Report: US troops to leave Iraq in 2007
(United Press International)
Updated: 2006-03-05 14:17

Citing military sources, a London newspaper reports all US and British troops will be out of Iraq by early 2007.

While the number of coalition soldiers in the country will be reduced slightly over time, most of the pullout will take place at once in early 2007, the Daily Telegraph said.

Leaders in both Washington and London have decided the presence of coalition forces in Iraq is fueling the insurgency, the newspaper said, but the push for withdrawal has come mainly from Britain.

"Our presence is now part of the problem," the source said. "That is a situation which is now accepted by both governments. We are viewed as an occupation force even though, at the moment, we are in Iraq at the invitation of the government."

The United States has 138,000 troops stationed in Iraq. Most of the other 15,000 coalition troops are British.

Internal and external defense in Iraq would be taken over by the Iraqi Defense Force, which currently has about 232,000 police officers and soldiers.

The source told The Telegraph British forces are likely to remain in Afghanistan for a decade.