by C. Michael Lowery

Created on: February 24, 2007   Last Updated: May 20, 2007

The implications of the British intent to withdraw troops is not as easily pigeon holed as the media would like to present it. There are several factors that all play a key role in British troops returning from Iraq. Some of these reasons are far more mundane than the few sensationalist reasons trotted out by the press and by Bush's political rivals.
The most prominent reason for a British troop withdraw is a simple matter of economics vs. reward. Keep in mind that the U.S. initiated this conflict based on faulty intelligence that was used to persuade other countries that Iraq posed an eminent threat to national security for all Democratic nations. As time has shown, Iraq posed little if any threat beyond it's own borders, and certainly not to England. Therefore national security could not be a reason to justify involvement.

The next reason that the British entered the conflict was to play a supporting role to the United States. The British/U.S. alliance was a shaky venture politically for Tony Blair from the start, and pressure from both his party and opposing parties have increased exponentially since then. Mr. Blair is having trouble trying to justify the deaths of British troops despite the absence of a threat to British citizens. In what has become a U.S. conflict with insurgents in Iraq, the opposite has become true- The British find themselves at an increased risk for domestic terrorist attacks in retaliation to their involvement. In effect, British involvement in the Iraq conflict has created a threat where no threat had previously existed.
The British do not see themselves as having a horse in this race, so to speak, and the intent had never been to engage in a long, drawn out conflict. The goals of the British- to assist the U.S. in removing Saddam Hussein's regime from power, and the infamous WMD fiasco, have been accomplished. These objectives were clear from the onset, as Britain has never claimed a desire to become an occupation force in Iraq. Seeing as they now are the cost in lives and money that the conflict has created and more importantly the undeniable truth that the conflict can have no clear solution in the near future, the British are exercising a logical choice that the American government could only dream of. The British will leave Iraq having accomplished the goals it had set at the onset of the conflict. It is by no means a retreat by the British. Unlike the brash statement made by the U.S. much earlier in the conflict, the British may return home now and rightly acclaim 'Mission Accomplished'.

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