UK says no more troops to Iraq, Bush plan under fire

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) Britain, in contrast to the United States, said today it would not send more troops to Iraq and would press ahead with plans to scale back its presence in the key southern city of Basra.

''It is not our intention to send more troops at the present time,'' Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told reporters.

Prime Minister Tony Blair told parliament yesterday that British operations aimed at preparing the handover of security in Basra to Iraqi authorities could be complete in a few weeks.

Blair's popularity has slumped over his decision to back President George W Bush in Iraq. Blair is set to step down later this year after a decade in power.

In defiance of US public opinion, Mr Bush said last night that he is sending 21,500 extra troops to Iraq which he believes are needed to help ''break the cycle of violence''.

Beckett said Bush's plan showed the determination of the US and Iraqi governments to deal with the security situation.

''We are under way with a process of handover as the security situation on the ground improves,'' she said. ''We will make our ... decisions depending on the progress of those events.'' But British opposition politicians criticised the US plan.

''You should never reinforce failure,'' Liberal Democrat leader Menzies Campbell told Sky News.

Conservative foreign affairs spokesman William Hague warned that sending more US troops to Baghdad could fuel insurgency.

''We would like to have seen a package ... giving greater importance to accelerating the training and equipping of the Iraqi army ... (and) an emphasis on the urgent need to find a way of re-starting the Middle East Peace Process,'' he said.

OVERSTRETCHED Britain has some 7,100 troops in southern Iraq, mostly stationed in and around Basra. The city, Iraq's second biggest, remains dangerous with Shi'ite factions battling each other for control and British troops sometimes targeted.

British generals fear their troops are already being severely overstretched as they are also involved in fierce fighting against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

''We are not about to lose control of Basra but it's possible the coalition could actually lose control of Baghdad in the next three months,'' defence analyst Charles Heyman said. ''The tragedy about the 20,000 Americans is it's too little, too late.'' The United States knew it couldn't ask for more British troops because ''the British army is totally extended to its absolute limit,'' he said.

The Daily Telegraph, citing a timetable for withdrawal it said it had seen, reported that Britain will cut troop levels in Iraq by almost 3,000 by the end of May. Beckett said the timing of any withdrawal depended on how things went in Basra.

REUTERS SB VV1718