Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Baghdad, Aug 28, (VOI)- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown refused on Tuesday to set up a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.

In a letter to Sir Menzies Campbell, leader of the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats, Brown rejected a request for a predetermined timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.

Brown insisted that the remaining 5,500 soldiers based in Basra still had an “important job to do.”

“I believe that we continue to have clear obligations to discharge,” the letter said, citing the UN mandate that was renewed last November.

The Guardian newspaper Tuesday suggested the prime minister’s rejection was to reassure the US that the UK does “not intend to cut and run” despite growing American fears, spiced with criticism that British strategy faces defeat in the four southern provinces.

In a letter to Brown, Campbell repeated earlier calls for a clear exit strategy and cited the skeptical views of senior British officers that the UK’s sole remaining purpose is less military than a display of solidarity with the United States.

He linked the withdrawal with the need to boost the British military effort in Afghanistan, where “overstretched” 7,000 troops have suffered mounting casualties.
“Their position would be made much easier if we were not engaged simultaneously in two such demanding deployments,” said the Lib Dem leader, who opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

But in an upbeat assessment of Britain’s deployment in both countries, Brown insisted that the 37-nation coalition working and fighting in Afghanistan is achieving solid successes in rebuilding wells, roads, schools and clinics.

He repeated his government’s commitment to “fulfill our obligations” to both campaigns, warning that withdrawal from Iraq would “not serve our national interests.”

Defending the rejection, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said Britain would base any decisions on troop levels on “the British national interest” and on the situation in Basra rather than Baghdad.

Sir Menzies had called for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, saying that the level of casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan was now “unacceptable” and could not be justified on the grounds of maintaining “political solidarity” with the U.S.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said British troops in Iraq had an “important job to do” in the war-torn country.

“Decisions on troop deployment and other military issues would be taken on the basis of advice from commanders “on the ground”, he also said.

The British forces in Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, keep 5,500 troops within the Multi-National Force in Iraq after withdrawing 1,600 soldiers during the past few months.

Britain is the United States’ prime ally in the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.