Here's interesting.
According to the Glasgow Herald, Defence Minister John Reid has admitted he wrote the leaked document which suggested that a large proportion of both US and UK troops could be pulled out of Iraq by mid 2006.
The paper, written by the defence secretary himself, outlined the possibility that the UK's current deployment of 8500 armed forces personnel in Iraq could be slashed to just 3000 by the middle of 2006. It also set out a US option to reduce radically its troop numbers from 176,000 to 66,000.
...
Mr Reid confirmed he had drawn up the leaked paper, but insisted it was merely one of many laying out a wide range of possible options facing America and Britain in Iraq.
He said: "We have made it absolutely plain that we will stay in Iraq for as long as is needed. No decisions on the future force posture of UK forces have been taken. But we have always said that it is our intention to hand over the lead in fighting terrorists to Iraqi security forces as their capability increases. We, therefore, continually produce papers outlining possible options and contingencies."
Well yes, but the very fact that it is being considered and could be written by the very top man in the Ministry of Defence is significant.
As I wrote back in May, right after the British general election, Mr Reid is a former member of the Communist Party and a lifelong committed socialist who abhorred the Thatcherite policies which Bush has copied wholesale - very much no automatic ally of the Bush administration.
The very fact that this paper was counted amongst the available UK options says volumes about how his presence is changing the mood of the UK government to one far less likely to simply toe the Bush line. It may have missed many US commentators notice but it is clear from this paper, which comes from the mind of Blair's appointed senior defense minister, that the UK would contemplate withdrawal as an option whatever the US decided to do. That is a major change.
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