Iraqi president hints at `gradual' UK troop withdrawal

Iraqi Jalal Talabani said an immediate withdrawal of coalition troops from his country would be "catastrophic", in an interview broadcast yesterday.

He warned that such a pullout would lead to civil war with damaging consequences for the wider Middle East region.

Talabani that Iraqis did not want foreign soldiers to stay indefinitely and that Iraqi forces should be ready to replace British troops in the south around the city of Basra by the end of next year.

He told Britain's ITV television an immediate withdrawal "would lead to a kind of civil war and ... we will lose what we have done for liberating Iraq from the worst kind of dictatorship.

"Instead of having a democratic, stable Iraq, we will have a civil war in Iraq, we will have troubles in Iraq [and they] will affect all the Middle East," he said.

The Kurdish leader called for coalition nations to coordinate closely with the Iraqi authorities over a gradual withdrawal.

He added: "We don't want British forces forever in Iraq. Within one year -- I think at the end of 2006 -- Iraqi troops will be ready to replace British forces in the south."

Asked this was a commitment, Talabani said, "Well, I haven't been in negotiations, but ... I can say that it is the just an estimation of the situation. There is not one Iraqi that wants that forever the troops remain in the country."

He said he understood that British people were anxious for their soldiers to return home.

"British people have full right to ask this, their sons coming back home, especially if they finished their main job, which was the ending of dictatorship," he said.

He denied any link between the July 7 suicide bombings in London, and Britain's involvement in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion.

"I cannot accept this," he said. "I think the terrorist activity ... is not depending on the war of Iraq."

He said he feared an increase in violence before the National Assembly elections slated for Dec. 15 but denied insurgents could influence the result.

"They will try by all means, but I don't think they will affect it," he said. "I think they will fail, because the Iraqi people are now determined to participate in the election. Even our Sunni Arab brothers are participating actively -- they have many lists for the election and they want to be represented in the next parliament," he said.