Britain, US said to cut forces

LONDON -- A leaked document from the British Defense Ministry says the British and US governments are planning to reduce their troop levels in Iraq by more than half by mid-2006, the Mail on Sunday newspaper reported.

The memo, reportedly written by Defense Minister John Reid, said Britain would reduce its troops to 3,000 from 8,500 by the middle of next year. The memo said Washington planned to cut its forces to 66,000 from about 140,000 by early 2006.

British forces ''have a commitment to hand over to Iraqi control in Al Muthanna and Maysan provinces (two of the four provinces under British control in southern Iraq) in October 2005 and in the other two, Dhi Qar and Basra, in April 2006," the memo was reported to have said.

In response the the article, Reid said in a statement: ''We have made it absolutely plain we will stay in Iraq for as long as is needed. No decision on the future force posture of UK forces has been taken. . . . We therefore continually produce papers outlining possible options and contingencies. This is but one of a number of such papers produced over recent months covering various scenarios."