www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

   

Prince Harry to be sent to Iraq; troop pullout planned

(AP/AFP)
Updated: 2007-02-22 15:59


Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair leaves Downing Street for Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, February 21, 2007. Blair will on Wednesday announce a timetable for the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq just as thousands of additional U.S. troops are arriving there to try to restore order in Baghdad. [Reuters]

Blair telephoned the US president on Tuesday to warn him of the announcement, the White House said.

"President Bush sees this as a sign of success and what is possible for us once we help the Iraqis deal with the sectarian violence in Baghdad," said White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Vice President Dick Cheney said the British drawdown was justified given the situation in Basra, but stressed there could be no retreat from Iraq.

"I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat," Cheney said on the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier while on a trip to Japan.

"We want to complete the mission, we want to get it done right, and we want to return with honour," he said.

The withdrawal represented not only a political blow to the US administration from one of its staunchest allies, it also carried the risk of plunging another part of Iraq into violent chaos, some analysts warned.

Although relatively calm compared with Baghdad and Sunni areas to the north and west of the capital, Basra has been the scene of spurts of internecine violence among rival Shiite militias.

Nora Bensahel, a terrorism expert at the US-based Rand Corp, a think tank with ties to the US Air Force, said that while violence in the south is at a manageable level, she expected the security situation to worsen when British soldiers leave.

"There certainly is no more slack in the US system to deploy more troops to the south were that seen to be necessary," she said.

"So if the level of violence does go up in the aftermath of the British withdrawal -- and I think that is a very likely scenario -- that could be very problematic for the US," she said.

Pentagon officials said the British withdrawal in the coming months was unlikely to have an effect on the day-to-day operations of the US military, which runs its supplies through the oil-rich southern region.

But other US analysts said the British troops are badly needed, but in Baghdad where sectarian violence is mounting.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, another strong backer of the US-led invasion, said he would not reduce Australia's 550 combat troops in Iraq, part of a 1,400-strong force in the country.

At the same time, Bulgaria's parliament voted to extend the presence of the 155 Bulgarian troops in Iraq by a year until April 2008.

And El Salvador -- the only Latin American to still maintain troops in Iraq -- planned to keep its 380 troops in the country, a spokesman for President Elias Antonio Saca said Wednesday.

The United States has now more than 140,000 troops in Iraq in the wake of Bush's January announcement that he would send another 21,500 to Baghdad and surrounding provinces where the insurgency and sectarian violence have worsened in recent months.

There was more carnage in Iraq on Wednesday.

A suicide car bomber attacked an Iraqi police checkpoint in the Shiite holy city of Najaf, killing at least 13 people, and three more US troops were killed in two separate incidents.

Iraqi officials welcomed news of Britain's withdrawal plans. Sami al-Askari, a Shiite lawmaker and political adviser to Maliki, said it fulfilled "the wish of the Iraqi government and all the political powers in the country."

Hakim al-Mayahi, head of the Basra provincial security council which has had a fractious relationship with the British, said he welcomed "any withdrawal of British forces from inside the centre of the city."
 1234  


Top World News  
Today's Top News  
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
主站蜘蛛池模板: 亚洲人成a在线网站 | 日本特黄特色大片免费视频网站 | 日韩色吧 | 美女被靠视频免费网站不需要会员 | 国产肥老妇视频一 | 欧美国产日本高清不卡 | 亚洲高清在线观看播放 | 免费在线观看一区 | 国产成人亚洲综合欧美一部 | 成年女人毛片免费视频 | 欧美性生交大片免费看 | 成人怡红院视频在线观看 | 三级在线网站 | 久草视频免费 | 国产精品自拍合集 | 成a人v| 国产成人精品午夜 | 日本免费一区二区三区a区 日本免费一区二区三区看片 | 在线精品视频免费观看 | 精品国产免费观看一区 | 久久精品一区二区三区四区 | 911国产自产精选 | 国产一级在线观看www色 | 久久国产美女免费观看精品 | 成人综合在线观看 | 国产精品资源 | 一级特黄性色生活片一区二区 | 国产免费高清在线精品一区 | 国产日本精品 | 国产成人香蕉在线视频网站 | 成人在线视频国产 | 国产精品看片 | 亚洲视频二 | 操操操网 | 亚洲欧美网站 | 午夜性爽快免费视频播放 | 日本精品在线观看 | 国产精品国产三级国产专区5o | 午夜精品一区二区三区在线观看 | 日韩一区二区不卡中文字幕 | 亚洲精品国产成人中文 |