Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The British are going, the British are going! ... or ... Reverse Revere Reviled

Military Commanders Tell Brown to Withdraw from Iraq Without Delay

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”.
[...]
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.
Yeah, I'm certain the Brits will listen to US criticism seeing as how our war is going so well.


Cross posted at VidiotSpeak

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