Blair Expected to Announce Drawdown of UK Troops in Iraq

"Blair 'To Confirm Iraq Timetable'" - BBC News, 20 February 2007

Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to announce a timetable for the withdrawal of UK troops from Iraq.

Mr Blair is due to make a statement about the 7,000 British troops serving in Iraq at the Commons on Wednesday.

The BBC's James Landale said 1,500 troops were expected to return home in months, rising to 3,000 by Christmas.

Downing Street has not confirmed the reports but Whitehall sources have told the BBC the process could be slowed down if the situation in Iraq worsens....

BBC political correspondent James Landale said: "We have been expecting an announcement for some time on this."

However, he said reports that all troops will have returned home by the end of 2008 was "not a fair representation of what is true at the moment."...

An August 2006 survey by PIPA (the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland) found that most British voters were critical of the Iraq war and of Blair's close relationship with President Bush:

"British and Canadians Criticize Leaders for Following US Lead" - the Program on International Policy Attitudes, the University of Maryland (College Park, MD), 6 August 2006

...A large majority of British voters—including most Labor party supporters—want Prime Minister Tony Blair to pursue policies that are more independent of the Bush Administration. An ICM poll taken for the Guardian newspaper found that 63 percent agreed with the statement that Tony Blair had made Britain “too close to the U.S.A.” Only a third thought that relations between the two countries were “about right.” A mere 3 percent thought Britain should be closer to the United States.

The desire for greater distance between Bush and Blair included most Labor party supporters (54%) and strong majorities of Conservatives (68%) and Liberal Democrats (83%)....

The British polls also indicate weak popular support for participation in joint military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while Canadians are becoming increasingly disillusioned with their mission in Afghanistan.

Few Britons believe that the presence of British forces is “helping to improve the situation” in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Guardian/ICM poll. Less than a fifth (19%) believed British forces were helping Iraq; more than seven in ten said the mission made either “no difference” (35%) or “things worse” (36%). Results were similar on Afghanistan. Less than a quarter (23%) thought British forces were helping the country; nearly two-thirds thought their presence either made no difference (34%) or made things worse (29%).

Seven out of ten Britons believe that by stationing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the government is “overstretching our military resources.”...

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