From: Ad 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6297135.stm

"The Ministry of Defence has dismissed claims of "tension"
in relations between the UK and US over Iraq policy.

It issued a response after the US ambassador to Iraq said Washington would
prefer UK forces in the south to remain at their current levels.

The UK is planning a partial withdrawal of forces from Basra this year
while the US is increasing numbers in Iraq.

The MoD said its plans were consistent with "long-term strategy"
and the Iraqi desire for security responsibility."

Basically the US is not keen on seeing the road to Kuwait controlled
possibly by the Mahdi Army which is quite reasonable....

So while there has to be some draw down to keep some promises (inc to the
mil itself) a compromise would be UK PBI out of inhabited areas & into
desert bases & borders. Nice & quite & possibly ever counted as
R&R or "Afghanistan training".

i.e. try & keep too much kit, cash etc coming over from Iran while at
the same time getting some pool time somewhere easy to defend (i.e. flat
empty desert plain).

Adam

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