Thanks Brits. Absolutely no class. Just leave it to the good old US - again.
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.
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.
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.
I’m sorry if you disagree, but I was reading the blogs before we won the Iraq war...DAY ONE the Brits lost it for us...oh, the Iranians are coming over for religious pilgrimages, how WONDERFUL, come on over. Basra was lost day one due to the British superiority complex, believe me. They are sooooo cool that the Iranians now control the only oil port Iraq has and no one can walk the streets there without a burqa.
Just reading the title make one think they’d better step it up or be thought of as ‘useless’ for generations.
A lot of you should be ashamed. The Brits have been a stand up ally since the beginning of the GWOT, and before. We should be thanking them, not attacking them.
Experts in trench warfare we don’t need.......
when the brit troops get home to england,
the arabs will look familiar.
I wonder if this has any parallel with the D-Day planning.
The british second guessing and throwing some historic reference in the face of the americans must be a pattern.
Of course since that whole Iran surrender first thing, I would imagine the British military has suffered some reputation damage.
If they are really just clock watching till they cut and run, perhaps we should just ask them to go and the americans move in.
Then again there is always Sun Tzu[... Loose lips etc.]
Same Newspaper...............
“British will be in Afghanistan ‘for 38 years’
By Tom Coghlan
Last Updated: 1:41am BST 08/08/2007
The commander of British forces in Helmand Province has predicted that the British army deployment to Afghanistan will last at least as long as the 38 years that it took British forces to pull out of Northern Ireland.
Brigadier John Lorimer said: “If you look at the insurgency then it could take maybe 10 years. Counter-narcotics, it’s 30 years. If you’re looking at governance and so on, it looks a little longer. If you look at other counter-insurgency operations over the last 100 years then it has taken time.”
Brigadier John Lorime: 38 years
His bleak assessment comes a year into a deployment which, when he announced it to parliament, the then Defence Secretary John Reid hoped would be completed in three years “without a shot being fired.”
Instead British forces have found themselves fighting a bloody and protracted war against determined Taliban insurgents, producing the hardest fighting that British forces have seen in a half a century.
Sixty-six British soldiers have been killed since 2001 in Afghanistan and hundreds injured, the vast majority in Helmand since July of last year. Brigadier Lorimer’s remarks to The Observer follow recent comments by the new British Ambassador to Kabul, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, who told the BBC in an interview in June that the British public must be prepared for “a marathon not a sprint” in Afghanistan.
Sir Sherard denied reports suggesting that he believed British forces would remain in Afghanistan for thirty years but said: “I’ve said the task of standing up a government of Afghanistan that is sustainable is going to take a very long time. It’s a marathon rather than a sprint. We should be thinking in terms of decades.”
advertisement
He added: “We’re not [talking] about a long-term military presence but we are serious about a long-term development presence, because this country does matter to us and to the region in so many ways.”
Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries on earth. About a third of its $10billion gross domestic product comes from the opium trade.
It was assessed by the World Bank as the fourth most corrupt country on earth in a survey released last month. Afghans have a life expectancy of 47.”
More.......
“Honours for scourge of the Taliban
By Michael Fleet
Last Updated: 2:59am BST 19/07/2007
Frontline: In-depth coverage on our forces in Afghanistan and Iraq
A Royal Marine involved in 30 separate firefights with the Taliban, returned home from Afghanistan with just one injury; a perforated eardrum caused by the relentless firing of his machine guns.
Cpl Thompson was awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross
Cpl John Thompson led numerous exercises during his six months as lead patrolman in convoys of military vehicles and repeatedly came under fire.
Yesterday he was told he had been awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for his displays of “exceptional bravery and leadership, particularly under fire”.
His award, second only to the Victoria Cross for military bravery, was one of 62 to Service personnel engaged in operations in the Helmand province of Afghanistan between October last year and April this year.
Cpl Thompson, 29, sustained his ear injury in January when his troop was ambushed by 40 or 50 Taliban fighters.
“I had just turned to my driver and said I felt we were going to be ambushed,” he said. “Sixty seconds later two rocket grenades landed 50 metres away and within seconds another 30 or 40 were fired at us followed by machinegun fire.”
advertisement
Over the next four hours Cpl Thompson, who is married and from Plymouth, fired off 4,500 rounds from his mounted machinegun, two Javelin missiles and 5,000 other machinegun rounds during a prolonged and intense battle.
He was repeatedly re-armed whenever his ammunition fell to 10 per cent of his usual total.
“The reason I’m here today and why we all came through that alive was the training and the teamwork,” he said. “Everyone played their part.”
He was described by colleagues as “the sort of bloke you want on your side” and had been selected for the lead position on the regular patrols for his mix of experience, courage and intelligence.
But despite the plaudits, he had found it difficult to take in the award. “I opened the letter and all I saw was my name and the words Conspicuous Gallantry Cross. I was shocked and honoured. Everyone does their best in the Marines and I had done my best,” he said.
The awards, spread across the Services, mark the courage and character of those involved in the fighting in Afghanistan, which has been described as the most sustained and ferocious combat for British troops since the Korean War.
Brig David Capewell, the commander of 3 Commando Royal Marines, said acts of “supreme bravery and personal courage” were daily events in the country. “I confess to personal astonishment at some of the stories of selfless dedication to duty,” he added.
Marine Matthew Bispham was awarded the Military Cross
Among these was the Military Cross awarded to a Marine who was sent to Afghanistan just three weeks after completing his training and who then became involved in fierce close combat with two Taliban fighters.
Marine Matthew Bispham, 22, was part of an incursion to clear a Taliban stronghold when he and a colleague came under fire from two fighters entrenched in a compound.
The men took enemy fire as they first crossed open land and then came face to face with the two heavily armed insurgents. “We literally bumped into them but they had known we were coming. At a time like that, your training just takes over,” he said.
His colleague was killed in the action but Marine Bispham was able to carry on the fight. All he would say was: “The two Taliban ended up dead.”
Capt Graeme McIntosh and Capt Timothy Rushmere, both of the Royal Artillery Regiment, tried to save the life of a colleague after his armoured vehicle was blown up by a mine.
The man was beneath the four-tonne machine and the men eventually tried to free him by attempting an amputation of his trapped lower leg using just a penknife. “This was the last resort. It was to no avail and he died there before us,” said Capt McIntosh.
The Service personnel are in England awaiting their next deployment. Marine Bispham said: “I wouldn’t say I want to go back but when my turn comes I will go.”
Died whilst on patrol OUTSIDE of barracks!
Served in my regiment.....
“Soldier sees his twin die in Iraq
By Duncan Gardham
Last Updated: 2:05am BST 27/06/2007
Frontline: Reports from Iraq and Afghanistan
A soldier killed in Iraq died with his twin brother at his hospital bedside on their 24th birthday, it emerged yesterday.
Cpl John Rigby’s vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb
Cpl John Rigby and his twin, Will, held the same rank and served with the same battalion of the Rifles, who are based in Basra.
The soldier’s family, including his two older sisters, from Rye, East Sussex, were said to be inconsolable.
His brother felt as though he had lost “his lifetime companion and his soul mate”, said Lt-Col Patrick Sanders, their commanding officer.
Cpl Rigby, whose vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb on Friday, died in Basra military hospital.
He is the third corporal and the fourth soldier from the battalion to be killed in the past month and is the 153rd British soldier to die since the invasion.
His brother will accompany the coffin back to Britain.
“John was a cherished and devoted son and brother,” his family said in a statement, “a talented hard-working and successful soldier, popular with his peers and across all ranks alike.
advertisement
“He had a very bright future ahead of him which included plans to undertake higher education.
“We are devastated at his loss and ask to be left alone to grieve in peace.”
Lt-Col Sanders yesterday described Cpl John Rigby as “the most talented corporal of his generation”.
“The death of any soldier is a tragedy and in death all are equal, but there are some whose loss is particularly hard to bear - the force of their personality, their personal and professional qualities and the love, respect and popularity they inspire set them apart. Cpl John Rigby was such a man,” said Lt-Col Sanders, commanding officer of the 4th Battalion the Rifles.
“We are utterly heartbroken. But we are also unbowed, tough and determined: John would have it no other way.”
He added: “He was a warrior - tough and fierce, swift and bold. And like all the best soldiers he inspired love, devotion and fierce loyalty in his men. They idolised him and would follow him anywhere.
“John was also a remarkable man. He had a dignity, modesty and maturity that went way beyond his years. He was calm, highly intelligent, thoughtful, had a smile that lit up a room and a wicked sense of humour.
Cpl John Rigby with his twin brother Will
“I admired him immensely and liked him from the first time I met him several years ago - he had a nobility of spirit and an almost serene aura about him that drew one to him.”
Friends in Britain had set up a joke page on the internet, suggesting that if 400 people signed up Cpl Rigby would propose to his girlfriend, Jess Varney, on her 21st birthday in May.
Describing them as “love birds” the message said: “Jessica met John back in April 2006. It has been a love affair that has swept us all.”
Elsewhere on the page Miss Varney had left a message for Cpl Rigby’s birthday, saying: “Love you lots, hope you have a nice day. Xxxxxxxxxxx.”
Nicknamed “Goldenballs” because he was viewed as the “David Beckham of squaddies,” Cpl Rigby was told two weeks ago he was to be promoted to sergeant.
He had chosen to take the risky position of “top cover sentry”, keeping look-out from the hatch in an armoured vehicle, when it was hit by a roadside bomb near Basra Palace on Friday.
Describing the corporal as “iconic”, his commanding officer said he had recently achieved the highest score on the promotion board across all five battalions of the regiment, despite competing with other corporals five years older.
• The British soldier killed in Afghanistan yesterday has been named as Drummer Thomas Wright, from 1st Battalion The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment.
He was killed when his armoured “Snatch” Land Rover was caught in an explosion roughly 6km outside of Lashkar Gah in Helmand province.
The 26-year-old, from Ripley, Derbyshire, and four other soldiers who were injured in the explosion, were airlifted to hospital where Drummer Wright was pronounced dead.
The other four are still receiving medical treatment at the ISAF hospital at Camp Bastion, the Ministry of Defence said.
Lieutenant Colonel Richard Westley, Commanding Officer of 1st Battalion The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters, paid tribute to Drummer Wright’s character, skill and ability.
He said: “He will be best known for his razor sharp wit, numerous tattoos, quirky dress sense and practical jokes.
“Never shy in coming forward, always in the thick of the action, either in the boxing ring or in the field, on parades or in the block, he was a true regimental character who can never be replaced.”