The US and Britain are planning to pull all their troops out of Iraq by the spring of next year, two British newspapers reported yesterday, quoting unnamed senior defense ministry sources.
The Sunday Telegraph said the planned pull-out followed an acceptance by the two governments that the presence of foreign troops in Iraq was now a large obstacle to securing peace.
"The British government is understood to be the driving force behind the withdrawal plan but all 24 coalition members are likely to welcome the move, given the growing international unpopularity of the war," the Telegraph said.
12 months
The Sunday Mirror newspaper also reported on the planned withdrawal of US and UK troops, saying it would happen within 12 months.
The Bush administration and Pentagon have stated repeatedly there is no timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and a US military spokesman repeated that on Saturday.
"We've made no such plans," said Pentagon spokesman Major Paul Swiergosz.
A defense ministry spokesman in London rejected the reports, saying the British government had not altered its position set out by Defense Secretary John Reid on Feb. 7. Reid said then that the "time was approaching" when coalition forces could begin leaving Iraq, but refused to give any detailed timetable.
There are currently about 135,000 US soldiers and Marines and about 8,500 British troops in Iraq. The full US-led coalition numbers around 160,000.
South Korean troops
Yesterday, South Korea, which has the third-largest number of troops, announced that a planned one-third cut in its military in Iraq -- from 3,200 troops to 2,300 -- will begin next month, according to Major General Jung Seung-jo, chief of the South Korean troops stationed in the Kurdish region of Irbil in northern Iraq, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
The Defense Ministry in Seoul confirmed Jung's remarks.
Italy, which has the fourth-largest contingent in Iraq, has said it plans to pull out this year.
Gradual pullout
US and Iraqi officials have said frequently in the past that foreign troops will be gradually withdrawn from Iraq once Iraqi security forces are capable of guaranteeing security for the 27 million population.
US and British troops have trained 230,000 Iraqis to take on roles in the police force and the Iraqi army, although both are currently incapable of securing the nation on their own.
The US military withdrew around 15,000 troops after Iraq had successful elections in December for its first full-term parliament since the overthrow of former president Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The recent sectarian violence in Iraq has provoked fears that the country is on the brink of civil war, a scenario that could greatly complicate the role of foreign troops.
also see stories:
UK faces military overstretch crisis: report
Iraqi PM faces mounting pressure to stand down
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS