President George Bush and Tony Blair have agreed an exit strategy for pulling out of Iraq, officially ending the occupation next year while committing troops to the region until 2006.

US President George W. Bush (R) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in the White House earlier this year. A new poll said a clear majority of British voters think Bush was wrong on Iraq. [AFP]

In a move to head off growing criticism that the security situation in Iraq is spiralling out of control and that moves to greater political autonomy for the Iraqis need to be accelerated, the two leaders will make the blueprint the centrepiece of their discussions during Bush's state visit to Britain this week.

Rising concern about security was reinforced yesterday when 17 US soldiers were killed when two Black Hawk helicopters crashed in the northern city of Mosul. Although the aircraft hit each other, one was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade before the collision. Five other soldiers were hurt and one unaccounted for.

Both Black Hawks were attached to the US Army's 101st Airborne Division. One was carrying an aerial quick reaction force and the other soldiers on a transport mission. There were no immediate reports of casualties on the ground. Five American helicopters have been downed by guerrilla action in the last three weeks.

In a series of coordinated briefings from Washington, London and Baghdad, officials said the Iraqi Governing Council set up by the Americans would see its sovereignty transferred to a transitional government picked by delegates to a national conference. That body would then plan for national elections and the drawing up of a constitution for Iraq.

The moves come ahead of Bush's three-day visit to Britain, which begins on Tuesday. Tens of thousands of protesters are likely to line the streets of London. The importance of the visit was underlined yesterday when it was revealed that Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, the US National Security Adviser, and John Snow, the Treasury Secretary, will accompany the President.

British officials told The Observer that, although the occupation of Iraq would be over next year, it was likely that troops would need to stay, possibly until 2006. 'The whole process will take two to three years, as in Afghanistan,' said a senior Number 10 official closely involved in the Iraq negotiations.

'The first phase is the handing over of power to the transitional government, at which point the occupation ends. This is followed by an electoral process which includes a census and constitutional convention and finally elections to a fully sovereign Iraqi government.'

A British police officer stands guard during a demonstration against the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq in Sheffield, northern England, November 15, 2003. More than one in three Britons think George W. Bush is stupid and a majority branded the U.S. president a threat to world peace, opinion poll results released on Saturday showed. With widespread demonstrations being planned by protesters, British Prime Minister Tony Blair conceded that some opponents of U.S. policy in Iraq 'are rubbing their hands at the scope for embarrassing him.' [Reuters]

It is the first time Downing Street has spoken of the end of the occupation and marks a significant shift in the 'acceleration' process of handing Iraq back to the Iraqis. Officials in Washington hope that by ending the increasingly unpopular notion of 'occupation' and giving the new government the power to run its own security affairs in a partnership with coalition forces, Iraqis can be persuaded that foreign troops are on their soil to help them.

The announcement follows a week of frantic negotiations in Washington, which saw the US proconsul in Iraq, ambassador Paul Bremer, called at short notice for meetings at the White House to discuss the change of policy, which had been demanded by the Governing Council, amid accusations that the coalition had failed to get a grip on the insurgency.

'We have always said we wanted to hand over power and sovereignty to the Iraqis as soon as possible,' said Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, who had a series of meetings with Powell and Dick Cheney, the Vice President, last week to thrash out the final deal.

Straw admitted that the security situation in Iraq had deteriorated and that it was time to look again at the way the military operation was being run. 'It has plainly got worse in the last six weeks,' he told The Observer. 'What we now have to do is get on top of it. In the Sunni triangle area it has been more difficult than we thought it would be.

'First we have to recognise that that is the case and upgrade the military response, and also understand that creating a better [political] climate is better for us and worse for terrorism.'

Announcing the new proposal yesterday, the current president of the Governing Council, Jalal Talabani, said: 'The new government will be in charge of negotiating with the occupying forces over how to regulate their presence in the country.'

Talabani made the announcement after he and fellow council members had had a six-hour meeting with Bremer. The decision reveals a reversal of Washington's policy since America had originally hoped to have a constitution in place before moving towards national elections.

It also reflects the difficulties that the members of the governing council have had in drawing up a constitution, especially over the issue of the role of the clergy in a new democratic Iraq. Talabani stressed at the press conference that the end of the US occupation would not necessarily mean the exit of all American troops.

Britain will also commit itself to training tens of thousands more Iraqi police and members of the civil defence force. Talabani said all authorities would be transferred to the transitional government, including security.

Yesterday's helicopter crashes and the death of a US soldier who was killed by a Baghdad roadside bomb brought US military deaths since the war began in March to 418.

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