LONDON, Sept 4, 2007 (AFP) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown denied Tuesday any strategic differences with the United States over Iraq, a day after British troops withdrew from Basra city while US forces are surging in Baghdad.
Brown said Washington and London, which controversially invaded Iraq in 2003, agree on the need to hand over power to Iraqi authorities, saying there was simply a difference of timing in different parts of the country.
"We are on exactly the same path ... which is that we will continue to discharge our obligations to the Iraqi people, that we support their democracy, and we will discharge our obligations to the international community.
"Our policy is exactly the same -- to make it possible for the Iraqi people to be responsible for their own security," he told his monthly press conference in London.
The comments came after Britain's remaining forces in Basra Palace in the centre of the southern port city withdrew overnight Sunday to join others at a nearby airbase.
At the same time, US President George W. Bush made a surprise visit to the war-scarred country, to take stock of a "surge" in US troops designed to clamp down on militants notably in and around Baghdad.
Brown said Britain and the US face different challenges in different parts of the country. "Both of us wish to see a situation where the security of the different provinces of Iraq is taken over by the Iraqis themselves," he said.
"We've always recognised that this would happen at different stages, that this would happen first in some provinces, but be delayed in others. And we've always recognized the particular nature of Baghdad," he added.
"The process and the aims are exactly the same, that the Iraqis can take over security for their own country."
The British leader, who succeed Tony Blair in June, also insisted that London would consult its allies in any further decisions on withdrawing troops from Iraq.
"What we have done is move from Basra Palace to Basra Air Station in a pre-planned exercise. We will have to make a further decision when the time is right as to whether we move from combat to overwatch in Basra as a whole.
"That will be a decision that will be made in concert with our allies and of course in concert with the Iraqi government," he said.
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09/04/2007 13:01 GMT