Bush warns Brown over premature Iraq withdrawal: report

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — Britain should not jeopardise coalition gains in Iraq by withdrawing its troops prematurely, US President George W. Bush said in an interview with The Observer newspaper published Sunday.

Newspaper reports here this week suggested Prime Minister Gordon Brown could soon announce a final timetable for the withdrawal of its remaining 4,000 or so troops from southern Iraq by the end of the year.

Brown told his monthly news conference that he hoped to make a statement to parliament before it breaks for the summer recess next month.

But Bush, who arrives in London Sunday from Paris, said that while he recognised the pressure in both the United States and Britain for such a draw-down, it could only be "based upon success".

"Our answer is:...