英日曜紙オブザーバーが、英軍高官の話として、イラク駐留英軍が来年5月に本格的に撤退を始める「ロードマップ」を作成中だと報道。ただし、BBC放送のインタビューで、ブレア首相は、このような詳細な計画は承知していないと否定しましたが。
イラク：駐留英軍が来年5月に撤退 英紙が来月発表と報道（毎日新聞）
Blair denies Iraq pull-out date（BBC NEWS）
イラク：駐留英軍が来年5月に撤退 英紙が来月発表と報道
【ロンドン小松浩】25日付の英日曜紙オブザーバーは英軍高官などの話として、イラク駐留多国籍部隊の段階的撤退計画「ロードマップ」を英米両国が作成中で、イラク議会に来月提示されると伝えた。来年夏初めまでの英軍撤退開始が想定されており、英国は既に日本側に、サマワを含むイラク南部からの来年5月撤退開始方針を非公式に伝えたという。撤退計画が明らかになれば、自衛隊の撤退時期の判断にも大きく影響する。
イラク南部バスラでは最近、英軍兵士の拘束をめぐって英軍と住民が衝突。英国内では、駐留長期化のマイナスを指摘する声が高まっている。25日から始まった英労働党大会でも、イラクからの「出口戦略」をどうすべきかが論議の焦点となりそうだ。
リード国防相はオブザーバー紙に、撤退はイラクの政治的安定次第で確定的な期限はないとしながらも、来年7月頃までの撤退開始は可能だとの見通しを示した。[毎日新聞 2005年9月25日 10時56分 （最終更新時間 9月25日 19時20分）]
Blair denies Iraq pull-out date
Prime Minister Tony Blair has denied reports that British soldiers will start withdrawing from Iraq next May.
Any exit strategy “depends on the job being done”, he told BBC’s Sunday AM.
However, Defence Secretary John Reid has hinted the handover to Iraqi forces – followed by the gradual withdrawal of UK troops – could begin next year.
Mr Blair also said he had not expected the “ferocity” with which elements in the Middle East would try to disrupt the political process.
But he said despite insurgents infiltrating the Iraqi police force and the escalating violence in the country, he would have made the same decision to invade Iraq.
“There is no doubt in my mind at all that what is happening in Iraq now is crucial for the future of our own security, never mind the security of Iraq or the greater Middle East,” he said.‘Global terrorism’
He said the strategy for withdrawal had always been to “retire as the Iraqi capability builds up”.
Reports in the Observer newspaper suggested that Britain had already “privately” informed Japan of its plans to begin withdrawing from southern Iraq next May.
But Mr Blair insisted: “What we do depends on the job being done. There is no arbitrary date that’s being set and the allies are all in exactly the same position.
“Our mandate there from the UN is to stay there for as long as the Iraqi government want us and as long as it takes to build up the capability of the Iraqi forces.”
Mr Blair said he would “absolutely not” accept an arrest warrant from a Basra judge for two British soldiers after an Iraqi civilian was reportedly killed and a police officer injured.
The two servicemen – believed to be undercover SAS officers – were detained after a confrontation on Monday and later freed by UK troops who stormed a police station in the southern Iraqi city.Basra situation ‘difficult’
Mr Blair said: “The Iraqi government are not asking us to apologise. We will do anything that is necessary to protect our troops in any situation. I know it has been difficult in Basra.”
The Observer suggests detailed plans on troop withdrawal are being drawn up by UK, US and Iraqi officials and will be presented to the Iraqi parliament next month.
It quotes military sources as saying the document would lay out a detailed exit “road map” by multinational forces.
Defence Secretary John Reid denied there was any such plan but told Sky News’ Sunday with Adam Boulton: “In the course of next year, there could be the start of the process of the handover to the Iraqis.”
When counter-terrorism operations had been handed over, Mr Reid said, “There will then be a process – it won’t happen overnight – where they gradually take the lead, we gradually withdraw to barracks and we gradually withdraw from Iraq itself.”
Tory leader Michael Howard told the same programme: “I think that if we were to leave prematurely we would leave behind a country that would be in danger of becoming a real hotbed of international terrorism and that would be a disaster.
“So we must do what we set out to do – we must continue to work towards the achievement of a stable, sustainable and peaceful Iraq.”
[BBC NEWS Last Updated: Sunday, 25 September 2005, 11:18 GMT 12:18 UK]