British military ends Iraq mission

[sabra]

Source: CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — There wasn’t much fanfare this week when, more than six years after they entered Iraq as an invading force, the last British troops left the country.

The agreement that allowed the British military to be in Iraq expired Friday, so the last troops to pull out are now across the border in Kuwait, Britain’s Ministry of Defence said.

At the peak of major combat operations in March and April 2003, about 46,000 British troops were based in and around Iraq, the ministry said. By last November, that number had dwindled to 4,100, and in recent weeks their number was fewer than 150, all based in the southern part of the country.

No ceremony was held to mark their departure because British forces held one in March to mark the beginning of their withdrawal, the ministry said. They lowered the British flag in the southern city of Basra as they handed control over to the Americans.

Read more: http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/31/british-military-ends-iraq-mission/

[Captain Hilts]

1. Thanks - and apologies - to our Tommy cousins. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

3. Why? Blair was just as culpable as Bush.

They both actively participated in the conspiracy to take us into a fraudulent war.

[Captain Hilts]

5. I'm not apologizing to him. nt

[Warren Stupidity]

2. This is about the fifth time they have announced this.

It is the mission that just keeps on ending.

[dipsydoodle]

4. CNN just woken up ?

BBC reported this Wednesday :

All remaining British troops in Iraq have been relocated to Kuwait because the Iraqi government has yet to extend their right to remain. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8172893.stm