Slideshow: Calm Returns To Basra

A British soldier stands in front of a Mastiff armoured vehicle. The huge fighting machines were first deployed in Basra last year to help protect UK troops from attacks by rocket-propelled grenades and improvised explosive devices

From the Financial Times:

Calm is returning to Basra, Iraq’s second largest city. Once a thriving port on Iraq’s Shatt al-Arab waterway - the country’s sole outlet to the Persian Gulf, it was neglected in the final years of Saddam Hussein’s rule and damaged by fighting among competing Shia militias after the 2003 US-led invasion. Now that the Iraqi army has succeeded in dislodging the militias, signs of revival are in evidence.

Start The Slideshow Here:

Britain And Basra -- A Litany Of Failure

A British soldier patrols the northern suburbs of the southern
Iraqi city of Basra. Photograph: Dave Clark/AFP/Getty images

From Instapundit:

HOW THE BRITISH BLEW IT IN BASRA: "You can accuse the Americans of many things, such as hamfistedness, but you can’t accuse them of not addressing a situation when it arises. While we had a strategy of evasion, the Americans just went in and addressed the problem."

As Greyhawk comments: "From the get go, they tried very hard to not be American. They succeeded." And they got great press on how much smarter than Americans they were, until things were obviously in the toilet, at which point the problem became America's fault!

-------------------------------------------------

Mudville Gazette has a great compilation of newspaper quotes that followed the British invasion of Basra from 2003 to now. The link is here.

--------------------------------------------------

Previous Post: The Failure Of British Policy In Iraq

My Comment: My gut tells me that more info will be coming out on the British experience in Basra within the next few months. Do not be surprised if the reviews become very cruel.

The Failure Of British Policy In Iraq

Out of Basra: A convoy of British armoured vehicles on the
ten-mile trip from the city's palace to the airport base

Secret deal kept British Army out of battle for Basra

A secret deal between Britain and the notorious al-Mahdi militia prevented British Forces from coming to the aid of their US and Iraqi allies for nearly a week during the battle for Basra this year, The Times has learnt.

Four thousand British troops – including elements of the SAS and an entire mechanised brigade – watched from the sidelines for six days because of an “accommodation” with the Iranian-backed group, according to American and Iraqi officers who took part in the assault.

US Marines and soldiers had to be rushed in to fill the void, fighting bitter street battles and facing mortar fire, rockets and roadside bombs with their Iraqi counterparts.

Read more ....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Six days on the sidelines left Britain facing wrath of allies in Basra

A mortar round exploded nearby as the US Marine stepped on to the street in Basra, forcing him to dive back inside his combat vehicle for cover.

“That was the first time that I thought, OK, this is serious, we are not playing games any more,” said Lieuten-ant-Colonel Chuck Western, one of the first Marines to venture into the city in late March to support an Iraqi-led offensive against gangs of well-armed militia.

Holed up at an old police station, the 400-strong battalion of Iraqi soldiers was taking a pounding, but the men cheered at the sight of their team of seven military advisers – embedded officers and soldiers who help to train Iraq’s fledgeling forces.

Read more ....

-------------------------------------------------------------------

'This was a bad time for Army. But the city is now safer'

The repercussions of the decision to withdraw the last 500 British troops from Basra city last September are only now beginning to unfold.

While the British Government insists that handing responsibility for security to the Iraqis was right, in retrospect the withdrawal was premature, leaving the military commanders blind to what was going on in the city: in effect a takeover by Iranian-backed Shia militia and criminal groups. “It was a bad day for the British Army,” one senior defence source has admitted to The Times.

Worse still was the small print of the deal fixed between the British military and leaders in Basra of the Shia al-Mahdi Army – supporters of the fiery cleric Moqtada al-Sadr – under which it was agreed that Britain’s military would stay out of the city and remain encamped at its base at the airport.

Read more ....

-------------------------------------------------------------------

My Comment: When the fight for Basra started this spring, I felt it odd that the British were not directly involved. Now I know why.

When 15 British marines were kidnapped by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the Persian Gulf .... now I now why also.

The rules of engagement are being administered from politicians in the U.K., not by commanders on the ground.

When I think of Afghanistan .... I bet any amount of money that the same problems exist. No wonder the security situation is crumbling in the regions that the British administer.

Deal With Shia Prisoner Left Basra At Mercy Of Gangs, Colonel Admits

A British flag flutters as British soldiers sit atop their armoured vehicles during a handover ceremony in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, 20 March 2007. The British military handed over a key base in Basra to local forces today as part of its gradual withdrawal from war-torn Iraq, a provincial official said. Al-Saee base, known as the Old State Building, was handed over to Iraqi forces after having served as headquarters of British troops in Basra since the US-led invasion exactly four years ago

From The Independent:

British commanders in Iraq made an astonishing secret deal with a Shia prisoner to withdraw from Basra which left the city at the mercy of criminal gangs, one of the UK's senior military officers serving in Iraq has said.

Colonel Richard Iron said the "understandable but inexcusable" deal was one of several "terrible mistakes" the British have made during their occupation of the south of the country.

In an exclusive interview with The Independent on Sunday, Col Iron, who leads the teams mentoring the Iraqi army in central Basra, said the deal had included the release of 120 prisoners and had the effect of leaving the city in a lawless state.

Read more ....

My Comment: This is not how you run a counter-insurgency campaign. Knowing all of this, I can understand why Iraqi PM Maliki, with the help of U.S. combat advisers, ordered the Iraqi Army to retake the city 4 months ago.

Basra - Here's The Good News Story

Basra RAF Detachment

From Times Online:

The city is firmly under the grip of Iraq's new security forces, and normal life is returning.

There is an interesting piece of graffiti on a bridge near Basra. A fleeing militiaman has scrawled “We'll be back”; underneath an Iraqi soldier has scribbled in reply “And we'll be waiting for you”.

The Shia militias, the Jaish al- Mahdi, who controlled large parts of Basra until March this year, has now gone and instead the city is firmly under the grip of Iraq's new security forces, in whom the coalition has invested so much training. They re-established control in April, in an operation romantically named “The Charge of the Knights”, systematically clearing the city with British and American support, confiscating illegal weapons and arresting the violent gangs whose combination of criminality and vicious extremism was making life a misery for so many of Basra's people.

Read more ....

My Comment: I personally feel that with time , political reconciliation in Iraq will be achieved. This new political status in turn will insure security and development in regions like Basra. This should be no surprise. When the Iraqis look at countries like Abu Dhabi .... and the incredible wealth that proper oil development can bring .... it is only natural that the priority will be to lay the ground work to have the same thing.