U.S. 'believes Britain has lost in Basra'

U.S. 'believes Britain has lost in Basra'

www.telegraph.co.uk

A senior US intelligence official told The Washington Post that British commanders had allowed militias loyal to three Shia Muslim groups take control of the city's streets. "The British have basically been defeated in the south," he said.


British officials in Basra reject the notion that UK troop levels in the southern Iraqi province had been cut too fast


The report said a contingent of 500 British troops based at Basra Palace were "surrounded like cowboys and Indians".

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Britain's former governor of Basra, Sir Hilary Synnott, said the US criticism was payback for British claims two years ago that Basra was a success while Washington had failed in Baghdad. "It's not so long ago that some members of the British government were boasting that Basra was doing very well, better than Baghdad. That was very unwise."

www.telegraph.co.uk
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