Bush 'told British troops will leave Iraq'

The Australian ^ | May 20, 2007

[MinorityRepublican]

US President George W. Bush has been told to prepare for British U-turn on Iraq once Gordon Brown becomes prime minister, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper said. Mr Bush has been briefed by White House officials to expect an announcement on British troop withdrawals during Brown's first 100 days in office, the weekly said.

The president was advised on how to handle the aftermath of a British pullout and the end of steadfast support from London, said the broadsheet, citing senior officials.

Outgoing Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to step down on June 27 after a decade in power, with finance minister Brown set to take over.

Under Mr Blair, Britain has been the United States' staunchest ally in the war in Iraq and its key partner in the decision to invade the country in March 2003.

Senior officials in the US National Security Council, the Pentagon and the State Department have expressed their fears about Brown, The Sunday Telegraph said.

"There is a sense of foreboding,'' an unnamed senior official was quoted as saying.

"We don't know if he will be there when we need him. We expect a gesture that will greatly weaken the United States government's position.''

And Mark Kirk, a congressman in Bush's Republican party who discussed Iraq policy at the White House last week, said: "The American view is that's he's a much weaker political leader than Blair. "There's the fear in Washington that he won't be as strong an ally.''

Mr Blair was in Washington this week for his last talks with Mr Bush, before jetting to Iraq for talks with political leaders in Baghdad and a visit to British troops in the main southern city of Basra.

"I have no doubt at all that Britain will remain steadfast in its support for Iraq,''

[UglyinLA]

Watch what happens to Britain when the jihadist take aim at a Gord Brown government unwilling to fight the terrorist.

History repeats itself because people forget their mistakes. What happened 70 years ago (circa 1937) is happening all over again. The foe is different (Hitler vs Islam) but their intent is the same...world domination.

I pray for the people of Britain and I hope we here in the USA will learn quickly from their current lessons of appeasement.

[MinorityRepublican]

Plus the war in Iraq is unpopular in England. If Gordon Brown wants to win an election, he’ll have to pull out the troops, probably within a year.

[Star Traveler]

THIS THREAD DOES NOTHING BUT FURTHER THE LIE. HOW ABOUT CHANGING THE TITLE? PEOPLE READ THE TITLE AND BELIEVE IT AS TRUTH.

You haven't been on Free Republic very long, then, have you?

Having the title exactly as the article has it published, is one of the requirements of posting it, so that people can do searches to find if it has already been posted or not. A wrong title means that one can't find a duplicate and thus, refrain from posting it again. However, I guess that doesn't seem to make too much difference with some people, it would seem...

Regards,
Star Traveler

[the scotsman]

Blair is one of the WORST PM’s we have ever had.Supporting the war on terrorism is about the only thing he has done well....domestically he and Labour have been a disaster.

Oh and its is Britain,not England.Britain is England,Scotland,NI and Wales.And Blair himself is a Scot of Scots-Irish parents.

[the scotsman]

Sort out your own pigsty mate....

[the scotsman]

Apologies that we didnt do as well as the Marines in 1979 or on the Pueblo...

[the scotsman]

Falklands pathetic?.

An outnumbered force defeats a larger force and brings down a fascist dictatorship.

The bombing of Port Stanley runway,the Paras winning at Goose Green despite being outnumbered 450 to 1500,the defeat of the Argies best unit(the 5th marines) on Tumbledown mountain by the ill-suited-to-the-task Scots Guards,the victories of the Ghurkas,Paras and Welsh Guards the same night...hardly pathetic.

Bill,lets be honest,in 83 and 89 you didnt exactly defeat the Waffen SS...

[the scotsman]

So the resistance is Britain’s fault?.

And ‘spare me’ either the nonsense that you are fighting Iraq alone or that we sat in 2003 and did nothing.Undoubtedly you are one of the type that thinks America can win easily anywhere...

Nice to see the respect for your best ally,an ally that has has supported your ops on the ground and in the air and at sea, from the RAF to the Black Watch covering your rear at Fallujah in 2004...

And the same ally that is doing FAR more than its fair ahare in Afghanistan and has been up to TWO MONTHS ahead of operational schedule in the Helmand province,and has BOOSTED its numbers there,inc special dforces such as the crack 16th Air Assault Brigade of Paras...

The same ally that had to send Royal Marines to Afghanistan in 2002 to do mountain ops that YOUR ‘crack’ 10th Mountain Div could not or would not do!...

With American idiots like you,I wonder why our young men and women bother....

[Enchante]

"You don’t believe half the sh** that comes out of your journalists, so don’t believe ours either, they’re just as bad, possibly worse"

Well said, leftist wanker journalists are worthless and not to be trusted, wherever they are!! Still, I don't trust Gordon Brown to do the right thing, ever.

[Pikachu_Dad]

Well if he does, perhaps the Labor government will fall and we will get the Conservatives back in power.

[Sender]

Ouch!

[TaxachusettsMan]

Call us when you need us to bail your arse out again, too, OK?

And I’m not your mate.

I’ve a friend living in Scotland and he’s told me exactly what most of you think of Yanks and Catholics - he’s rarely met such prejudice and bigotry anywhere else, and he’s been around.

Enjoy Sharia Law and your Islamic future - any vote I get to cast will definitely be toward letting you ungrateful beneficiaries of my father’s sacrifice fend for yourselves.

And when the Muslims finish taking over, better lower the hem of your kilts.

[UKrepublican]

You mean these conservatives?

Don't be so naieve. The only thing conservative about our conservative party at the momement is the name. Blair frustrated his backbenchers for going to far to the right, and cameron is frustrating his by going too far to the left. You wouldn't vote for the democrats if they changed there name to the reaganite ultra conservative christian party of america unless you believed they actually stood for this things, which they don't in the same way I wouldn't vote for the conservatives over here (at the moment).

[UKrepublican]

Thanks.

Just to show how fast the news moves, I think we should take advantage of things that have actually come out of browns mouth today. (responding to a heckler at a hustings) Brown defended the iraq war and said he believed the right decisions had been taken.

I would also point out that the position of both leading parties in our country right now is not only still in support of the original action, but also in finishing the job.

[UKrepublican]

Thanks.

Just to show how fast the news moves, I think we should take advantage of things that have actually come out of browns mouth today. (responding to a heckler at a hustings) Brown defended the iraq war and said he believed the right decisions had been taken.

I would also point out that the position of both leading parties in our country right now is not only still in support of the original action, but also in finishing the job.

[omega4179]

Are they pulling them back to Okinawa?

[Axlrose]

You “superior” brits are all the same, second guessing us all the way.

See how a real man deals with a whining limey

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=25523_Audio-_Bolton_Unloads_on_BBC_Radio_Interviewer#comments

[CremeSaver]

I seem to remember that in 1979 we had a handful of Marines stationed at our embassy in Iran. Hmmm? Let see a handful of Marines against an entire country swarming over the walls. Yes, I guess they could have handled it but, the blood shed would have been terrible. The rest of the hostages were civilians who actually behaved quite well considering. Our personnel were held for 444 days and never gave in, but then the Iranians didn't steal their Ipods did they? As for the Pueblo, take a look at the group photo released by the North Koreans. They were using hand gestures to send messages. When the Koreans figured out what they were doing the hostages were severely beaten.

I have never made disparaging remarks about your 15 as I think I was not in their situation and don't know myself how I would behave, but I am not going to sit by and allow you to belittle the obvious courage of my countrymen or compare the two incidents.

[bill1952]

But we aren’t talking about 83 and 89. We are talking about Iraq, and a modern army.

If you can’t stay on point, at least try to stay in the same century.

And pathetic is a kind description of the handling of the Falklands by a former World power that was strained to defeat a 4th rate banana army. Get over it.

Obviously, you were not involved or you would have seen what I did.

[Marine_Uncle]

Well put. I hope both sides of the pond realize neither can pull out without a joint commitment to do so. Besides. The surge is doing wonders. AQIR days are limited in Iraq as the sunni tribes in Anbar, the Capital, Diyawa, and other provinces work with the government and US forces to rap things up in the next year. Britain, Australia, the Poles and a few other eastern European countries will stay in the fight.
Things continue to improve in many parts of Iraq, and the Maliki government is forced to improve how it operates not only on the security issues but in it's energy, commerce, and social ministries.
It is going to be hard for the new UK government to just turn their backs on the rest of the whole coalition. We may tend to forget, countries like Japan have continued to do a lot of good work in Iraq. Many countries are involved in the rebuilding process.
But if it happens. The US will just bring in ten thousand or so troops to replace the Brit's AOR.