Posted on 08/11/2007 4:28:35 PM PDT by bnelson44
America is preparing to pour thousands of extra troops into southern Iraq amid fears that Gordon Brown is committed to withdrawing British troops from the region early next year.
The White House and the Pentagon are understood to have drawn up detailed plans to secure the vital "umbilical cord" link road between Baghdad and Kuwait when the British depart.
Washington is also concerned that a British pull-out will leave the border with Iran undefended, as well as undermining US operations at a time when political pressure is mounting for an American withdrawal.
Tensions are understood to have deepened between London and Washington after Mr Brown's recent visit to the US, amid fears the Prime Minister is distancing himself from the Bush regime and its military objectives.
Military chiefs in the US have been "dismayed" by the threat of a unilateral pull-out from southern Iraq by British forces.
The Sunday Telegraph has also learnt that neither the British nor the Americans have a "Plan B" for sending troops back into Iraq if the country descends into chaos when the coalition finally withdraws. One senior source said: "Whether or not we go back in if it all goes horribly wrong is the strategic question to which neither the US nor the British government has an answer.
"It seems to be lost on the British and American governments that Iraq holds the world's second-largest oil reserves. There is also the nightmare scenario of Iraq becoming an Islamic fundamental state, willing to give succour to groups like al-Qaeda."
Whitehall sources admit that there is a firm consensus among British military chiefs that maintaining a presence in Iraq after the control of Basra passes to the Iraqis in November is "pointless". But while British generals firmly deny that they have been defeated in southern Iraq, there is also an increasing acceptance that the mission is facing "strategic failure" and that the war is a "lost cause".
One senior officer, who has served on operations in Iraq, said: "In terms of intervention operations, the military can never deliver success if the policy is wrong - and in terms of Iraq the policy of intervention was wholly wrong from start to finish."
Gen David Petraeus, the American commander of coalition forces in Iraq, is understood to have held discussions with Lt Gen Graeme Lamb, who until recently was the British deputy commander in Iraq, and Lt Gen Bill Rollo, the present incumbent, over the intentions of the British force after it hands over Basra.
Gen Petraeus will deliver an interim report next month to the Bush administration on the success of his 22,000-strong troop surge in Baghdad. Any suggestion that the plan is working will put pressure on Mr Brown to keep British forces in Iraq.
Ken Pollack, a foreign affairs expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, who returned last month from an eight-day visit to Iraq, dismissed last week the British presence in southern Iraq as "meaningless". He said: "I am assuming the British will no longer be [in southern Iraq]. They are not there now. We have a battle group holed up in Basra airport. I do not see what good that does except for flying people in and out. It's the wild, wild west. Basra is out of control."
John Pike, the director of globalsecurity.org, an American defence think-tank, said the 300-mile stretch of Route Tampa that runs from Baghdad to Kuwait was a crucial lifeline for US military operations. "It's the umbilical cord that connects the war in Iraq to the rest of the world," he said. "It will have to be secured."
About 2,000 trucks a day travel down the highway in high-security convoys, carrying more than 90 per cent of the food, water, ammunition and equipment for the 161,000-strong US force. The route remains a key target for insurgents and just last week two British soldiers were killed on it while providing security for a convoy.
Patrick Mercer, a former Army commander and Tory MP, added: "Whatever withdrawal timescale we adopt, we have got to understand that our commitment to Iraq is not over. We've got to face the prospect that the situation in Iraq could get worse. The question is what are our plans and responsibilities to a county whose problems we have contributed to rather than solved."
• A British serviceman killed in Afghanistan when his patrol came under fire by Taliban fighters was last night named as Pvt Tony Rawson, 27, from 1st Battalion, The Royal Anglian Regiment.
Pvt Rawson, nicknamed "Nicey", died on Friday while on a fighting patrol to disrupt enemy activity in the area of Jusyalay, north east of Sangin, in Helmand. Another soldier was wounded in the attack.
Pvt Rawson lived with his fiancée Louise and her daughter Caitlin in Dagenham, Essex. An Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "He was a devoted family man and was planning to get married in March 2008. He was very proud of the fact that they were expecting their first child."
It would be nice if we could get a Gurka unit to take over the spot.
Nonsense. The British and American governments have committed troops and considerable treasure to prevented such a nightmare scenario. Where has this "senior source" been sleeping for the past five years?
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I love the unbiased press.
“About 2,000 trucks a day travel down the highway in high-security convoys, carrying more than 90 per cent of the food, water, ammunition and equipment for the 161,000-strong US force. The route remains a key target for insurgents and just last week two British soldiers were killed on it while providing security for a convoy.”....Yes, we have expected the British to protect our critical supply lines from Kuwait. It may be best if we do it for ourselves now, at, albeit, greater cost. As such a supply line is a definite ‘Achilles Heel’ I know that we have watched the Brits with a detailed eye while they have played their role to protect that supply line. Iraq may be the last venture we will engage in with Britain as a nation-state ally..Britains engulfment with the EU may not be far off. In sum, the Brown govt. in Britain is not the ally the Blair govt. was. I know we have planned for what is playing out. I like the idea of US forces securing the supply lines of US forces.
The Brits haven’t been involved with proactive patrolling, etc for quite some time and the result is that their areas of ‘control’ in Iraq are extremely unstable and unsafe. Much ground has been lost there.
There, we simply MUST be accurate.
Perhaps so, but I was making a different point. The "senior source" accuses the UK and US governments of being unaware of the stakes in Iraq. That is nonsense.
If anything, those who oppose the war seem unaware of the nightmare that could follow if we are forced to abandon the mission too soon. Either that, or they just don't care.
The ensuing carpet bombing of cities that will we need to knock them back in the box will be on the liberal's hands. But they'll just pat bloody handprints on their own backs, because surrender helped them win a few house seats.
I had a feeling that he was "that" John Pike.
That’s the way it has always been.
PS: It seems as though we only have “allies” when we have to save their asses.
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Unfortunately Iraq has been made such a political hot potato that many governements cannot afford, politically, to participate. Too many politicians with too little backbone.
We do have some allies, but most (not all) are quite jumpy and shaky when the ride is getting though. Most of the (old) European “allies” are expendable. When the sh*t hits the fan it’s America who is in the front trench.
Reminds me of the lead in to Red Dawn back in the '80s: "America stands alone".
Is Britain about to cover itself in shame? Is the new PM really ready to do such a thing?
I am convinced of 3 things about all of this...
1) The Brits will pull out leaving a power vacuum
2) That vacuum will be filled by Shiites (read: Iran)
3) In the end, no matter how long we or the British stay, I am convinced that the Iraqi’s will screw this up hugely. They are hellbent on tribal savagery and a thousand years of Western guidance, training, blood and treasure can’t change it because the Death Cult of Islam trumps absolutely everything.
But between now and then we should do our best and kill huge numbers of terrorists in the bug zapper we call Iraq.
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