KEY POINTS:
LONDON - Britain said today it would withdraw almost a quarter of its troops from Iraq in coming months, just as thousands of additional US soldiers were arriving there to try to restore order in Baghdad.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose popularity at home has suffered greatly because
of his decision to go to war in Iraq, said troop levels would fall by 1,600, but soldiers would stay into 2008 if Iraq wanted.
"The actual reduction in forces will be from the present 7,100 -- itself down from over 9,000 two years ago and 40,000 at the time of the conflict -- to roughly 5,500," he said.
"The UK military presence will continue into 2008, for as long as we are wanted and have a job to do." he told parliament.
Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also said on Wednesday Denmark would withdraw all ground troops from Iraq by August and replace them with 55 soldiers manning four helicopters. It has about 470 soldiers serving under British command.
US President George W. Bush has ordered an extra 21,500 American soldiers to Iraq where US forces number some 141,000.
US Vice President Dick Cheney welcomed the announcement and said the United States wanted to finish its mission in Iraq and "return with honour".
The move could embolden Democrats to increase pressure on Bush to set his own timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, where more than 3,100 US and 101 British soldiers have been killed.
Blair, who is due to step down later this year, said the plans reflected the vastly different security conditions faced by US troops in Baghdad compared with those in southern Iraq, where Britain handed over command of the main Iraqi army unit in Basra to Iraqis on Tuesday.
"What all of this means is not that Basra is how we want it to be. But it does mean that the next chapter in Basra's history can be written by Iraqis," he said.
Many in Basra, Iraq's second city and main centre for oil production, expressed relief at the planned withdrawal but some voiced fears it was premature.
"They were occupiers and they should have left long ago," said Nour Abdul-Muttalib, a 29-year-old teacher. "They are not welcome in this city," she said.
Jaafar Saleem, a 38-year-old businessman in the city, said: "I think their exit will produce lawlessness in the city."
Rice: coalition intact
Blair said the country would retain combat capabilities to support Iraqi security forces in and around Basra.
"Increasingly our role will be support and training, and our numbers will be able to reduce accordingly," he said.
Cheney told ABC news from Japan the announcement was "an affirmation of the fact that in parts of Iraq ... things are going pretty well."
Speaking at a news conference in Berlin, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pointed out that thousands of British troops would remain in southern Iraq.
"The coalition remains intact," she said.
Australia, another key US ally, said it had no immediate plans to reduce its 1,400-strong force in and around Iraq.
Democrats in the US House of Representatives approved a non-binding resolution last week opposing the troop increase. Cheney said Washington would not back "a policy of retreat".
"We want to complete the mission, we want to get it done right, and we want to return with honour," he said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has called the U.S.-backed security crackdown in Baghdad which started last week a "brilliant success". But a spate of car bombs that have killed scores has tempered early optimism.
A car bomb exploded at a police checkpoint near a busy market in the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf on Wednesday, killing at least 11 people, and wounding 35 more, police said.
- REUTERS
