Posted on 08/31/2007 9:13:23 AM PDT by blam
US ready to move into Basra as British pull out
By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:29pm BST 31/08/2007
The Pentagon has warned it will deploy US forces to Basra if a rapid drawdown of British troops jeopardises security in southern Iraq.
The American military is known to harbour concerns over the security of the oilfields that are Iraq's only source of oil exports and its supply lines along the north-south highway, known as Route Tampa, in the event the British troop presence is wound up.
UK forces have been unable to prevent turmoil
Although American army units are already responsible for securing the highway, an additional brigade of US troops has been identified to plug possible gaps in battle-ready forces in the wider region.
Brigadier General Richard Sherlock, deputy director for operational planning at the Department of Defence, said commanders stood ready to react to events on the ground.
"They will reposition forces with the battlefield geography in mind so that they don't give up gains that they've made in different areas, including in Basra and the south," he said. "
As the UK forces reposition all that will be taken into account as well as what the security needs for each region."
Turmoil in Basra has been a daily fact despite the presence of UK forces.
The Ministry of Defence has announced plans to evacuate its last remaining base in the city, Basra Palace as soon as practicable. The 500 British troops in the city are to withdraw to the airbase.
Brig Sherlock said he could not predict a diminution of violence in the area as a result of Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's call on Madhi Army, one of the main militias in the city, to suspend operations for six months.
"The proof of Moqtada al-Sadr's sincerity is in the pudding. We have to wait and see. We need to see actions that correspond to that as opposed to just calls for calm.
"If (the Mahdi Army) forces cease their operations and start to participate with the government of Iraq to improve security, then we would certainly welcome that."
There was an article yesterday in the British press that the Brits released 100 prisoners in a deal with Sadr not to attack them as they withdraw.
‘There was an article yesterday in the British press that the Brits released 100 prisoners in a deal with Sadr not to attack them as they withdraw.’
It was 26 not 100 and they were not released, they were transferred from British Army detention to Iraqi police detention.
From the article:
‘Michael O’Hanlon, an analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said he doubted that a deal had been done.’
The source is from the Guardian, the most left-wing anti-American newspaper in Britain and their source was ‘A Basra prisoner’ who was unnamed!
Here’s the full article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2159731,00.html
Though I am quite sure Blam, that you won’t let the facts get in the way of your clear agenda.
Gordon Brown: the good European.
‘Gordon Brown: the good European.’
Unelected PM’s are always a mistake.
David Miliband . . . foreign secretary.
With a first from Oxford and a Marxist intellectual for a father, Miliband has long been tagged as a future prime minister.
Typical cabinet appt. under the new PM: they’re all commie wannabes.
Huh...my agenda?
I'm pro-British. My son's grandmother is from Blackpool.
My screen name 'blam' is derived from my last name, Lamb. A fine old English name.
"The rule of thumb about the appearance of AMH in Britain is that it represents "deep ancestry" among British aborigines with Paleolithic Iberian roots, and that very likely applies to most individuals with this haplotype."
'Deep Ancestry' means my DNA was probably amoung the first to reach the British Isles after the Ice Age. I could be more British than you...my friend. BTW, paleolithic = about 12,000 years ago.
But Dick “Last Throes” Cheney said that the British pullout is a good sign....a sign that progress is being made and we don’t really need them in Basra any more. Could he be full of crap yet again?
I don’t know what it is with the British press at the moment. Why have they published this exact same article (in most papers) every day for the last couple of weeks? Maybe they think that if they repeat something long enough it will become true. I remember that the Telegraph was adament for months that the Royal Navy would be cut down to a Coastal Defence Force size. They’ve gone strangely quiet since two new aircraft carriers were confirmed. How many times does Brown have to say that there is no timetable for British troop withdrawals for it to sink in?
I often get confused by the negative reporting about events in the south. Just the other day 50 people were killed in pitched battles between shiite militias in Karbala (outside of the area of British responsibility). I have neve heard of that level of violence in Basra etc (despite reports that this is now a den of militia infighting).
Just to note: In the same edition of this paper in which this article was published was this report:
“US tactics in Iraq ‘are not working’: report”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/08/31/wirq131.xml
The British press have published contradictory reports on all aspects of the Iraq war since it began. I’ve lost count of the number of British ‘withdrawal’ stories naming dates for UK departure that have all subsequently passed over these last 4 and a half years. Papers will similarly have articles about US successes on one page, then have stories about US plans for emergency withdrawal on the next.The UK government is still refusing to pull troops out of Iraq on a false timetable. Even with recent reductions British forces will still number 5000 with, in the words of the UK government, the continued capability to launch offensive operations against the insurgents.
Capabilty that is not being used as your chaps sit in bunkers at the airport while being used as target practice by terrorists.
Looks like we will have to step to save you, again.
Haha. Your rabid anti-Britishness and lack of any evidence, facts or grasp of history is actually quite amusing mate.
You know as well as I do the number of articles on this website about UK troops on offensive operations. We’ve lost a lot of brave men in such operations this year (predicted to be our worst for casualties in Iraq so far: casualties taken in taking the fight to the enemy). You’re disrespect for British serviceman is disgusting. You are not fit to tie these mens shoelaces.
As for ‘saving the UK again’. What a load of nonsense. Been watching that rubbish movie ‘Pearl Harbor’ again have we? Yes, Britain is eternally grateful to Ben Affleck.
Oh, and for the millionth time (continuing from other threads) could you please name me a better ally of the US than the UK? With evidence please.
Its Friday, you should be a prayers now. The Iman will be upset.
Or maybe you should have one last pint, while you still can. The UK will be under sharia law soon and you will have to settle for tea.
Well, that still doesn’t really answer my question does it? Please will you argue in facts. If I were to say that George Bush would soon be a Muslim that wouldn’t make it fact.
The chances of your President being a Muslim are about equal to the chances of the UK ever becoming a Sharia state: sod all.
It would be pretty hard for 2% of our population (only a small proportion of them even want sharia) to impose their will on the British population. You should be more concerned about your higher number of muslims. And the fact that most US services have to offer products in two languages because of the number of Mexican immigrants that you are receiving.
Can you just answer this for me though (as well as my previous unanswered question). Why are you so anti-British? I gather that you have never been to the UK. You have obviously never studied its history or military record (Unsurpassed in the Western world in the post-World war Two period as an example).
Why the hatred?
Well? Can you please answer my questions?
Axl has got it in for the UK for some odd reason or another.
All he would have to do is read the facts of the situation and he would see that UK forces are staying in the south. What our troops in Basra Palace seem to have been is seriously exposed, and our airport base out of town is a good base of ops to support Iraqi forces as they assert their influence in the city.
I think that the tactic of a main base outside town, ala Camp Bastion in Helmand, will not anger the populace as much as it has done being based in city. Don’t count on support from some of our allies on these threads, I’m sure there’s much more Brit-bashing to come.
I think so too. I reckon with any decent alternative, Brown will serve the next couple of years and then get dumped at the election.
Mate,’axlrose’ is a moron.
I gave up trying to argue with him about a month ago.
One of our family must have buggered his Irish great-great granny, i dont know...
Begorrah.... sorry guys, that might have been me that upset the G’n’R frontman.... i was over visitin Erin a few years back to be sure..... and well, you know how it is... And they have the cheek to say Guiness is good for you!
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