Ah yes, the Poodle Punts whilst the Chimpsters escalate. And yet the Smirkites say it's a good thang... yeah right! Bullshit ALERT. Denmark's also pulling out... that makes it the Coalition of the Leaving! Guess the bribe money's runnin' out...

Blair announces Iraq troops cut

Some 1,600 British troops will return from Iraq within the next few months, Prime Minister Tony Blair has told MPs. He said the 7,100 serving troops would be cut to 5,500 soon, with hopes that 500 more will leave by late summer. Remaining troops will stay into 2008, to give back-up if necessary and secure borders, but the Iraqis would "write the next chapter" in Basra's history... (more w/videoes)

The announcement follows a five-month security operation to quell violence in British-controlled Basra. Mr Blair said Operation Sinbad, aimed at allowing Iraqis to take the lead in frontline security in the city, had been successful.

COALITION FORCES

US -132,000 UK - 7,100 South Korea - 2,300 Poland - 900 Georgia - 800 Australia - 900 Romania - 600 Denmark - 460 El Salvador - 380 Bulgaria - 150

Sources: Brookings Institution; Globalsecurity.org; media reports

He acknowledged that Basra was still "difficult and sometimes dangerous", but he said levels of murder and kidnappings had dropped and reconstruction was under way.

"The UK military presence will continue into 2008, for as long as we are wanted and have a job to do... Increasingly our role will support and training, and our numbers will be able to reduce accordingly," Mr Blair said. "What all of this means is not that Basra is how we want it to be. But it does mean that the next chapter in Basra's history can be written by 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. Later Defence Security Des Browne said he expected the government to look again at the numbers of troops being withdrawn at the end of the summer.

"I am absolutely confident that by the end of the year we will be able to reach the prediction I made which was by the end of this year we will have reduced our troop level by thousands," he said... (full article)

Olbermann's report on the Poodle Puntin'...

Great Britain Withdrawing from Iraq - Young Turks radio coverage... The Young Turks: Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz, and Jill Pike talk about Dick Cheney's comment on withdrawing troops from Iraq. Watch live from 6-9AM ET on www.theyoungturks.com. Listen from 6-9AM ET on Air America Radio.

British Announce Iraq Troop Drawdown - Center for American Progress Analysis - Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Brian Katulis sorts through what to make of the recent announcement that British troops will begin to return home from southern Iraq.

Despite the rosy scenarios portrayed by the Brits and Smirksters, this developement doesn't bode well, according to Juan Cole -

The British Retreat from Iraq Brings Peril for US Troops

Vice President Cheney says the British are leaving southern Iraq because things are going so well. In the real world, Basra is a mess.

Tony Blair's announcement that Britain would withdraw 1,600 troops from southern Iraq by May, and aim for further significant withdrawals by the end of 2007, drew praise from U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. "What I see," said Cheney, "is an affirmation of the fact that there are parts of Iraq where things are going pretty well."

Blair says he'll withdraw his troops from Iraq because things are going so well -- is the opposite the case?

In reality, southern Iraq is a quagmire that has defeated all British efforts to impose order, and Blair was pressed by his military commanders to get out altogether -- and quickly. The departure has only been slowed, for the moment, by the pleas of Bush administration officials like Cheney. And far from the disingenuously upbeat prognosis offered by the vice president, the British withdrawal could spell severe trouble for both the Iraqi government and for U.S. troops in that country.

The British helped provide the security that allowed private supply convoys bearing fuel, food and ammunition to travel from Kuwait up through Shiite-held territory to the U.S. military's forward operating bases in and around Baghdad and in Anbar province. Col. Pat Lang, a retired senior officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency, has pointed out that if Shiite militias began attacking those trucks, American troops in the center-north of the country would become sitting ducks for the Sunni Arab guerrillas... (full article - h/t CLG)