BAGHDAD, Iraq – Most British troops should have been withdrawn from Iraq by the summer of 2008 under a phased plan disclosed to the Daily Telegraph yesterday by the top British Army officer in Baghdad.

The first movements could come within weeks, said Lieutenant General Nick Houghton.

He detailed the timetable to end months of speculation over when the first of Britain’s 8,000 contingent will be brought home.

The process will involve a four-stage disengagement that is scheduled to begin this spring, or at the latest by the end of the summer.

The intention is to achieve a smooth hand-over of authority to Iraqi forces in four provinces under British control, while preserving the capacity to reinstate troops quickly.

Although General Houghton said the withdrawal was prompted by confidence that Iraq’s 225,000 soldiers and police officers could soon maintain order without assistance, the news was seen by hard-line Shiite and Sunni groups as a victory for their resistance to the “occupiers.”

The Baghdad spokesman of Moqtada al-Sadr, the militant cleric whose followers have repeatedly battled British troops, said their departure was “our aim and our goal.”

A leading member of the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party, Khalil Ibrahim, said it was good that foreign troops were leaving voluntarily before they were “forced to.”

The general said a gradual withdrawal needed to begin soon to ensure that the Iraqi people understood that British troops had no intention of staying forever. “There is a fine line between staying too long and leaving too soon.

“A military transition over two years has a reasonable chance of avoiding the pitfalls of overstaying our welcome but gives us the best opportunity of consolidating the Iraqi security forces.”

He would not comment directly on American plans to scale down its 116,000-strong presence other than to say they were on the “same” lines though not necessarily to the same timetable.

Prime Minister Blair and President Bush have previously refused to lay out a timetable for withdrawals.

General Houghton emphasized that the timing would work only if newly elected Iraqi politicians formed a national unity government and that sectarian tensions – at an all time high after the destruction of the Golden Mosque in Samarra – did not worsen.

He said the bombing of the mosque “has not in any way altered the plan and its potential time-scale. The degree of restraint in the face of huge provocation was reassuring.”

The ability of the country to pull itself back from the brink demonstrated that “there is a huge resilience within the Iraqi people to avoid the descent into sectarianism.”

General Houghton, seen as one of the Army’s rising stars, is second in command of forces in Iraq and defers only to the American commander, General George Casey. He was speaking as he prepared to leave Iraq this week after a five-month tour.

Last night an MoD spokesman said: “The general made it clear that all of this was conditions-based and was outlining possible scenarios for handover. The key point is that no decisions on timing or force levels have been taken.”

General Houghton said the first step would occur in the next few months when authority for security in Maysan and Muthanna provinces is handed to the Iraqis.

This will be accompanied by a reduction in troop numbers in both provinces with the remainder staying on base to give support when needed. They will continue to train police and army units.

If Iraqi forces prove able to maintain order there would then be a total withdrawal of British troops from both regions.

The same plan could then be put into action in Dhiqar and Basra this time next year.

That would pave the way for all but a few hundred troops to leave by early to mid 2008.