ninme

Telegraph - Beckett: Basra hand-over by spring

Margaret Beckett today said she has “confidence” that British forces will hand over control of Basra to Iraqi forces by the spring.

Wow, that’s great!

Say, incidentally, I was listening to my Telegraph podcast a couple weeks ago and their Iraq correspondant happened to mention that the last time the British transferred authority to the Iraqis (remember the pictures of the ceremonies with the flags and the shiny solders and things?) the army barracks vacated by the British troops, intended for the Iraqi troops, were overrun and looted by the local governor’s bodyguard. So hey, that went well. Not that we heard about any of that. Doesn’t really go with the whole “peace with honour” thing, I suppose. Oh and speaking of “peace with honour”, yesterday The Times had a .pdf of its front page from Thursday, May 1, 1975, the date of our last successful “peace with honour”. Strangely, though, the headline editor from 1975 spelled “peace with honour” “US opinion confused and bitter over chaotic humiliation”. I guess journalistic standards just weren’t as rigorous back then as they are now.

Update (Thanksgiving):

Never mind the hypocrisy given that it’s coming from this paper (”Curses, we’re being outflanked by Labour! Quick, change sides!”)…

The Telegraph - Don’t abandon Iraq

Sensitive to public concerns about the occupation, the Government is seeking to convey the impression that it will not be long before our boys are home. That prospect is lent credence by the fact that control of Dhiqar and Muthanna provinces has already been transferred and that Maysan is expected to follow shortly.

Basra, however, is of a different order to the other three, in terms of British troop concentration, size of population and political volatility.

Given current levels of violence in Iraq and the inadequacy of the local security forces, it is surreal to hear Mrs Beckett laying down a date for a possible halving of our military presence.

The Government is evidently operating to a predetermined timetable regardless of what is happening on the ground. Mrs Beckett spoke yesterday of a “clear forward perspective”. No doubt Labour has a clear idea of where it wants to be on Iraq by next spring. But that is unlikely to coincide with the needs of Basra and Maysan. The Foreign Secretary is apparently ready to sacrifice those provinces to domestic political advantage.