The announcement by Tony Blair that Britain will shortly withdraw some 1,600 troops from its now 7,100-strong expeditionary force in Iraq starts the beginning of the end to a damaging and discredited enterprise - the result of political misjudgment more than military misadventure.

The official narrative of the government says this first drawdown of British soldiers was made possible by the growing self-reliance of Iraqi forces in southern Iraq. That is misleading.