This is a bombshell, right? According to this article in the Financial Times, Blair is finally throwing in the towel on the whole Iraq fiasco, and will withdraw U.K. troops from that mess over the next 18 months:
The Ministry of Defence has drafted plans for a significant withdrawal of British troops from Iraq over the next 18 months and a big deployment to Afghanistan, the Financial Times has learnt.
In what would represent the biggest operational shake-up involving the armed forces since the Iraq war, the first stage of a run-down in military operations is likely to take place this autumn with a handover of security to Iraqis in at least two southern provinces.
Defence officials emphasised that all plans for Iraqi deployments were contingent on the ability of domestic security forces to assume peacekeeping duties from UK troops. Iraqi forces have so far proven unable to take over such roles in areas where the insurgency is most intense, and progress has disappointed coalition officials.
While the Brits appear to be trying to put an innocuous spin on this development (stating that withdrawal is contingent on Iraqi troops being able to "assume peacekeeping duties from UK troops"), it seems clear to me that this is nothing less than a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq by our only ally with any significant troop presence.
This is nothing short of a disaster. Everyone agrees there aren't enough troops in Iraq NOW, and everyone agrees that, short of a major turnaround in recruitment, the US doesn't have the military personnel available to increase troop strength to acceptable levels in the near-term. So I have to imagine that losing our British allies on the ground is going to be a major blow to our efforts.
Looks like we have no choice but to step up Operation Yellow Elephant.