THE TENSION: Open Thread: Britain Plans Troop Drawdown in Iraq

British troops patrol their base in southern Iraq, in 2005.
After braying for weeks about the catastrophic results of President Bush's troop buildup in Iraq, mainstream media outlets yesterday breathlessly misreported the catastrophic damage caused by Britain and Denmark's troop withdrawals from Iraq. The real news is all in the numbers.

The Associated Press reports Britain will withdraw around 1,600 troops from Iraq in the coming months and aims to further cut its 7,100-strong contingent by late summer if Iraqi forces can secure the country's south, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday.

Denmark said it would withdraw its 460 troops in August and replace them with a helicopter unit consisting of 50 men, according to AFP; BBC News.

The news comes as the U.S. is implementing an increase of 21,000 more troops for Iraq.

Analysts say there is little point in boosting forces in largely Shiite southern Iraq, where most non-U.S. coalition troops are concentrated.

Blair said:

"What all of this means is not that Basra is how we want it to be but the next chapter in Basra's history can be written by the Iraqis."
More from: Reuters; The Washington Post; BBC News.

ABC News reports Vice President Dick Cheney said the move was actually good news and a sign of progress in Iraq.

"Well, I look at it and see it is actually an affirmation that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well," Cheney told ABC News' Jonathan Karl.

"In fact, I talked to a friend just the other day who had driven to Baghdad down to Basra, seven hours, found the situation dramatically improved from a year or so ago, sort of validated the British view they had made progress in southern Iraq and that they can therefore reduce their force levels," Cheney said.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday the U.S.-led coalition of international forces in Iraq was still intact after Britain announced plans to reduce its troop levels.

"The coalition remains intact and in fact the British will have thousands of soldiers deployed in Iraq in the south," she said at a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, reports Reuters.

"It is the plan that as it is possible to transfer responsibility to the Iraqis, that coalition forces would no longer be needed in those circumstances."

Last but not least, AFPS reports the news without the bias, hype and spin.

“The U.K. military presence will continue into 2008, for as long as we are wanted and have a job to do,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair said. “Increasingly our role will be support and training, and our numbers will be able to reduce accordingly.”
The United Kingdom’s combat capability in Iraq will not be diminished, Blair said, and the remaining British forces will focus on training Iraqi forces and securing the Iranian border and supply routes.