British Prime Minister Tony Blair Wednesday told MPs that 1,600 soldiers would return from Iraq within the next few months. According to him, the 7,100 troops would be cut to 5,500 soon, with hopes that 500 more will leave by late summer.
According to the BBC, Blair said some soldiers, stationed at Basra air base, would remain into 2008 to help secure supply routes, the Iran border and to support Iraqis. Basra remained a "dangerous" place but the British leader conveyed that Iraqis would "write the next chapter" in its history.
Blair said the troops reduction followed the success of Operation Sinbad to allow Iraqis to take the lead in frontline security in Basra.
The British leader stated Basra was still "difficult and sometimes dangerous", but he said levels of murder and kidnappings had dropped and reconstruction was under way. "The problems remain formidable," he said.
"What all of this means is not that Basra is how we want it to be but the next chapter in Basra's history can be written by the Iraqis." He said that it was important to show the Iraqis that Britain - and the other multinational force members - did not intend their forces to stay longer than necessary.
But he added: "The speed at which this happens depends, of course, in part on what we do, what the Iraqi authorities themselves do, but also on the attitude of those we are together fighting. Their claim to be fighting for the liberation of their country is a palpable lie. "
