Tony Blair calls for plans on Iraq pull-out [subject to....]

dailyrecord: Tony Blair is working on strategies to get out of Iraq, sources claimed yesterday.

The recent troubles in Basra are said to have focussed the Prime Minister's mind on pulling the troops out.

And he has ordered civil servants to come up with plans which must involve the least possible bloodshed among Iraqi civilians and British troops.

The Government are desperate to avoid the appearance of abandoning Iraq to the mercy of extremists and insurgents.

Among the ideas being considered is the possibility of handing over one or more of the provinces under coalition control and carrying out a staged withdrawal.

Blair is aware that any pull-out will have to be in tandem with the Americans, though and US president George Bush has been defiant on the subject, saying withdrawal would allow the insurgents to claim a historic victory. Read more

db: "any pull-out will have to be in tandem with the Americans" - then it's a non-story isn't it? Don't ask why we went through the labor of cutting and pasting this.