Posted on 08/19/2007 5:35:20 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
Thanks Brits. Absolutely no class. Just leave it to the good old US - again.
The British government has its hands full at home, what with a growing Muslim constituency to appease /s
>> he would stick to plans which could see most of Britain’s 5,500 troops gone from Iraq next year.
Take the losers out now, Gordie.
>> Ain’t the troops as usual just like our Vietnam it is the politicians
You’re undoubtedly correct. Although I have to point out, the behavior of the dozen or so Brits that were taken at sea by the Iranians were a huge disappointment, as was the behavior of the British command all the way up the chain.
The Brits aren’t making anything positive, so get their butts out now. Change of policy is long overdue, damn the Chinese and take out Iran.
There is and always will be a certain friction between military men of different nations attempting to approach a common end, and always the journalists covering it will tend to misinterpret statements made by the sundry parties involved.
But one thing is certain - the British troops (God bless 'em) are going to leave and the U.S. troops take over. What happens after that will not really test the applicability of British lessons in Northern Ireland, because the situation is far different at this point from the former or even from Basra itself three years ago. At this point all the community involvement in the world won't disarm the militias or soothe the trouble the Iranians have been merrily stirring up. Nice will have to be accompanied with not-nice, and it will be.
That said, I am very disappointed in this crude attempt at agitprop from the Times. The British troops deserve better. IMHO.
I feel for the troops, nothing more than the pawns of the democrats, I mean,the British Parliament........
Oh, I think there is. Don't you?
It's simply a different problem from that of Northern Ireland, although at one point the two may have seemed similar. This is pure state-supported terror through proxy organizations and all of the fingers point to Iran. Northern Ireland wasn't that (unless you count the state of Massachusetts). The Brits were applying the right lessons to the wrong situation, IMHO.
I feel a little guilty even saying that. Even the guy with the wrong opinion out there has a better look at it than I do. But that's the way it seems from here.
Your implication was that it was Agiprop
This would be forgivable were we not involved in a shooting war. As it is, I strongly believe there ought to be some guilty consciences on that editorial board for delivering such a biased, inflammatory point of view. Did you catch one of the other columns in the same issue, with the headline "General Betreaus"? Betray Us. Cute. Not real subtle, that...
Ah yes, the Brit’s “hands off” policy in Basra, which they lorded over the US “cowboys,” who had the unmitigated gall to actually shoot at people.
The end of a partnership that began in August, 1941, when Britain was on the ropes.
The U.K. troops are good, it’s the Home Office and their directions to the British generals in Iraq to keep down losses and do the hand over that’s the problem. When small units such as reported on by some of our embedded bloggers are allowed to be proactive, the British Army does well.
Brit troops are at the mercy of their leaders Such a blanket statement shows it's you that has no class.
5 people were killed, 20 wounded
The Bani Malik blamed the al-Furajat and the Bani Malik attacked the headquarters of the Islamic Da‘wah Party, the Shia party of which Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, is a leader.
The Bani Malik also attacked the offices of the Movement of the Lord of the Islamic Martyrs, an organization run by the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, the Shia faction run by ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Hakim of the 30,000-man Badr Brigade. Guards at the two party headquarters left their posts and fled the scene as did the police.
British and other security forces did not intervene to stop the attacks and neither did the British attack helicopters that over flew the area.
The Bani Malik tribal fighters set up road blocks along the highway from al-Qurnah to al-Basrah, a road linking al-Basrah with the rest of the country, effectively cut the southern city off from the rest of the country.
Tribal fighting is a frequent occurrence in the area north of al-Basrah and that the city is often isolated from the rest of the country when the tribes in the largely Shia region take up arms against each other.
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