Reported Talks on British Iraq Pullout

[Hissyspit]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Reported talks on British Iraq pullout
July 29, 2007 10:19am
BRITISH Prime Minister Gordon Brown's chief foreign policy adviser has sounded out the White House on a possible early withdrawal of troops from Iraq, a newspaper reported today.

The Sunday Times quoted an unnamed source as saying that Simon McDonald gave the impression that he was “doing the groundwork” for Brown, who meets US President George W. Bush for the first time as prime minister later today.

Mr McDonald, a senior diplomat who ran the Iraq desk at the Foreign Office in London, is said to have asked a “select group” of US foreign policy specialists earlier this month about the possible effects of a British pull-out.

In an article from London and Washington, the newspaper quoted one of those consulted as saying: “The general feeling was that he was doing the groundwork for a Brown conversation. “The view is Britain feels it can't fight two wars, and Afghanistan is more worth fighting for,” the sourced said. Britain has 7000 soldiers in Afghanistan, serving as part of a NATO security and reconstruction force there.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22153038-5005961,00.html

[Eugene]

1. Britain's Brown has no Iraq pull-out plan for Bush

Source: Reuters

Britain's Brown has no Iraq pull-out plan for Bush
Sun Jul 29, 2007 8:30AM EDT

By Adrian Croft

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown
will not unveil a plan for an early withdrawal of British
troops from Iraq in talks with U.S President George. W
Bush on Sunday, Brown's spokesman said.

Brown sets out later on Sunday for his first meeting with
Bush since succeeding Tony Blair as prime minister last
month.

Speculation has been rife in British media that Brown could
distance himself from Blair's policy on Iraq. Opposition to
the war contributed to the pressure on Blair, a staunch
supporter of U.S. policy there, to step down early after
a decade in power.

The Sunday Times newspaper reported a senior aide to
Brown had sounded out Washington on the possibility of
an early British troop withdrawal from Iraq.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSL2821210220070729