The coalition of the (no-longer-)willing?

This story is huge, and it’s quite incredible that the media, at least on this side of the pond, have largely ignored it:

According to British Defence Secretary John Reid, British forces will be withdrawn from Iraq over the next 12 months. There are currently only 8,500 British troops in Iraq, mostly in the more peaceful south, but Britain is clearly the #2 allied presence there (and America’s #1 ally, period), and one wonders what a withdrawal will mean for America’s Iraq policy (or lack thereof) going forward.

I don’t know about all of you, but I think this is one worth following. Does it mean, as I think it does, that Bush will strategically withdraw a significant number of troops leading up to the 2006 midterms?

Cross-posted at The Reaction.