It could be five or 10 years before Iraq becomes a stable democracy, British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said.
Straw told the BBC's Newsnight program late on Wednesday that there was no timetable for the withdrawal of British troops, but he hoped it would take place within "a very limited number of years."
"I am optimistic about Iraq, I think in five to 10 years we will see it becoming stable," Straw said.
"I think if you compare nation-building in other situations after the war in Europe, building up stable nations from the collapse of the Soviet Union, look at Afghanistan, I think that's a reasonable prospect."
Straw said British troops would remain in the country until Iraqi security forces were able to take over.
"There is no date set [for withdrawal] but we all hope it can be completed in a matter of a very limited number of years," he said.
Britain currently has about 8,500 troops in Iraq, based in the south of the country.
In related news, an opinion poll released by the Newsnight program on Wednesday found that a majority of Britons want the country's troops out of Iraq immediately or a firm withdrawal date while 40 percent agree with the government's policy of keeping them there until Iraqis can fully take over security.
The poll found that 40 percent of all Britons agreed with the government's policy of keeping a British military presence until Iraqi security forces were ready to take over, 31 percent thought the troops should leave Iraq now and 23 percent felt that a firm date should be set for the departure of troops.
The other 6 percent said they did not know when the troops should leave.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has repeatedly said that British troops would stay in Iraq as long as they were requested to do so by the Iraqi government
Defense Secretary John Reid told lawmakers in the House of Commons on Monday that a troop rotation next month would see Britain's presence in Iraq cut by about 500, to about 8,000. Reid said two small bases in the southern Iraqi city of Basra would close, but the number of British troops would not change significantly.
The poll also found that 57 percent of Britons felt that committing troops to military action in Iraq was "the wrong thing to do," while 33 percent thought it was a good idea. Ten percent of respondents were undecided on the decision to send troops.
Drug lord Jose Adolfo Macias Villamar, alias “Fito,” was Ecuador’s most-wanted fugitive before his arrest on Wednesday, more than a year after he escaped prison from where he commanded the country’s leading criminal gang. The former taxi driver turned crime boss became the prime target of law enforcement early last year after escaping from a prison in the southwestern port of Guayaquil. Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa’s government released “wanted” posters with images of his face and offered US$1 million for information leading to his capture. In a country plagued by crime, members of Fito’s gang, Los Choneros, have responded with violence, using car
OVERHAUL: The move would likely mark the end to Voice of America, which was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda and operated in nearly 50 languages The parent agency of Voice of America (VOA) on Friday said it had issued termination notices to more than 639 more staff, completing an 85 percent decrease in personnel since March and effectively spelling the end of a broadcasting network founded to counter Nazi propaganda. US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) senior advisor Kari Lake said the staff reduction meant 1,400 positions had been eliminated as part of US President Donald Trump’s agenda to cut staffing at the agency to a statutory minimum. “Reduction in Force Termination Notices were sent to 639 employees at USAGM and Voice of America, part of a
Canada and the EU on Monday signed a defense and security pact as the transatlantic partners seek to better confront Russia, with worries over Washington’s reliability under US President Donald Trump. The deal was announced after a summit in Brussels between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. “While NATO remains the cornerstone of our collective defense, this partnership will allow us to strengthen our preparedness ... to invest more and to invest smarter,” Costa told a news conference. “It opens new opportunities for companies on both sides of the
The team behind the long-awaited Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile yesterday published their first images, revealing breathtaking views of star-forming regions as well as distant galaxies. More than two decades in the making, the giant US-funded telescope sits perched at the summit of Cerro Pachon in central Chile, where dark skies and dry air provide ideal conditions for observing the cosmos. One of the debut images is a composite of 678 exposures taken over just seven hours, capturing the Trifid Nebula and the Lagoon Nebula — both several thousand light-years from Earth — glowing in vivid pinks against orange-red backdrops. The new image
RSS