UK troops in Iraq stay at 4,100

A plan to cut troops in Basra to 2,500 by spring was halted British forces in Iraq will remain at a strength of 4,100 "for the next few months", Gordon Brown has told MPs. In his last Commons statement on Iraq before MPs' 11-week summer recess, the PM said that as progress is made troop numbers "will continue to reduce". Mr Brown, who has just returned from a visit there, said he expected "a further fundamental change of mission" for UK troops early in 2009. But David Cameron warned him not to announce troop reductions prematurely. The Commons defence committee earlier said the security situation in the country had been "transformed". But UK training of Iraqi forces in Basra must be a "medium-to-long-term project", it added. The committee said maintaining a sizeable training commitment was important to ensuring Britain... [read full story]