The Bigger Picture

You hear stories of how coastal animals will book to higher land, well before a man can realize a tsunami's about to crash on his head; same thing with earthquakes, the animals start to freak even though the tremors are as yet humanly imperceptable.

Well the Brits are pulling out 800 soldiers from Iraq:

The reduction constitutes a 10 per cent decrease in numbers and marks a reduction from the high point of 10,000 British troops in Iraq in October 2003.

What the story doesn't address, if even speculatively, are the ramifications, by way of Iran's response to an attack on their nuclear facilities by the U.S. and/or Israel. The Brits, stationed primarily in the southern part of Iraq and along the Persian border, are most vulnerable in this scenario and would easily sustain the greatest number of coalition casualties, and is why the British government has been quietly, although steadfastly, resisting U.S. machinations toward expanding its hostilities in the Middle East.

Could this, then, be a harbinger of things to come?