Bush Urges Brown To Delay Troop Withdrawal
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
LONDON — President Bush is urging Prime Minister Brown to delay the withdrawal of troops from Iraq until the security situation has improved significantly.
In his final visit to Britain as president, he will press the Mr. Brown today for an agreement that the two countries will work in tandem on the military deployment that has overshadowed much of his time in office.
Security is tight for the visit, and anti-war demonstrators gathered on yesterday near Downing Street, where the two leaders had a dinner of roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.
No. 10 played down suggestions of a rift between the two leaders, saying that Mr. Brown agreed with “every word” Mr. Bush had said in an interview given before his arrival in which he appeared to warn of the risk of leaving Iraq too soon.
His advice to Britain follows reports that the Ministry of Defence was drawing up plans to announce by the end of the year preparations for the withdrawal of virtually all of the remaining 4,200 troops in Iraq.
Mr. Bush said that any move by Mr. Brown to bring British forces home should be “based upon success.”
He said: “Our answer is: There should be no definitive timetable.
“I am confident that he, like me, will listen to our commanders to make sure that the sacrifices that have gone forward won’t be unravelled by drawdowns that may not be warranted at this point in time. I look forward to discussing it with him.”
But speaking yesterday in an interview with Sky News conducted just before the Downing Street dinner, Mr. Bush appeared to suggest that he had been surprised by Mr. Brown’s co-operation over Iraq.
He said: “I am really appreciative of the relationship I have with Gordon Brown and particularly on this issue.
“We all want to take troops out of Iraq and we are.” Mr. Bush went on about Mr. Brown, saying, “He, by the way, left a lot of troops in, more so than they thought they were going to leave in initially, and so we communicate now and, if there’s success, we’re going to pull troops out and I have absolutely no problem how GB is managing the Iraqi effort.”
