Brown Confirms Pullout From Iraq

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON and ALISSA J. RUBIN
NYT

BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain confirmed Wednesday that British troops will leave Iraq next summer.

On a surprise visit, he said in a statement with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, “The role played by the U.K. combat forces is drawing to a close. These forces will have completed their tasks in the first half of 2009 and will then leave Iraq.”

Britain currently has 4,100 troops in Iraq, down from 46,000 who joined the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 that overthrew Saddam Hussein. The British contingent constituted Washington’s most important ally in the invasion.

After his appearance with Mr. Maliki in Baghdad, Mr. Brown left for the southern city of Basra, where the British troops are based.

Shortly after Mr. Brown’s meeting with the Iraqi prime minister, two explosions shook a car and minibus lot in northern Baghdad where residents find transportation to the south. Initial reports said 18 people were killed and 52 were injured.

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