Why Blair opposes withdrawal

Congratulations to Peter Allen of London for this letter in today's Independent:

"British and US politicians seemingly never tire of repeating this nonsense [that there is no case for US and British withdrawal from Iraq]. The fact is that coalition troops make the situation worse in Iraq every day. It is also true that Sunnis and Shia got along without major problems before the invasion; the communities are intermarried and were certainly not at each others' throats before the US interim administration under Paul Bremer began to use "divide and rule" as a tactic to govern the country.

"The way to put a stop to this is to immediately withdraw all foreign troops. US and UK politicians claim there would be civil strife if troops were withdrawn, but this is not the real reason for their objections. They have shown us that they place little value on Iraqi lives, and civil strife would not bother them in the slightest. Their problem is that they want a pliable puppet regime in Baghdad, and they know that immediate withdrawal will undermine that aim.

"As usual, our politicians are incapable of expressing their real motivations for their actions but hide them under the pretence of caring about human rights."