Talabani expresses confidence in Blair successor

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Iraq's president said Friday that US and British troops would need to stay in Iraq for one or two more years to help stem surging violence. Jalal Talabani told students at Cambridge University that all of Iraq was safer because of Saddam Hussein's ouster and that many people were living "normal" lives. "I think that in one or two years we will be able to recruit our forces, to prepare our forces and say goodbye to our friends," he said. He also expressed support for Prime Minister Tony Blair's likely successor, Gordon Brown, who pledged Friday to learn from the mistakes of the Iraq war.