UK MoD to pull troops out of Iraq within a year

By Sean Rayment and Patrick Hennessy
Sunday Telegraph

Military chiefs are drawing up plans to withdraw all British troops from Iraq within 12 months.

A fresh timetable, which would see a unilateral withdrawal from the war-torn country by next May, will be presented to Gordon Brown within weeks.

It is understood that when Mr Brown becomes prime minister later this month, he will be told by defence chiefs that Britain should withdraw from Iraq in "quick order" and concentrate on fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Until now, the Government and the military have both insisted the withdrawal of troops from Iraq would be dictated by "events and not time". But the lack of progress in Iraq and the need to send more troops to Afghanistan, where success is regarded by some in the military as easier to measure, has forced the Government to "accelerate its withdrawal plan".

The disclosure that Britain is planning a unilateral pull-out is likely to be met with dismay by US generals, who hoped Britain would fight alongside their troops for as long as America had a military presence in Iraq.

(The rest is here.)