Baghdad, July 29: Six years and four months after the invasion of Iraq almost all remaining British forces are leaving the country quietly, without any ceremony.
To the embarrassment of the UK Government, the 150 military personnel are having to relocate to Kuwait after the Iraqi parliament failed to ratify an agreement by Friday. Without this accord the troops do not have any legal right to stay on.
British officials insisted yesterday this was a temporary setback and that the force would return once the Iraqi parliament got around to addressing the issue after dealing with more pressing matters such as the elections in Kurdistan.
–Agencies