|
Britian reducing military presence { April 11 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10100-2003Apr11.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10100-2003Apr11.html
Britain Reducing Gulf Military Presence
By MICHAEL McDONOUGH
The Associated Press
Friday, April 11, 2003; 6:22 PM
LONDON - Relieved families brought babies and beer to welcome back the first British pilots to return from duty in the Persian Gulf Friday.
British officials said earlier that some naval and air forces would soon leave the Gulf region after completing their missions in Iraq.
Rolfie Dunne, leader of the Royal Air Force 111 Squadron, was among the first to return, arriving at an airfield in Fife on Scotland's eastern coast with a handful of other Tornado pilots who had been based in Saudi Arabia.
He fell to his knees and held his infant daughter, Alice, up in the air.
"She is about twice the size of when I last saw her and this is a very emotional moment," said Dunne, whose squadron had been gone since February. "It is great to be home and I'm looking forward to spending time with my family, having a drink and doing all the normal domestic things."
The Ministry of Defense didn't give a timeline for the other redeployments.
Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram told British Broadcasting Corp. television that some armed forces would be returning, "but our commitment to Iraq remains 100 percent. ... This is by no means the beginning of a full-scale reduction."
Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said planes, helicopters and ships, including Britain's flagship aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, would shortly withdraw from the Gulf region.
Britain sent some 45,000 members of its armed forces to the Gulf. Many British troops are now engaged in restoring order to Iraq's second city, Basra, the scene of mass looting in recent days.
Ingram said the withdrawals wouldn't affect British efforts to maintain order, while other officials said the looting was not surprising.
"We recognize the problems associated with civil disorder and looting, but there's nothing unusual in this," Ingram said. "It's graphic, it's not nice to see, and it's sometimes very dangerous. But it's typical of regime collapse."
Earlier, the head of Britain's aid agency urged U.S. troops occupying Baghdad to try harder to bring order to the Iraqi capital.
"There must be a much bigger effort to stop all this looting and violence," International Development Secretary Clare Short told BBC radio. "We need a massively bigger effort. It should focus on hospitals."
© 2003 The Associated Press
|
|
