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Britain hails Bush Iraq strategy
AFP
LONDON
Petroleumworld.com 01 11 07Britain's Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett welcomed Thursday US President George W. Bush's new strategy on Iraq, but said her government had no plans to increase its own military presence there.
Beckett told reporters Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq and other measures showed his administration was determined to get to grips with the security situation, particularly in Baghdad.
"We welcome that and we hope that this joint effort to resolve this very difficult security situation will indeed succeed," Beckett said before a cabinet meeting.
"We're not in the same position" in southern Iraq as the United States is in the rest of the country, Beckett added.
"It is not our intention at the present time to send more troops," Beckett said. "We are progressively handing over responsibility to Iraqi forces and to Iraqi police. That is continuing."
The British government has said it hopes to withdraw "thousands" of its 7,000-odd troops based in the southern city of Basra by the end of this year, so long as an ongoing security operation there is successful.
AFP 11 0837 GMT 01 07
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