Britain to start Iraq pullout from today
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
BASRA, Mar 30 (AFP): British forces will officially start to pull out of Iraq Tuesday, signalling the end of six years of military operations that began with the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.
The British-led coalition base in Basra will lower its flag and transfer to US control as American soldiers arrive to take up a new role that includes the training of Iraq's fledgling police force.
"It will be a significant day because it signals the completion of Britain's military tasks here," Major General Andy Salmon, the outgoing British commander of the base, told newsmen ahead of the pull out.
"We have had some difficult times but we look ahead to the future with a huge amount of optimism for Iraq."
British troop numbers in the campaign were the second largest, peaking at 46,000 in March and April six years ago during the US-led invasion, and 179 of its servicemen and women have died in the country.
A deal signed by Baghdad and London last year agreed the remaining 4,100 British soldiers would complete their mission-primarily training the Iraqi army-by June, before a complete withdrawal from the country in late July.
The British-led coalition base in Basra will lower its flag and transfer to US control as American soldiers arrive to take up a new role that includes the training of Iraq's fledgling police force.
"It will be a significant day because it signals the completion of Britain's military tasks here," Major General Andy Salmon, the outgoing British commander of the base, told newsmen ahead of the pull out.
"We have had some difficult times but we look ahead to the future with a huge amount of optimism for Iraq."
British troop numbers in the campaign were the second largest, peaking at 46,000 in March and April six years ago during the US-led invasion, and 179 of its servicemen and women have died in the country.
A deal signed by Baghdad and London last year agreed the remaining 4,100 British soldiers would complete their mission-primarily training the Iraqi army-by June, before a complete withdrawal from the country in late July.