to be secret, not denying the plan. Nothing surprising here either - this fits with the rough guidlines already mentioned by President Bush.

The stupid part is publishing the months when turnovers are supposed to occur. These reporters just painted a big red target on the troops in the couple weeks prior. And if the troops don't retreat, the media now has yet another club to use -- look, things are so bad that they've canceled pre-announced pull out dates.