BRITAIN’S EIGHT years of military commitment in Iraq will finally and formally end on Sunday, when the remaining forces in the south of the country will withdraw.
The announcement to bring to an end one of the most controversial military campaigns in recent history was made yesterday in a statement to the House of Commons in London by the defence secretary Liam Fox.
The UK still has about 170 mostly naval personnel in Iraq, helping to train the fledgling Iraqi navy from the port of Umm Qasr. The contingent includes a few royal marines.
That compares with the 46,000 British troops and military personnel that were committed to the campaign to remove Saddam Hussein.
In all, 178 UK service personnel, and one ministry of defence civilian, died in Iraq between 2003 and 2009.
UK combat forces, primarily based in Basra, withdrew in July 2009 but since then the UK navy has continued working alongside US forces to train 1,800 Iraqis.
Mr Fox said the UK-Iraq training and maritime support deal “will conclude on May 22nd”.
He added: “British forces have been involved in this important task since 2003 and, under the agreement signed in 2009, royal navy trainers have developed the capacity of the Iraqi maritime security forces to protect their territorial waters and offshore oil platforms, which are vital to Iraq’s economic revival. Having successfully completed their mission UK personnel deployed to Iraq under this agreement will now leave the country. This will mark the formal conclusion of Operation Telic.” – (Guardian service)