All stories from UK sources with adgendas and from UK perspective.
My tracking of this is from Iraqi MoD perspective. They did not expect the UK to reduce this fast and were not ready for this. They thought they had another 6-12 months.
Mar22: He [Dep MoD] said Iraqi commanders in southern Iraq were “surprised by the British announcing they would pull out 1,600 soldiers from Basra,” and responded by moving forward by several months a timetable to bring a new brigade of about 5,000 Iraqi soldiers into the southern city.
Jun25: “I’m not sure. But I’ll tell you, just from the Iraqi army perspective, as I’ve said, they’re working on an 11th Division now, they’ve stood up an 11 Division—11th Iraqi Army Division Headquarters, which should be able to take battlespace some time this fall. We think that in early 2008 a 12th Division will be created in the Kirkuk area and a 13th Division will be stationed somewhere between Basra and al-Nasiriyah.” http://www.defenselink.mil//transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4000
pg3
http://www.defenselink.mil/home/blog/docs/Dubik_transcript.pdf
pg38: 12th Div HQ with HQ, MP and Sigs assuming area of 4th Div and sub Bdes was ordered in 2006 but, 14th Div HQ forming in leiu of 12th this year.
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/Signed-Version-070912.pdf
UK/MoD may have planned on this but, they did not make it clear to GoI/MoD until spring/summer this year. There have been so many stories in press about UK reduction plans that turned out to be BS, that I am not surprised that the GoI ignores the UK press and waited for official notice...
The first article that I quoted, saying the target for handover was the end of 2006 was a press conference featuring Tony Blair and Nouri Al-Maliki. I think Maliki would be considered part of the Government of Iraq...
"Mar22: He [Dep MoD] said Iraqi commanders in southern Iraq were “surprised by the British announcing they would pull out 1,600 soldiers from Basra,” and responded by moving forward by several months a timetable to bring a new brigade of about 5,000 Iraqi soldiers into the southern city."
I note you didn't source this quote, but when I google it, it seems that you have only partially quoted what the story and the Iraqi Defence Minister actually said to give it a more negative spin.
"Iraq's defense minister said Wednesday his commanders were surprised when Britain recently announced plans to withdraw some of its troops from Iraq, but that his country's forces will be ready to replace them.
.....During his news conference at the Iraqi Embassy in London, Jassim said 2007 will be a crucial year for the ongoing training of Iraq's army so it can operate independently, without the routine support it now requires from coalition soldiers, artillery and air forces.
He said Iraqi commanders in southern Iraq were "surprised by the British announcing they would pull out 1,600 soldiers from Basra," and responded by moving forward by several months a timetable to bring a new brigade of about 5,000 Iraqi soldiers into the southern city.
But Jassim also said Blair's government has made it clear that "the departure of the British is dependent on the readiness of the Iraqis."
Of course this was just in reaction to an initial drawdown of forces, not that handover of Basra. That was actually delayed from April until September:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6986536.stm
"Brig Bashall, the commander of 1 Mechanised Brigade, said that after the six-month Operation Sinbad to impose security on Basra was finished in April "we could have come out and done the transition completely".
The decision to stay on longer was a result of "political strategy being played out at highest level," he added.
'Forces ready'
A spokesman for the MoD said the handover took place only once Iraqi forces had been fully trained.
He added: "The decision to hand over Basra Palace was part of a conditions-based transition, developed in consultation with the Iraqi government and our coalition partners.
"We handed Basra Palace over this month only when the conditions were right and the Iraqi forces were ready to take over.
"The government of Iraq decided in May it wanted to keep Basra Palace, and it then took time to form and train the Iraqi Palace Protection Force to the point that it could take over Basra Palace."