Political Pullout.(Britain's withdrawal of troops from Iraq)

Byline: Stryker McGuire, Richard Wolffe and Babak Dehghanpisheh

In public, British and U.S. officials say Britain's withdrawal of troops from southern Iraq is a sign of success. But that wasn't the private reaction when the Brits first explained their plans last year. Several officials on both sides of the Atlantic (who all declined to be named when discussing the internal debate on security issues) say there was consternation among Bush's aides about the prospect of a British withdrawal at a time when the president was planning a surge of troops. Two senior officials in Washington said the concern was about how the British draw-down would look in PR and political terms inside the Beltway.

The two sides have been running on different tracks for several months. As the Brits outlined their plans for withdrawal, in November and December of last year, the details of Bush's surge were far from settled. But after several rounds of talks, the Americans were eventually satisfied that the reduction in force was geared to ...