KEY POINTS:
Blair announced today Britain would withdraw almost a quarter of its troops from Iraq in coming months.
Media worldwide reacted mainly positively to Blair's plan.
The Australian believes that Britain's troop pullout plan couldn't have come at a better time for Labor leader Kevin Rudd as it hardens his stance on a pullout of Australian troops.
The paper states that "unlike George W. Bush and John Howard, Tony Blair actually has an exit strategy plan for Iraq and from political life".
It adds that the Iraq war promises "to become one of the most divisive and bitter political debates in the run-up to the election".
The Howard government now appears to back Britain's pullout, calling it "good sense" according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Howard rejected suggestions that his policy of staying in Iraq alongside the US would not clash with Blair's announcement, the paper said.
The London Times sees the troop withdrawal from Iraq "not as a consequence of failure".
It raises the question whether 7,000 British troops is a positive factor in the lives of Iraqis or if the presence of troops are possibly the cause of the continuing violence.
"If the Iraqi forces can successfully take charge, there is reason for optimism that Iraq will emerge as a reasonably democratic and stable nation," the paper summed up.
Whether Prince Harry would have to go to Iraq would be announced later today.
The Washington Times reports that now that Blair has announced the withdrawal of British troops, Democrat leaders say George W. Bush's plan to send more troops is "misguided".
The paper quotes Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid: "Today's news is further evidence that the Bush plan to escalate the war is misguided."
Coverage in The New York Times appears to be mainly neutral in its story on Blair's exit strategy.
"The White House had given the idea a kind of public blessing," it said.
German paper the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung suggests that Blair's move would further increase pressure on US President Bush, who just recently announced a troop boost of 21,500 additional soldiers.
German paper Der Spiegel points out the downside of Britian's pullout.
Once the troops are gone radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army can rule again without distraction. 75 per cent of police in Basra would anyway listen to what al-Sadr says, the paper states.
- NZ HERALD STAFF
