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Brown Announces July Withdrawal in Baghdad

Brown says troops home by July in surprise Baghdad visit

By Jason Farago, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 17, 2008 5:47 AM CST

(Newser) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Baghdad today and announced that all but a handful of British troops will leave Iraq by July 2009. About 4,000 British service members remain in Iraq, mostly around Basra, though at the height of the war 100,000 were deployed. Since the war began 178 British troops have lost their lives, reports the Times of London.

The British handed control of Basra to the Iraqis in December 2007, although troops maintain an "overwatch" role. A UN mandate authorizing foreign troops in Iraq expires at the end of the year.

[Images (4)]

[Quotes (1)]

An Iraqi army soldier, with an Iraqi flag draped around his shoulders, walks past a British soldier watching a training session at Basra airport, Iraq's second-largest city. (AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani)

Gordon Brown walks from his aircraft on arrival in Baghdad today. The British prime minister flew into Baghdad to discuss plans for withdrawal from Iraq. (AP Photo/Peter Macdiarmid/PA)

Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brownmeets Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi in Baghdad today. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Badri)

Iraqi police practice house clearing during training in Mahmoudiya, Iraq, last week. (AP Photo/Dusan Vranic)

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We have been engaged in the most difficult of work: overthrowing a dictatorship, building a democracy for the future and defending it against terrorism—and giving people an economic stake in the future of Iraq. - Gordon Brown, British prime minister

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Brown Announces July Withdrawal in Baghdad