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| British troops will be out of Iraq by April |
EXCLUSIVE
From Ian Kirby in Basra, Southern Iraq
BRITAIN is to pull out of Iraq in months, the News of the World can reveal.
Thousands of British troops will be sent home in April, ending five years of fighting in war torn Southern Iraq.
Security at the massive British base next to Basra International Airport will be handed over to American forces, with the Iraqi Army looking after downtown Basra.
Senior military and diplomatic sources here in Iraq revealed the final details of the handover are now being negotiated.
Over the next few weeks:
- Basra International Airport and control of the airspace in Southern Iraq will be handed over to the Iraqis.
- The American army will take over security at the COB, Britain’s main base in Southern Iraq.
- Dozens of reconstruction projects will be handed over to America and the local Iraqi government.
- British soldiers will be placed on 30 days notice to leave the city, enabling them to be out within a month from a decision by Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
A few hundred British troops will stay in Iraq to provide specialised training and secure British diplomats and International Development- sponsored programmes.
Mr Brown will confirm the plan in a statement to the House of Commons next month.
He will say Britain has achieved its objectives in making the Iraqi government ready to run Basra by itself.
At the moment over 4,000 British troops are arriving in Iraq at the start of their six month tour.
But they will be the last major British military presence here after five years of solid fighting.
Brigadier Sandy Storey, the 2nd in Command of British forces in Basra told the News of the World: “We expect our forces to reduce in number and to move increasingly into advisory and mentoring roles.
“The British and Iraqi government are currently discussing what this will mean in terms of the tasks we conduct, and the force levels we require.”
“Predictions in Iraq are notoriously difficult. The most likely forecast is that the Iraqi forces will develop still further in capability and confidence, and consolidate the security gains they have made.”
The British forces are determined to avoid any impression they are retreating from the city, and are likely to try to replicate the successful withdrawal from their outposts in the centre of Basra last year, when hundreds of troops quietly left the city without a single casualty after years of heavy bombardment and hundreds of roadside bombs.
Military planners in Basra are concerned the Iranian sponsored JAM militias which have been fighting the British in Basra
since 2005 will try to mount a final spectacular attack against their bitter enemy.
Since May, after the “Charge of the Knights” campaign, the Iraqi Army have been in control of the whole of Basra, with military checkpoints on every road crossing and a heavy military presence in key areas.
Lt Col Monaam al Shabut, a commander from the Iraqi Army’s 14th Division based at the Old State Building in the centre of Basra told the News of the World: “There is now 90% security in Basra, where before there was no safety. Our troops are now, In Shallah, able to bring safety and security to our people.
“With God’s will every day will get better.”
Since August 1 this year, there have been just four rocket attacks on the British base in Basra, and 8 IED (improvised explosive device) attacks in the centre of town.
The last roadside bomb attack happened last Tuesday.
Before that date there was an average of 20 rocket attacks a day and hundreds of IEDs placed around the city, plus numerous ambushes with machine guns and RPGs on British patrols.
One senior source told the News of the World: “At the moment the militias have stopped their counter-insurgency and have gone back to being a political movement like Hezbollah in the Palestinian territories.
“The Iraqi army have also flooded into many of the areas they used to fire their rockets from – mostly the slum areas surrounding Basra where the Marsh Arabs live.
“It is in Iran’s interests for things to be quiet because that may help to hasten a British withdrawal.
“However, the image of the British soldier on fire jumping out of a Warrior tank has gone all around the world and they will want a picture like that before we go. The easiest thing to do would be to persuade a JAM militiaman to drive a lorry bomb at a British convoy. They are cheap to build and they don’t care how many Iraqis they kill in the process.”
Brigadier Storey added: “There are still some things which could destablise Basra but we are working in detail with the Iraqi Army to pre-empt the remaining threats.”
In December a new “Status of Forces” agreement will befinalised between the British and Iraqi governments, and rubber stamped by the UN.
That legal document is likely to restrict British soldiers to protecting the aid programmes sponsored by the Department for International Development and continuing to train the Iraqi Army and Navy.
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