Karl had his ducks lined up for this one but not for Walter Reed----:

[rodeodance]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/bloomberg/20070222/pl_bloomberg/acp4gemkt3yy_1


.......Bush administration officials dismissed the significance of Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement that the U.K. would withdraw 1,600 of its 7,100 troops from Iraq by summer. In a parallel announcement, Denmark decided to remove most of its 460 soldiers by August.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney and White House Press Secretary Tony Snow all called Blair's move a sign of progress in southern Iraq, where U.K. forces are based, and Defense Department spokesman Bryan Whitman rejected the notion that the U.S. was becoming more isolated.

``There are still 23 coalition members that have troops in Iraq,'' he said. ``We have always said every country will have to determine what its participation in the global war on terrorism will be.''

Democratic congressional leaders called the British and Danish decisions another indication that Bush's move to send an additional 21,500 U.S. forces to Iraq was a mistake.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (news, bio, voting record) of Michigan said the allies' withdrawal ``accelerates the breakup of the coalition in Iraq.''

Odom called the British decision a sign that Bush can't count any longer on support even from staunch allies.