Brown wants to cut troops in Iraq

By Adrian Croft and Dean Yates

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown flew into Baghdad on Saturday and said he wanted to reduce British troop levels in Iraq, although he refused to set a timetable for their departure.

He later flew to Basra, the southern oil hub, to visit British troops who controlled the city until they handed over to Iraqi security forces last December.

Violence in Iraq has fallen dramatically, and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki told a German magazine he supported a proposal by U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama that U.S. troops leave the country within 16 months.

Brown was the latest in a series of high-profile visitors who have tried to bolster Maliki's government and encourage investment now that attacks are at their lowest level since early 2004.

Britain contributed 45,000 troops to the 2003 U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein but only some 4,000 remain, based at an airport near Basra where they are training Iraqi security forces.

"It's certainly our intention that we reduce our troop numbers but I'm not going to give an artificial timetable for the moment," Brown told reporters travelling with him after meeting Maliki in Baghdad.

"The tests for us will be: how are we meeting the objectives that we've set? What progress can we show?"

Maliki's office said in a statement that Brown praised the security improvements in Iraq.