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 Press Gaggle by Tony Snow 2/21/07 (Topic: Iraq) — Thursday, February 22, 2007 — MR. SNOW: No, it indicates that there's been some progress in Basra. The fact that there has been progress in a couple of areas -- one is training up Iraqis to take over some of the responsibilities that the Brits and the Danes have been handling within Basra has made it possible for Britain to remove some of the forces. On the other hand, it has not changed the combat capability of British forces within the area, and instead, as we understand it -- and I think you have to -- I have not had a full chance to read through the Prime Minister's comments today -- but as we understand it, they are going to have enhanced abilities to continue doing the work of embedding and training and working with the Iraqis, with the army, with the police and also with border guards. So the Brits still have a significant commitment. But the fact that they have made some progress on the ground is going to enable them to move some of the forces out, and that's ultimately the kind of thing that we want to be able to see throughout Iraq. As the President said all along, the idea is to build greater Iraqi capability, and when the time comes, to be able to move folks out. Q Can I follow that, Tony? The plan calls for the British to remove troops as conditions permit. And the initial response from the U.S. was that that's a model to emulate. But that's what some have, in fact, been calling for here, is time lines for removal of troops if conditions permit. So why is that model not okay for U.S. troops? MR. SNOW: No, this is not a time line. And the Prime Minister made it clear it is not a time line. As a matter of fact, what you had is progress first and then the removal. This was not in response to any calendar that had been set by the Parliament or by the Prime Minister. In fact, it had been the result of a judgment. And a lot of what's happening is that in certain facilities in Basra, for instance, guard responsibilities -- what they call fixed security responsibilities -- now are being handed over to the Iraqis. They've trained them up, they're able to do it, be able to transfer some of the authority. So there are still plenty of challenges within Basra, which is why they maintain a sizeable and robust military capability within the province. But to the extent that they're able to transfer responsibilities, as we've seen in other provinces, that's what you want to do. So, again, this is not a case of a specified time line, trying to hit it. But, look, the President has made clear all along, we want to do -- we want to move as rapidly as we can to build capability on the part of the Iraqis so they can, in fact, assume first, primary responsibility, and then eventually, sole responsibility not only for matters of security, but also economic development, political reconciliation and so on. White House Press Corps | Press Briefing | Tony Snow | News Media | Bush Administration | Iraq >> Full Story
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 12:06:00 AM
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