Britain's leaving Iraq, Australia's leaving . . .

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US prepares to plug hole left by British troops

Sunday Telegraph
12/08/2007

America is preparing to pour thousands of extra troops into southern Iraq amid fears that Gordon Brown is committed to withdrawing British troops from the region early next year.

The White House and the Pentagon are understood to have drawn up detailed plans to secure the vital "umbilical cord" link road between Baghdad and Kuwait when the British depart.

Tensions are understood to have deepened between London and Washington after Mr Brown's recent visit to the US, amid fears the Prime Minister is distancing himself from the Bush regime and its military objectives.

Military chiefs in the US have been "dismayed" by the threat of a unilateral pull-out from southern Iraq by British forces.

Whitehall sources admit that there is a firm consensus among British military chiefs that maintaining a presence in Iraq after the control of Basra passes to the Iraqis in November is "pointless". But while British generals firmly deny that they have been defeated in southern Iraq, there is also an increasing acceptance that the mission is facing "strategic failure" and that the war is a "lost cause".

One senior officer, who has served on operations in Iraq, said: "In terms of intervention operations, the military can never deliver success if the policy is wrong - and in terms of Iraq the policy of intervention was wholly wrong from start to finish."


Australian PM warns of pullout

Sunday, 12 August, 2007

CANBERRA: Iraq Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has been told by his Australian counterpart John Howard to pick up the pace of political reform or face a possible troop withdrawal by Australia and other US-led coalition members.

Howard, who faces re-election within months with voter opposition building to the Iraq war, wrote to Maliki last week warning that without faster progress, support for Australia’s 1,500-strong deployment may not be sustainable, according to a report in the Weekend Australian newspaper.

http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=166252&version=1&template_id=42&parent_id=18

[babylonsister]

1. 'Plug hole'? With who? More commas? nt

[muntrv]

2. Hey Howard, aren't you giving Al-Qaeda aid and comfort? That's what

you said about the Democrats demanding withdrawal from Iraq.

[Coexist]

3. Don't forget Poland!

[TwilightGardener]

4. excellent pics!

[msongs]

5. polish army had to come home to defend against those pesky gays and lesbians nt