[Marxism] British military brass: withdraw from Iraq without delay

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2876541.ece
Military commanders tell Brown to withdraw from Iraq without delay
By Raymond Whitaker and Robert Fox
Published: 19 August 2007

Senior military commanders have told the Government that Britain can 
achieve "nothing more" in south-east Iraq, and that the 5,500 British 
troops still deployed there should move towards withdrawal without 
further delay.

Last month Gordon Brown said after meeting George Bush at Camp David 
that the decision to hand over security in Basra province – the last of 
the four held by the British – "will be made on the military advice of 
our commanders on the ground". He added: "Whatever happens, we will make 
a full statement to Parliament when it returns [in October]."

Two generals told The Independent on Sunday last week that the military 
advice given to the Prime Minister was, "We've done what we can in the 
south [of Iraq]". Commanders want to hand over Basra Palace – where 500 
British troops are subjected to up to 60 rocket and mortar strikes a 
day, and resupply convoys have been described as "nightly suicide 
missions" – by the end of August. The withdrawal of 500 soldiers has 
already been announced by the Government. The Army is drawing up plans 
to "reposture" the 5,000 that will be left at Basra airport, and aims to 
bring the bulk of them home in the next few months.

Before the invasion in 2003, officers were told that the Army's war aims 
were to bring stability and democracy to Iraq and to the Middle East as 
a whole. Those ambitions have been drastically revised, the IoS 
understands. The priorities now are an orderly withdrawal, with the 
reputation and capability of the Army "reasonably intact", and for 
Britain to remain a "credible ally". The final phrase appears to refer 
to tensions with the US, which has more troops in Iraq than at any other 
time, including the invasion, as it seeks to impose order in Baghdad and 
neighbouring provinces.

American criticism of Britain's desire to pull back in southern Iraq has 
recently become public, with a US intelligence official telling The 
Washington Post this month that "the British have basically been 
defeated in the south". A senior British commander countered, "That's to 
miss the point. It was never that kind of battle, in which we set out to 
defeat an enemy." Other officers said the British force was never 
configured to "clear and hold" Basra in the way the Americans are 
seeking to do in Baghdad.

Immediate American discontent is said to centre on the CIA's reluctance 
to leave Basra Palace, an important base for watching Iran, which may 
explain why Britain has held on to the complex until now. But last week 
it was reported that US intelligence operatives were in the process of 
pulling out. Further ahead, the US is concerned over the security of its 
vital supply line from Kuwait, with some American commanders saying that 
if the British withdraw, American troops will have to be sent south to 
replace them. As the hub of Iraq's oil industry, Basra is also a 
tempting prize for the Shia militias battling each other for control.

There are fears that the bloody power struggle in Basra will escalate 
sharply if and when British troops depart, but commanders point out that 
up to 90 per cent of the violence is directed against their forces. They 
are understood to believe it was never the role of occupation troops to 
intervene in a "turf war" among factions from the same community, all of 
which have links to the government coalition in Baghdad.

Mr Brown will have to take these wider concerns into account, in 
reaching a decision that has political as well as military implications. 
At Camp David he stressed that "we have duties to discharge and 
responsibilities to keep" in support of the Iraqi government and "the 
explicit will" of the international community. The 15 September report 
on the progress of the security "surge" by the US commander in Iraq, 
General David Petraeus, and the American ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan 
Crocker, will be crucial to British as well as US military plans.

General Petraeus is expected to report mixed results, and to plead for 
more time for the surge to work. But the White House, under pressure 
from Republicans facing disaster in the 2008 elections, is likely to 
announce at least some troop reductions. British commanders, and some US 
commentators, believe that will enable the Prime Minister to spell out 
plans for a British withdrawal when MPs return in October, although the 
process may last well into next year.

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