Iraq Update: Britain withdraws from Basra, whilst US surge continues, as Chemical Ali is sentanced to hang

Iraq has reached a fork in the road that it was bound to meet for a long time. The 550 British troops that were based in the centre of Basra at Basra palace, have withdrawn to Basra International Airport, awaiting departure to Kuwait to act as a 'force over the horizon'. Talks between the British and Kuwaiti governments over Britain opening a base where a QRF (Quick Reaction Force) can be opened are still on-going. The move which was greeted by disdain from US Army commanders is a crucial blow to Bush. Although the Americans did admit that they knew this was going to happen, sooner rather than later, it is no doubt a huge blow to Bush who needs British military and political support in Iraq. There was a lot of ‘transatlantic’ bickering between the two countries over their different policies in Iraq. For instance a Pentagon official said the reason for British withdraw from Basra was simply because of pressure at home, rather than in Iraq. General Michael Jackson, the man who led British forces into Iraq, blamed Roosevelt and his commanders for the failures so far. However, senior American defence officials have called for a stop to this game.

“ A very senior defence official has told the joint chief's of Staff that the sniping against Britain must stop” - Sources from Washington

American critiscm was met by anger, from the commander of the 4th Rifles Battle-groups, Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Sanders:

“Does this look like it’s a defeated army? No, it’s complete bullocks! Arguably, the peace and quiet we’re seeing in Basra at the moment is because we fought them to the negotiating table”

Questions have been raised about who exactly the British have agreed plans with, but late last week the British have admitted to having held talks with the militias, which is something the Americans are doing at the moment (continue reading)

“We talk to the Mahdi Army and other militia groups in our area of operations as part of the stragedy of political engagement we have long pursued. The Mahdi Army clearly has an interest in and influence over Basra and the rest of Iraq, and an outright refusal to engage in dialogue with them would not be in Iraq’s, or Basra’s best interest” - (MOD)

“It was the British who came to us in the first place to strike a deal, they wanted us to stop attacking their compounds and troops. It was not the Mahdi Army that went to them. It was obvious to us that they had suffered enough attacks and could not deal with more” - (A senior Mahdi Army official putting a new spin onto the story)

Mahdi Army leaders had agreed to cease all attacks on two conditions:

“First that they release our men and prisoners and then that they withdraw totally from Basra City itself. Eventually the British agreed to our demands and released nine Mahdi men, some of whom were senior commanders. They also promised to hand over the others to the Iraqi courts, which we will not charge our men”

Soon, Bush will present his report to congress on whether the US 'surge' in numbers has infact worked or not. Statistics from the Times do show a decrease in deaths and violence, but this is from a very high number of deaths, abut Sunnis are still being forced from Iraq because of sectarian violence.
Iraqi civilian deaths have fallen from 4,000 to 3,500 since the Surge, US troops being killed has had a sharp decrease going from 110 to 59, Internally displaced people (cumulative) has rising to 1.5 million and the US troops in Iraq has increased from the annual average of 140,000 to 161,000.
The US has also adopted new tactics. The most successful so far, is that they are paying insurgents to promise to back the US military. A contradiction to most Western leaders strongly backed line which is "Never pay or support terrorists to maintain their goal, no matter what" This is what they are doing! They are backing down to insurgents, albeit former insurgents, and paying them money. Who is also to say that these insurgent groups will stop killing coalition forces? Are the Americans sure that the same insurgent groups who have been bombing them since 2003 aren’t about to use American tax-payed money to create bigger and better bombs, to kill more American troops? I always feel never trust or support terrorism, and i am very surprised at the new American policy.
In the Times there is a photo of Captain Henry Moltz of the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment kissing Sheikh Sabah Al-Janabi, I obviously can’t say that Al-Janabi is either a honest or dishonest man, but you do get a sense of feeling that some of these kisses that the American commanders are giving out will mean as much as Judas kissing Jesus.
In other news Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as Chemical Ali, has been sentenced to hang for uses of chemical weapons against Saddam Hussein’s enemies. He is due to be hanged in Baghdad later this week, before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. He was convicted of killing 180,000 Kurd with chemical weapons ni the 1980’s, he lost his appeal last week. He is currently under American custody, awaiting transfer the Iraqi’s for execution. He is the cousin of Saddam and is the most important official to be executed since his cousin was hanged last December.