British troops to start leaving Iraq within months, Blair confirms

Britain will pull about 1,600 troops from Iraq within months, with an aim to pull out several hundred more by the end of the summer, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday.

"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," Blair told the House of Commons.

"The U.K. military presence will continue into 2008, for as long as we are wanted and have a job to do."

Blair outlined the plan in a statement following his weekly House of Commons questions session.

"Depending on the progress of security forces, we will be able to draw down further possibly to below 5,000 in late summer," said Blair.

British soldiers remaining in Iraq will train Iraqi forces, help secure the border with Iran, maintainsupply routes, carry out operations against extremist groups and support the Iraqi army when called upon, said Blair.

In a separate announcement Wednesday, Denmark outlined plans to begin withdrawing its troops from Iraq by August.

Roughly 460 Danish soldiers are serving in Iraq. They will be replaced by a unit of nine soldiers manning four observational helicopters.

U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, speaking Wednesday on a visit to Japan, said the British announcement shows progress is being made.

"I look at it and what I see is an affirmation of the fact that in parts of Iraq things are going pretty well," he said in an interview with ABC News.

Basra in Iraqi hands

Blair said thesecurity situation in violent Baghdad is different than in Basra, where the bulk of British troops are stationed.

While Iraq's second largest city remains "difficult and dangerous," there is no Sunni insurgency, the levels of murder and kidnapping are down and reconstruction efforts are ongoing, he said.

"The next chapter in Basra's history can be written by the Iraqis," said Blair.

Blair praised Washington's plan for a massive security crackdown on Baghdad, which the British prime minister said has had "an orgy of terrorism unleashed upon it."

"It doesn't much matter if elsewhere in Iraq, change is happening. If Baghdad cannot be secured, the future of the country is in peril," he said. "The enemies of Iraq understand that and we understand that."

As recently as late last month, Blair rejected opposition calls to withdraw British troops by October, calling such a plan irresponsible.

"That would send the most disastrous signal to the people that we are fighting in Iraq. It's a policy that, whatever its superficial attractions may be, is actually deeply irresponsible," Blair said in the House of Commons on Jan. 24.

More U.S. troops

Blair's announcement Wednesday comes weeks after U.S. President George W. Bush ordered an increase of 21,000 troops for Iraq as part of a security surge in Baghdad and the violent Anbar province.

Blair and Bush talked by secure video link Tuesday morning and Bush said Britain's troop cutbacks were "a sign of success" in Iraq. Britain has long been the U.S.'s biggest coalition partner in Iraq.

Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, British troops have been responsible for Iraq's southernmost four provinces, which are mainly Shia and have been quieter than mixed or mainly Sunni areas patrolled by Americans.

The first British troops could be back home by May, when Blair is expected to step down as prime minister.

In September 2006, Blair announced he would step down as prime minister and Labour party leader within 12 months, but wouldn't provide a specific date.

Blair's popularity in opinion polls has plummeted in recent months because of controversy over British military participation in Iraq and the increasingly violent situation in Afghanistan.