Britain will not send more troops to Iraq says Beckett

UK News

Jan 11, 2007, 11:56 GMT

London - Britain Thursday welcomed the decision by US President George W Bush to send more troops to Iraq but said the government in London had no plans to increase its deployment. Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, speaking ahead of a cabinet meeting in Downing Street, said the decision to send a further 21,500 troops showed the 'determination of the US to deal with the security situation in Iraq.' However, the British government had no plans to send more troops, she added. Beckett stressed that British plans to hand over security responsibility to Iraqi forces in the southern provinces of Iraq were 'well underway.' British forces, currently engaged in a major anti-insurgency operation in Basra, are expected to be withdrawn from the port city in the next few weeks and to be stationed at the airport there, according to a plan outlined by Beckett late last year. Troop levels are expected to be halved from the present deployment of just over 7,000, and British soldiers would remain in southern Iraq to 'oversee' security arrangements that would largely be handled by Iraqi forces. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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