British troops leave Basra [Palace ] in Iraq

[rodeodance]

Source: ap


British troops leave Basra base in Iraq

By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer 41 minutes ago

LONDON - British soldiers began withdrawing Sunday from their final remaining base inside the southern Iraqi city of Basra, a move likely to prompt a further reduction in troop numbers, lawmakers and officials said.

Around 550 soldiers stationed in Basra Palace were leaving the downtown site to join 5,000 other personnel at an air base camp on the fringes of the city — ending their permanent presence in Iraq's second largest city.

The Iraqi military sent hundreds of reinforcements to the city to prevent Shiite militias and criminal gangs from expanding their influence now that the British have gone.

The decision to leave the palace compound — targeted with daily mortar and rocker attack in recent months — will hand military commanders an option of pulling around 550 troops out of Iraq in the autumn, lawmakers said.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070902/ap_on_re_mi_ea/britain_iraq;_ylt=Aj.cpJHc4L47KmNPKDhzzDes0NUE

[rodeodance]

1. uthorities have expressed concern about the land supply line---

.......The base has been used by Britain to house soldiers and diplomatic staff since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

With the British drawdown, U.S. and Iraqi authorities have expressed concern about the land supply line from Kuwait to Baghdad and beyond and security of the oil fields — until now under the eye of British troops.

The withdrawal occurred in the midst of a power struggle between rival Shiite groups throughout southern Iraq, and some analysts fear violence will continue as the British continue to draw down their forces.

Last week, the head of the security committee on the Basra city council, Hakim al-Miyahi, predicted "some disorder" after the British pullout from the city because he feared that Iraqi forces were incapable of maintaining order.

After the election in January 2005 that brought Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to power, the city fell under the influence of Shiite religious parties and militias, some with ties to Iran.

[Harmonicaman]

2. As an Englishmen

I'm waiting for the attack by the Murdoch owned news outlets about this action in the United States, or by intimatimng blame for the failures of occupation onto the British because of it, and the simultaneous broad support given to this action by Murdoch owned news outlets here in the UK - where vast majority of the UK public want out and it that opinion reflected in the mainstream media.

Compare the two, the American Murdoch reportage Vs the British Murdoch reportage and then let those apologists for Faux News chant the fair and balanced mantra.

[pinto]

3. Saw a UK CNN International reporter yesterday outlining this move.

Looks to be a done deal. Apparently all remaining UK troops will be at the Basra airport.

[onewholaughsatfools]

4. Finally, The British get it...

Now that the poodle dude is gone, the British have wised up... Go for you guys

[TomInTib]

5. I am thinking that this could become quite interesting.

I wonder what they are doing with their equipment.

If they are planning on a mass equipment lift, that will leave the troops exposed.

If they scoot the troops first, they will lose their equipment.

[roamer65]

6. Now they just need to remove the troops at the airport.

Fly a few cargo planes in to evacuate the 5,000+ and Iraq will be history for them. If Brown wants to win the next election, he'd better do it ASAP. Screw the equipment, just bring the troops home!

[Olney Blue]

7. British troops retreat into the night

Source: The Australian News

THE FINAL 500 British troops in Basra last night withdrew under cover of darkness from their base, a former palace of Saddam Hussein.

The highly symbolic pullout from Basra Palace began at about 10pm local time. Residents then reported seeing helicopters overhead and a convoy of eight tanks, six Land Rovers and five other large vehicles, possibly armoured personnel carriers, approaching the main British airport base from the palace shortly before midnight.

snip


The pullout came as two of Britain’s most influential generals during the Iraq war delivered scathing attacks on the Americans for their handling of the campaign after Saddam’s defeat.

snip

William Hague, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said that the generals’ criticisms underlined the need for a public inquiry into the war. “They (the Americans) thought it would be easier to win the peace than it was to win the war and it turned out to be the other way round,” he told Sky News.

Read more: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22352689-601,00.html

[MadMaddie]

8. Coalition of the Wil.....hey where'd everyone go?

:sarcasm:

Another failure by the * Administration...

[Apollo11]

9. Brits quit Basra: What was achieved? (The Independent, UK)

I also posted this in "Editorials & Other Articles":

Front page lead in today's THE INDEPENDENT (London, England) - September 3, 2007

British leave last remaining Basra base: What was achieved?

By Kim Sengupta

British forces have pulled out of Basra Palace, the onetime southern residence of Saddam Hussein that became the symbol of the UK's role in the US-led invasion.

The British departure from their last remaining base inside the walls of Basra City, signalled their disengagement from the conflict and has highlighted a growing and public discord between Washington and London over Iraq, with the Americans claiming the move will severely undermine security.

The withdrawal itself took place with no fanfare or celebration. The troops from the 4th Battalion, the Rifles have been under a virtual state of siege, with constant rocket and mortar attacks, as they trained Iraqi forces to take over their duties.

Some of the 500-strong contingent who had already left had faced attacks on their way out, and the Ministry of Defence had attempted to keep the date of the evacuation confidential in an attempt to avoid what they term a full scale "fighting withdrawal".

(...)

Read the full article here:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2921892.ece

Editorial: The Basra endgame and the trading of blame

The unseemly blame game over who lost Iraq – so reminiscent of those earlier anguished debates over who "lost" China, or Vietnam – has broken out in full. We must now expect more of the finger-pointing that General Sir Mike Jackson and retired Maj Gen Tim Cross have now begun, and which will no doubt prompt sharp retorts and counter-accusations from the other side of the Atlantic.

Few now seriously question the substance of the two generals' complaints, which is that the failure of the coalition to engage in "nation-building", meaning reconstruction, immediately after the invasion, opened the way for most of the horrors that have since ensued and which have now laid waste to much of the ancient land of Mesopotamia.

Their observations, in that limited sense, therefore are almost uncontroversial. What is wholly unprecedented is that they should have spoken out in this way in public. No matter the stresses and strains to which the Anglo-American alliance was subjected in recent decades, especially over the Balkans in the 1990s when there were countless off-the record briefings by one side against the other, it is hard to recall a time since the Second World War when differences between London and Washington have been aired in so open a fashion.

Along with devastating a country, the bungled invasion of Iraq appears to have done lasting damage to the so-called Special Relationship with the United States as well.

(...)

Read the full Editorial here:
http://comment.independent.co.uk/leading_articles/article2921859.ece

[Supersedeas]

10. nothing to see here -- feed them more pictures of the smiling Chimp