Iraq cabinet says non-US foreign troops to be out by July

The Iraqi cabinet has approved a bill calling for all foreign soldiers except for American forces to pull out of the country by the end of July, a top official said December 16.
"The cabinet has approved draft legislation on the withdrawal of non-U.S. forces in the coalition," said Hummam Hammudi, chairman of parliament's foreign affairs committee.
"It sets a timetable for a withdrawal of between five and seven months from January 1."
The bill, which has to be passed by parliament, would mainly affect the roughly 4,100 British troops deployed at Basra in the south of the country.
London newspapers have reported that Britain intends to begin its withdrawal in March, with most troops out by June, although defense officials insist the precise timetable will depend on conditions on the ground at the time.
"We plan - subject to the conditions on the ground and the advice of military commanders - to reduce our force levels in Iraq as we complete our key tasks in Basra in the early months of next year," a British Ministry of Defence spokesman said last week.
From a peak of 46,000 British soldiers in 2003, when Britain joined the invasion, 4,100 now remain in Iraq.
After a meeting with Hammudi, British Ambassador Christopher Prentice told AFP the bill would pave the way to a new relationship between London and Baghdad.
Up to 400 British soldiers are likely to remain to help train Iraqi forces, while equipment such as helicopters and drones will be transferred to Afghanistan.
Since the 2003 US-led invasion, 177 British troops have died in Iraq.
US soldiers, who make up 95 percent of the coalition, are to have withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2011, under a security pact signed last month after Iraqi parliamentary approval. Their combat troops are due to have pulled out of Iraqi cities by June.
US President-elect Barack Obama, who takes office on January 20, included in his election campaign a 16-month deadline for an accelerated withdrawal from Iraq.
The US military announced on December 16 the departure of the multinational coalition's Albanian and Moldovan contingents, in the last such pullout before the end of 2008.