BAGHDAD (AFP) - Visiting Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said it was hoped Britain's 8,000 troops would start to withdraw from Iraq in a matter of months.
"In practice, what we hope to see is a gradual phased draw-down of British troops starting, not with Basra, but with one or two of the other provinces in our area," Straw told AFP.
The phased withdrawal will start "as and when the Iraqis are satisfied that their own forces can cope completely with the responsibility," he added following talks with Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and President Jalal Talabani.
"It's going to be a matter of months," he added Saturday.
British forces control four of Iraq's southern provinces -- Basra, Nasiriyah, Samawah and Amara.
"We're here to liberate Iraq. We did not come to colonize it," Straw also said, noting that "we are here as long as the Iraqi government wants us here."
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060107/wl_uk_afp/iraqbritaintroops_060107121316Could be bullshit, but still if the U.S. Army is wearing down in Iraq and could be spent in a year, Britian would be wearing down faster