Blair to announce Iraq withdrawal of UK Troops

[Jolie Rouge]

Blair to announce Iraq withdrawal plan
By THOMAS WAGNER, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago

LONDON - Prime Minister Tony Blair will announce on Wednesday a new timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, with 1,500 to return home in several weeks, British media reported.

Blair will also tell the House of Commons during his regular weekly appearance before it that a total of about 3,000 British soldiers will have left southern Iraq by the end of 2007, if the security there is sufficient, the British Broadcasting Corp. and The Sun newspaper said, quoting government officials who weren't further identified.

The BBC said Blair was not expected to say when the rest of Britain's forces would leave Iraq. Currently, Britain has about 7,100 soldiers there.

The announcement comes as President Bush implements an increase of 21,000 more troops for Iraq, but while some of the other coalition partners are pulling out: The Italians and Slovaks have left, and the Danes and the South Koreans want to start withdrawing.

Blair and Bush talked by secure video link Tuesday morning, and Bush views Britain's troop cutbacks as "a sign of success" in Iraq, said U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

"While the United Kingdom is maintaining a robust force in southern Iraq, we're pleased that conditions in Basra have improved sufficiently that they are able to transition more control to the Iraqis," Johndroe said in Washington.

Britain has long been the most important coalition member in Iraq after the United States. But Blair knows the British public and politicians from his own Labour Party want the troops out as quickly as possible, and don't want to see Britain stick with the United States in Iraq for the long haul.

Militarily, a British withdrawal isn't likely to have much effect on the stepped-up U.S. operation in Baghdad or the war with the Sunnis in Anbar province west of the Iraqi capital. However, Iraqi forces could have a tough time maintaining security in mostly Shiite southern Iraq, including Basra city.

Blair's Downing Street office refused to comment on the report, which also said Blair would tell the Commons that if the situation worsens on the ground on Iraq, his new game plan could change.

A British government official confirmed that Blair would make a statement to the Commons on Wednesday on the status of British forces in Iraq. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter.

Johndroe said that "the United States shares the same goal of turning responsibility over to the Iraqi Security Forces and reducing the number of American troops in Iraq. ... President Bush sees this as a sign of success and what is possible for us once we help the Iraqis deal with the sectarian violence in Baghdad."

"We want to bring our troops homes as well," Johndroe said. "It's the model we want to emulate, to turn over more responsibilities to Iraqis and bring our troops home. That's the goal and always has been."

At a news conference in Brussels on Jan. 15, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he was not bothered that Britain was "planning a drawdown at some point this year in their forces in the south."

He said Basra's security situation was much different than Baghdad's.

Currently, according to the Brookings Institution, besides Britain, the major partners in the coalition include South Korea (2,300 troops), Poland (900), Australia and Georgia (both 800), Romania (600) and Denmark (460).

Some say there is little point in boosting forces in the largely Shiite south of Iraq, where most non-U.S. coalition troops are concentrated. Yet as more countries draw down or pull out, it could create a security vacuum if radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stirs up trouble there.

Blair, who has said he will step down as prime minister by September after a decade in power, has seen his foreign-policy record overshadowed by his role as Bush's leading ally in the unpopular war.

Last month, Blair said he would report to lawmakers on his future strategy in Iraq following the completion of Operation Sinbad, a joint British and Iraqi mission targeting police corruption and militia influence in Basra. The operation was completed Sunday, and Blair's spokesman called it a success.

Treasury chief Gordon Brown, who is likely to succeed Blair, has said he hoped several thousand British soldiers would be withdrawn by December

In November, Defense Secretary Des Browne said he believed the number of British troops based in Iraq would be "significantly lower by a matter of thousands" by the end of 2007.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070221/ap_on_re_eu/britain_iraq;_ylt=AggATT3yL.ZoZJI8niVqRMis0NUE

[Jolie Rouge]

Exclusive: Tony Blair's Exit Interview
at MSNBC, Feb 20

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17202843/site/newsweek/

[Jolie Rouge]

"Tell the American people we need the U.S. Army here:"
An Interview with the Jundi

Posted by Bill


http://www.indcjournal.com/archives/jundiqtrs.jpg

(L to R) Iraqi Army soldiers Jabbar, Mohaned F, Mohaned N and Mohammed sit in their room at Forward Operating Base Castle in NE Fallujah. Names truncated for security reasons.



As outlined in my analysis of the Military Transition Team (MiTT) mission, the story of the Iraqi Army in Fallujah is a mixed bag. The "Jundi" (Iraqi Army soldiers) are aggressive and some units are quite competent, but training is ongoing, the quality of their leadership varies, and logistical and pay issues significantly hamper operations. Observing some IAs on a mission and meeting with others at Forward Operating Base Castle in northeast Fallujah reinforced almost all of these assessments initially voiced by various Marine and Army MiTT members.

The Jundi seem to enjoy soldiering and have a positive outlook, but don't feel that they have sufficient numbers to secure Fallujah. Most of their answers appeared forthright and relaxed until we spoke about missing pay, at which point they handled questions like skilled politicians. I also had to ask them about the identity of the insurgents several times. Even now, I'm uncertain whether their insufficient answers were the product of having a bad interpreter, hesitance to respond or the fact that they truly just don't know their enemy.

A common complaint from Iraqis centers around equipment -- they want more, better, newer. In some cases this gripe has been reasonable, but often it's not. Iraqis seem to almost universally have a fascination with technology, overestimating its role vs. training in the much-admired effectiveness of the U.S. military.

When looking through my pictures with one Iraqi, his eyes lit up and stared like a kid on Christmas when we came across a shot of an Amtrak turret. The Iraqi police were upset when they received brand new Glocks as sidearms, because they assumed (ironically and incorrectly) that the Berettas issued to Marines are superior weapons. And in this interview, an IA soldier complained about weathering mortar attacks without having mortars of their own with which to return fire (Nevermind that Jundi blindly lobbing mortars at mobile insurgent mortar teams in a heavily populated city is a bad idea). I ran into this fascination with and complaint about equipment over and over again during my interactions with Iraqi soldiers and cops, despite observing new Humvees and plentiful small arms.

Technological bias and other issues aside, MiTT commander Major Pat Semon estimates that the Jundi are "very good" soldiers who work well when they have good leadership.

Non-Commissioned Officers Jabbar, Mohaned F. and Mohaned N. granted me an interview in their cramped barracks at FOB Castle, home to elements of the 1-2-1 Iraqi Army. Former Army MiTT Member Major Jorge Velasquez describes them - "especially the two Mohaneds" - as "very professional" and "intelligent" soldiers. Please note that our conversation was greatly hampered by a sub-par interpreter, and some of their responses have been necessarily truncated or clarified because of the terp's pidgin English.

**

INDC: How long have you been a soldier? And where are you from?

Mohaned F: "Two years, one month. I'm from far away, Nasiriyah."

Jabbar: "Two years, four months."

Mohaned N: "Three years."

INDC: What motivated you to become a soldier?

Mohaned F: "I want to prevent terrorist activity here. I want to build my country."

Jabbar: "I want to help my country."

Mohaned N: "I also want to help my country, and I need the money. I have to support my family."

INDC: Who do you think the terrorists are, the insurgents who are fighting you?

Mohaned F: "The terrorists want to damage my country and I want to bring my country back to the years long ago, before Saddam Hussein."

INDC: But why are they fighting? Who are they?

Mohaned F: "The terrorist wants control of the government, he wants the power."

INDC: And how can the insurgency be stopped, in Fallujah, specifically?

Mohaned F: "I am a soldier, I have many duties. We guard the base here, go on patrols and raid houses; we catch the terrorists and prevent them from putting down IEDs. This is my job here, to prevent terrorist activity."

INDC: So you think the Iraqi Army can do it?

Mohaned F: "Yes. But we need time."

INDC: How much time?

Mohaned F: "Maybe by next year. But we need more staff. New weapons and more staff."

INDC: What do you guys think about the Iraqi police in Fallujah?

Jabbar: "In the past, we didn't work together with the police. But now, something is different - we work with the police. The terrorists are attacking both of us, the police and the Iraqi Army. So we are the same. And now the police works with the Army and they sometimes give us good information. So, we work together well now."

INDC: How long has that trust and cooperation been going on?

Jabbar: "(Since) a month ago. We have the same target and we both want to build the future of my country."

INDC: I've also heard that some local Fallujans distrust the Iraqi Army because you guys are from different parts of Iraq and many of you are Shia. Does that hamper your ability to operate in the city?

Mohaned F: "If we don't trust another we'll lose battles ..."

INDC: If you don't mind me asking, are you guys Shia, Sunni, what?

[All are Shia]

Mohaned F: "But some of our guys are Sunni, but they are on leave right now."

INDC: "Does that cause any tension with the local Sunni population in Fallujah? I've heard about the tension between the two ...

Mohaned N: "Everybody here is Iraqi. We don't like the state of affairs here (with terrorism and insecurity), so there is no difference between the Shia and Sunni."

INDC: So once again, who do you think the terrorist insurgents are? Are they locals, are they from other countries?

Jabbar: "He has just one target, he wants to attack everyone. So he does not care whether you are Sunni or Shia."

INDC: Yes, but that's their target; who are the insurgents?

Mohaned F: "We don't know who. The terrorist is very strong: he has mortars but we don't have the mortars to shoot him back. Another thing, when we leave to go home we don't have the military convoy. He has the power."

INDC: Speaking of challenges, I've heard that the Iraqi Army has had some issues with pay, with Jundi not getting paid. Some have quit. Have you personally had problems getting paid?

Mohaned F: "We don't know anything about that. You need to ask the Ministry of Defense in Baghdad."

INDC: But have you personally received paychecks? Are you getting paid right now?

Mohaned N: "We've met with the Division commander when he visited here two months ago, and he promised that he would fix it. And we wait."

INDC: Does it hurt your motivation to go so long without pay?

Mohaned N: "The Commander of the Division said he would fix it for everyone who did not get their pay. And we'll wait. He's fixed the pay of people who have gone the most time without pay, others he has not."

INDC: Do you think you have enough troops to patrol the city and provide security? Are you full strength?

Mohaned F: "We don't have enough soldiers to send regular patrols out here. So it's a very dangerous area and we need more soldiers, more patrols. We don't have enough manpower to conduct patrols every day. We have few."

INDC: What do you think of the American presence here? How do you feel about the Americans, and has this feeling changed over time?

Mohaned F: "We work well with them. The MiTT team teaches my soldiers something new every day. We have classes with them."

Mohaned N: "I wish to keep the US here because it is good for us. We can learn new things every day, and if we work together a long time, it will be good for the Iraqi Army."

Jabbar: "I want the US to stay a long time. We need weapons, we need training we want to work with the Americans for a very long time."

INDC: How do you view Iraq's future? What do you think is going to happen here?

Jabbar: "We have a good future."

Mohaned N: "It will be good."

INDC: OK, let me ask one more time: do you have any idea who the insurgents are? Who are the people you are fighting?

Mohaned N: "In the past, some people work for Saddam Hussein, like his intelligence service or the Fedayeen Saddam. These people hate the new army because they can't join the new army. But we are different than them - we hate the terrorists, we hate these people. And we want to build our country."

INDC: How did you feel about the execution of Saddam Hussein?

Mohaned N: "He's been in custody for years so this was a long time coming. He hurt a lot of people."

INDC: What would you tell the American people if you could tell them anything?

Mohaned N: "Tell the American people we need the US Army here. We want to work with them for a longer time. And in the future we can say that we have built the Iraqi Army together."

The others nodded approval.

http://www.indcjournal.com/archives/002948.php