@@ U.S. begs the Britain: "Don't abandon main Iraq base" @@

Independent UK
January 27, 2007

U.S. plea to Britain: 'Don't abandon main Iraq base'

By Raymond Whitaker

The U.S. is urging Britain to reconsider plans to close its main base
in southern Iraq.

Since the 2003 invasion, the largest part of Britain's 7100-strong
force has been stationed at the Shaibah logistics base, in the desert
south of Basra. The base is due to be closed within weeks as Britain
prepares to slim down its Iraq commitment, with the main centre of
operations bring transferred to Basra air station, on the outskirts of
the city.

The Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett, said last week that Britain
would be in a position to hand over security in Basra, the last
province where it retains formal control, to the Iraqis "at some point
this spring". This heightened expectations that Britain would cut its
forces by up to 3000 before the summer.

But the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, [Sunni Pashtun] Zalmay Khalilzad, has
publicly urged Britain to maintain its forces in Iraq at their present
level.

Behind the scenes, the U.S. is pressing for Shaibah to be kept open,
amid concern that the strategic supply route from Kuwait into southern
Iraq might become vulnerable.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2192966.ece

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