Mixture of fear and celebration in Basra over Army’s pullout

[sabra]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article1421387.ece

Mixture of fear and celebration in Basra over Army’s pullout

Tony Blair says Iraq has made “remarkable” progress. Clusters of red on the British Army’s own maps of Basra suggest otherwise.

On military charts, significant swaths of the southern city are security coded scarlet, for unsatisfactory. Other zones are marked green, satisfactory, or amber, between the two.

Levels of violence and anticoalition attacks are far lower in the Shia-dominated south than the Sunni triangle around Baghdad. But British casualties have been increasing over the last year, with more than ten soldiers killed and 60 injured since November.

Iraqis in Basra and across southern Iraq offered a mixed reaction to the British withdrawal. Some welcomed the gradual departure of an occupying military power in a land traditionally hostile to any invader. But there was also widespread trepidation that the diminishing British presence will only cement the already tight grip that fundamentalist Shia militias hold over the south, enforcing their own hardline interpretation of Islamic religious law.

[ohio2007]

1. Basra was never a Sunni/Shia mix like Baghdad

The southern "no fly zone" didn't have the population split as the central section of the country and the Sunni population is a very tiny minority in areas under British control so let the experiment begin.
Let the Iraqi's take back their country. get the british out of their cities and let them govern themselves.

imo, the biggest hurdle to overcome with downsizing the footprint is starting

[Canuckistanian]

3. This should be the ultimate experience for RWers

Now, will the region fall apart and terrorists follow the British troops back home? :sarcasm:

Or will there be a negotiated settlement between local powers to keep the peace?

Maybe neither will happen.

But it will be interesting to see what happens in a vacuum of western forces.

[ohio2007]

4. Stay tuned, Give them majority rule. You know the British drew the borders

and invented the country we call "Iraq". The roots of sectarian strife predate the British Empire and go further back then the Ottoman empire's grip on the region.

[leftwingnut]

2. Shia dominated Iraq

"diminishing British presence will only cement the already tight grip that fundamentalist Shia militias hold over the south, enforcing their own hardline interpretation of Islamic religious law."

um...this is pretty much what the whole country of Iraq gets to look forward to now. Hardline interpretation of Islamic Law.

They started with the execution of Saddam Hussein...revenge killing. Next they will eliminate the Sunni's right to vote. They have already started actually. If they don't eliminate it outright, they will make very difficult for Sunni to cast their ballots.

[ohio2007]

5. You would prefer a troop surge ?

Like 500,000 ?
Can't have it both way. Take the path of least resistance,downsize,redeploy and see if they order women to wear the Burka body bag in public.

[leftwingnut]

6. Hell no I don't want a troop surge...

...I was just stating my view about what's happening in Iraq...

good or bad...that IS what's happening...unfortunately.

[ohio2007]

7. We both want the Iraqi's to get up and stand

You and I want them to succeed. We can't be the crutch to those trying to rebuild or the sole reason some Iraqi patriots are fighting.

[leftwingnut]

8. dude...I don't what to be a crutch...

where are you getting that from?? I haven't said anything about staying in Iraq...

[Erika]

9. CNN has said that Basra has been ethnically cleansed

of anyone but the Shiites. The Sunnis have been killed or left. Yes. It will be a hard line Sharia government.