"I would hope we could begin the process of passing the lead to the Iraqi security forces themselves within six months to a year," Reid said during an interview on ITV1 television.
"Now that process may not be completed for a much longer time, but they now have more trained Iraqi army personnel than we have in the international community in there. They are taking the lead," he said.
The defense secretary was indicating he disagreed with estimates by the International Institute for Strategic Studies that it could be up to five years before Iraqi forces are capable of maintaining security.
The US-led multinational force in Iraq could hopefully begin transferring responsibility for security to Iraqi forces in six months to a year, British Defense Secretary John Reid said Sunday.
"I would hope we could begin the process of passing the lead to the Iraqi security forces themselves within six months to a year," Reid said during an interview on ITV1 television.
"Now that process may not be completed for a much longer time, but they now have more trained Iraqi army personnel than we have in the international community in there. They are taking the lead," he said.
The defense secretary was indicating he disagreed with estimates by the International Institute for Strategic Studies that it could be up to five years before Iraqi forces are capable of maintaining security.
British troops formed the second largest component of the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
However, the war and subsequent US occupation are proving increasingly unpopular in Britain and the United States.
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is proposing that Congress require Bush to develop a plan this year to begin withdrawing US troops from Iraq in October 2006.
William Patey, the new British ambassador to Baghdad, said last Thursday there was no timetable for a handover, saying British troops will stay in Iraq until its own security forces "build up" enough to take over.
"British troops will stay here as long as needed and wanted by the Iraq government and no longer," he said.
Two days earlier, British Air Marshal Glenn Torpy was quoted in London's Daily Telegraph as saying troops would decrease gradually in "battalion(-sized) chunks" following the next Iraqi elections, expected at the end of the year.
