I’m always a bit amused by headlines like this.
UK, US to withdraw Iraq forces by early ’07: papers
The United States and Britain are planning to pull all their troops out of Iraq by the spring of 2007, two British newspapers reported in their Sunday editions, quoting unnamed senior defense ministry sources.
The Sunday Telegraph said the planned pull-out followed an acceptance by the two governments that the presence of foreign troops in Iraq was now a large obstacle to securing peace.
“The British government is understood to be the driving force behind the withdrawal plan but all 24 coalition members are likely to welcome the move, given the growing international unpopularity of the war,” the Telegraph said.
The Bush administration and Pentagon have stated repeatedly there is no timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq, and a U.S. military spokesman repeated that on Saturday.
“We’ve made no such plans,” said Pentagon spokesman Major Paul Swiergosz.
I’m not sure why they continue to do this, but the MSM seems intent on trying to push for troop withdrawal by publishing stories like the one above. It’s a big waste of time actually. The only people who are going to decide troop withdrawal dates are the generals in the field. They won’t be influenced by public opinion polls formed through a series of newspapers publicizing end-of-war date predictions.