http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg- drawdown11jul11,1,5860633.story?coll=la-headlines-world
July 11, 2005 Secret Memo Outlines Vast Troop Cut in Iraq # British defense chief's paper describes plan to pull out most U.S. and UK forces by mid-2006. >From Times Wire Services BAGHDAD The United States and Britain have outlined plans to withdraw more than half of their troops from Iraq by mid-2006, according to a secret memo written for British Prime Minister Tony Blair by Defense Minister John Reid. The document, published by Britain's the Mail on Sunday newspaper and marked "Secret UK Eyes Only," said the U.S. was discussing plans to cut its force now nearly 140,000 to 66,000 by the middle of next year. Britain would cut its force from 8,500 to 3,000, the memo says. "Emerging U.S. plans assume 14 out of 18 provinces could be handed over to Iraqi control by early 2006," the memo said. It made clear, however, that the U.S. military's timetable for troop cuts was not set in stone, as commanders were divided: "There is, however, a debate between the [Pentagon and U.S. Central Command], who favor a relatively bold reduction in force numbers, and the multinational force in Iraq, whose approach is more cautious." Reid did not deny that the memo was genuine, although he said it represented only "prudent planning" for one possible scenario. In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said officials had not seen the document. President Bush has repeatedly refused to set a timeline for a troop pullback, saying that to do so would encourage insurgents to wait out the U.S. presence. But the undated memo appears to be the first official document made public that sets a tentative timeline. Reid, in a statement Sunday following publication of the memo, said the British government had "made it absolutely plain that we will stay in Iraq for as long as is needed." "No decisions on the future force posture of UK forces have been taken. But we have always said that it is our intention to hand over the lead in fighting terrorists to Iraqi security forces as their capability increases," Reid said. "We therefore continually produce papers outlining possible options and contingencies. This is but one of a number of such papers produced over recent months covering various scenarios." -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
