The Osterley Times: British army joins battle to control Basra

Sunday, March 30, 2008

British army joins battle to control Basra

The British army have now joined up with Maliki's forces in an attempt to defeat al Sadr's Mahdi army in Basra.

Military sources admitted that the militia had consolidated a number of 'criminal strongpoints' in the city. The involvement of the British is the first time UK forces have engaged militias since the Iraqi army operation, personally supervised by the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, began in the city last Tuesday morning.

British army spokesman in Basra, Major Tom Holloway, told the BBC the engagement had been successful: 'This is something we were always prepared to do. There are still a number of militia criminal strongpoints in the city, and we know where they are. Elsewhere they are consolidating their positions and gains.'

British aircraft have been patrolling above the city during the course of the operation, but have not so far been used to attack militia positions.

This week Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, is expected to confirm that the planned withdrawal of 1,500 British troops from Iraq this spring is on hold amid the heavy fighting in Basra. However, he will insist that bringing significant numbers home is still an option.

This is simply outrageous. Why should young Brits die so that Maliki can take on al Sadr? After all, Maliki did not consult anyone before he launched this assault, so why should we be required to bail him out once he discovers that his forces are not up to the job?

As I said yesterday, I am not remotely surprised that Bush should engage American forces in Maliki's battle, because Bush's entire reputation is tied to this conflict, even though I find it abhorrent that young Americans should die for this act of folly.

But just what Brown is playing at is lost on me.

The New York Times reported from Baghdad yesterday that senior members of several political parties were growing critical of the military operation in Basra ordered by al-Maliki, which they said had been poorly planned. It reported that at a news briefing in Basra, Iraq's defence minister, Abdul-Kader Jassem al-Obeidi, conceded the assault had not gone according to expectations. 'We were surprised by a very strong resistance that made us change our plans,' he said.

Maliki, in a ridiculous act of bravado, went to Basra to personally direct the troops, having consulted with no-one before he left, and now finds that he is well out of his depth. That can hardly have come as a surprise to anyone but himself.

And now both the US and UK forces are having to bail this man out of his act of stupidity. What happened to "as they stand up, we shall stand down"?

From all the reports that I am reading, things are not going according to plan:

Shiite militiamen in Basra openly controlled wide swaths of the city on Saturday and staged increasingly bold raids on Iraqi government forces sent five days ago to wrest control from the gunmen, witnesses said, as Iraqi political leaders grew increasingly critical of the stalled assault.

Witnesses in Basra said members of the most powerful militia in the city, the Mahdi Army, were setting up checkpoints and controlling traffic in many places ringing the central district controlled by some of the 30,000 Iraqi Army and police forces involved in the assault. Fighters were regularly attacking the government forces, then quickly retreating.