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Posted on 11/17/2007 8:24:18 AM PST by UKrepublican
ATTACKS DOWN AFTER BASRA PULL-OUT
Attacks have plunged by 90% in southern Iraq since Britain withdrew its troops from the main city of Basra, their commander has said.
Their presence in central Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, was the single largest trigger for violence, Major General Graham Binns said.
"We thought, 'If 90% of the violence is directed at us, what would happen if we stepped back?'," Gen Binns said.
About 500 British troops moved out of one of Saddam Hussein's palaces in the heart of Basra in early September, joining some 4,500 at a garrison at an airport on the city's edge.
Since then there has been a "remarkable and dramatic drop in attacks," Gen Binns said in an interview in Baghdad on Thursday.
"The motivation for attacking us was gone, because we're no longer patrolling the streets," he said.
Last spring, British troops' daily patrols through central Basra led to "steady toe to toe battles with militias fighting some of the most tactically demanding battles of the war," Gen Binns said. Now British forces rarely enter the city centre, an area patrolled only by Iraqis.
The majority of attacks now target Iraqi forces, but overall violence is still a tenth of what it was in May and June.
"They're increasingly in the frame, more at risk, as they take over more responsibility," Gen Binns said of his Iraqi counterparts.
British forces are scheduled to return control of Basra province back to Iraqi officials next month, officially ending Britain's combat role in Iraq.
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Makings of a great thread.
Attacks on British soldiers down because British soldiers aren’t around anymore. What of Iraqi-on-Iraqi violence?
Welcome to FR.
I wonder why Britain didn’t follow the American model of have the Iraqis do all the heavy lefting with their support before now.
Thanx, so far no burn marks or kitten scratches.
Sadr’s milita?
That is what this is refering to.
Attacks against out troops have stopped full stop.
There is occasionally distant rocket attacks on the base.
Thanks and welcome!
It’s good to see the Iraqi forces doing such an excellent job in shutting down the violence.
I bet soon the Afghans could achieve the same results.
Well, there is a larger picture to be viewed here. Most importantly, attacks are down across ALL of Iraq. That has been consistent since Gen Petraeus had started his version of counterinsurgency and Pres Bush’s surge.
Believe it or not, part of that overall strategy was to pull British forces from downtown Basra. This was not done in a vacuum and the British army and Gen Petraeus both agreed to this.
Of course, offering an olive branch to the Sunni tribal chiefs who came out of the Dark Side (Al Qaeda) and over to the light, and getting Moqtar Al Sadr to rein in his militias was another big success. American troops work together with the Iraqi Sunnis and Shi’ites of Central Iraq to defeat Al Qaeda, but the Shi’ites in Basra needed to go it alone.
I know it sounds at odds with the overall strategy of American troops working CLOSER, but the strategy at Basra needed a way to end the power of the Shi’ite militas, which dominated the city. Since no Al Qaeda was there in Basra, the way to reduce the militias strength is to reduce the presence of the British military. No the militias have to justify their exsistance, which, in light of the presence of Iraqi troops, is very difficult. They’re being disarmed.
..they come later after you post something off the wall with no back up...*LOL*...you'll find a lot of info here...with a lot of knowledge to back it up...( a lot of laughs too) Welcome!
Thanx!
If you pull out the troops then it’s pretty obvious that there would be fewer attacks on the troops. Until the bad guys follow them.....
Hey, then you're doing well.
FR's a great source for news and information on, well, just about anything. With 200,000+ members, there's a legitimate subject matter expert on dang near everything.
I agree with mnost of the politics, but I really was attracked to the variety of subject matter and how fast someone comes along to answer questions or provide additional information. It’s quite a site.
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