Atlantic Council

Britain announced that it could withdraw its 4,100 remaining troops from Iraq by June 2009 if Iraqi elections in January go off peacefully. The withdrawal will mark the end of a six-year campaign, and the conclusion of an unpopular war both at home and abroad.

According to the BBC, UK troops will begin pulling out of Iraq in March 2009:

The UK has been negotiating the legal basis on which its forces can stay in the Gulf state when its UN mandate expires at the end of the year.  It still has 4,100 troops in Basra but defense chiefs plan a withdrawal over the next year if Iraqi elections in January pass off peacefully.

A withdrawal could allow resources to be diverted to Afghanistan.  Prime Minister Gordon Brown has indicated that almost all British troops should leave Iraq by the middle of next year, with a few hundred possibly remaining to train Iraqi security forces.

UK government sources have said that helicopters, intelligence officers, and gradually troops will be transferred to Afghanistan after the Iraq withdrawal.  The Times reported that around 400 British Troops will remain in Iraq:

Under present planning, the reduced British force of about 400 will include the Service personnel who are based in Baghdad, with the exception of the SAS squadrons.  Some British personnel will remain in the south to continue training the Iraqi Navy at Umm Qasr port, after a specific request for them to do so by the Baghdad Government.

As recently as last month, the UK said it is willing to send an additional 2,000 troops to Afghanistan, where the Taliban and militant forces are stepping up their attacks.  As my colleague Neil Leslie notes, "High time for other NATO members to contribute their fair share."

Facing a worsening economic situation and a war in Iraq that will be difficult to end—in short, grave overstretch—the next U.S. administration will seek to return to a more multilateral foreign policy and attempt to work closely with Europe. But Europe may not be willing or able to meet American expectations to play a larger role in international security.

Nicolas Sarkozy, in his capacity as EU president, is urging European nations to provide more assistance to Iraq.  UPI quotes from a "draft EU document obtained by Financial Times Deutschland" that Europe should ramp up its efforts "without day" and that "Our common goal is to contribute to Iraq's success."   The focus is on training Iraqi security forces, not sending in additional combat troops.

Iraq has deployed at least 500 officers from the national police of Anbar province along its border with Syria to patrol known points of entry for foreign militants, CNN reported.  The officers will take the place of Syrian border guards that withdrew back inside Syrian territory after the U.S. helicopter raid on Abu Ghadiya, a smuggler of foreign fighters and weapons, near the border last week.

Syria has made some efforts to secure the 375-mile border, but much of it remains "uncontrolled," said Major General John Kelly, the U.S. commander of Anbar province.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Iraqi politician Ali al-Adeeb, a Shiite lawmaker close to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Thursday that the country want to remove from a proposed security agreement the possibility that U.S. soldiers could stay in Iraq after 2011.  The current version of the deal stipulates that U.S. troops will remain in Iraq until the end of 2011 unless the Iraqi government asks them to stay longer.

Referring to the upcoming U.S. elections, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said, "The window for any kind of discussions, negotiations is rapidly coming to a close."

The U.S. military handed over control of security operations to Iraqi forces in the southern province of Wasit, the Times reported.  Wasit is the last southern Iraqi province and the thirteenth of the country's 18 provinces to be transferred to Iraqi security forces.  Only four violent northern provinces and Baghdad remain under U.S. military command.

Wasit experienced clashes in March and April of 2008 during an uprising by Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.  However, since the ceasefire, the province has remained relatively quiet.  Wasit's handover follows that of Babil province last week.

According to Reuters, sources said that the weekend helicopter raid in Syria just over the border from Iraq was aimed at Abu Ghadiya, a former deputy to Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.  Ghadiya is alleged to have operated a network for smuggling foreign fighters into Iraq.  Al-Zarqawi was killed by a U.S. airstrike in 2006.

Although the U.S. has yet to confirm or deny responsibility for the raid, it is believed that Ghadiya was successfully killed.  Both Russia and France have called on the U.S. to respect Syria's territorial integrity.

U.S. troops have carried out a raid inside Syria along the Iraqi border, reports BBC. Eight people including four children were killed according to Syrian officials. "American soldiers" emerged from helicopters and "attacked a civilian building under construction and opened fire on workers inside - including the wife of the building guard - leading to [the deaths] of eight civilians", according to official Syrian news agency Sana. A U.S. military spokesman was unable to confirm or deny the reports, saying it was a "developing situation".

The US says it is investigating. It has previously accused Syria of allowing foreign militants into Iraq.

On Thursday, the U.S. military turned over security responsibilities in Babil province south of Baghdad to the Iraqi military.  The region has seen major improvements in the past year.  Once dubbed part of the "Triangle of Death," Babil became the twelfth of the country's 18 provinces to be handed over to provincial Iraqi control, the Washington Post reported.

Around 3,800 U.S. troops will stay in Babil to train Iraqi security forces and provide operational assistance.