British Army move out of Basra police center, Shiite militia moves in

British Army move out of Basra police center, Shiite militia moves in

www.iht.com

Shiite militiamen from the Mahdi Army took over the police joint command center in Basra on Sunday after British soldiers withdrew from the facility and handed control to the Iraqi police, witnesses said.

Police left the building when the militiamen, loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, arrived. The militia was still controlling the facility as of late afternoon

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
uk.reuters.com

Looks like the British are starting to withdraw from the south , America may end up patrolling down there as well if the British withdraw completely .

www.iht.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Iraq is a lost cause.

The native population do not want the coalition there. Unlike Afghanistan. It's impossible for the Iraqi government to do anything on their own. In fact, they expect either the British or Americans to do things for them. Iraq isn't a colony.

I feel sorry for the US the most. You guys have Baghdad, which is a fortress. It's hard to see if you have an exit.

90% of the attacks in Basra are aimed at the British.

Iraq for us was like India and Ireland. We stayed too long and didn't have support from the local population.

We removed a dictator.
We brought in democratic elections.
Built a young democracy.

This is our time to leave.




[edit on 26-8-2007 by infinite]

When the Brits do leave-Its going to be bad-
The Americans will blame us for making their job harder/putting more of their soldiers in harms way.
The Iraqis will claim victory over Britain,and this will act as a recruiting tool to AQ or the Mahdi Army hoping to "finish off" the occupation.
Of course,when the Brits leave there will also be a power struggle between rival groups in the area who have been laying low and waiting for the day...
Britain will come out of this situation badly whatever happens unfortunately.
Maybe America will too ultimately-Ever get the feeling that all those millions of anti war protesters may have actually been right???


edit:spelling

[edit on 26-8-2007 by Silcone Synapse]

Originally posted by infinite
We removed a dictator.
We brought in democratic elections.
Built a young democracy.

This is our time to leave.

I'm willing to bet as soon as we pull out all of these will go backward- the Governement will collapse and internal fighting will spiral, resulting in a new dictatorship.

Just my two cents.

[edit on 26-8-2007 by Knights]

Best we pull right out of that country and let them get on with it.

U try to give them freedom and hopefully a better quality of life and all they try to do is blow u up!! and moan ...

No pleasing some people .. (just what jesus said) ...

regards

Git

Originally posted by Silcone Synapse
Ever get the feeling that all those millions of anti war protesters may have actually been right???

Spot on...

Originally posted by completenuttergit
Best we pull right out of that country and let them get on with it.

U try to give them freedom and hopefully a better quality of life and all they try to do is blow u up!! and moan ...

Freedom from what? Life? All the UK and more specifically America has done is ruin their country, destroy their lives and inject terror and fear into their daily existence.
The US has dragged the UK into this hell hole and unfortunately when the Brits decide enough is enough, I think it's the Yanks who are going to get the dirty end of the stick. Sad but probably true.

The Iraq war is nothing short of a complete and utter failure...

Mr-Lizard,

"The Iraq war is nothing short of a complete and utter failure... "

When speaking from my own personal point of view I could not agree with you more,however-
When looked at from the perspective of lets say Lockheed/halliburton/KBR/betchel,or indeed any arms dealers-this whole episode has been nothing less than a boom in their business profits.Hell thats without even giving a mention to the oil cartels...
So the death of many of our own brave soldiers who truly believed they were helping their country,and the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq(remember,this war began in 1991) have made a very tidy sum indeed for many companies,who of course happen to have close ties with those pushing the war agenda.
The Juggernaut of industrialised warfare rumbles on,based on lies,death and destruction as usual.

Sick or WHAT?

Well freedom from the tyranny of a dictator who killed thousands of his own people and tortured countless others , but i agree we should of never gone in at all but what other way was there? arms and trade embargo's did not work , would it of been more of a crime to sit back and watch??

Its a difficult one , a real no win situtation ...

regards

Git

CNG-
Its a hell of a difficult one m8,and hindsight is great and all,but the torture,fear,death goes on to this day-so what exactlly are they going to thank us for in the long run--especially if civil war results after the pull out(a la 'nam).
History just seems to repeat...Who was that clever guy who said:

"What we learn from history is that we do not learn from history?"



Don`t get me wrong,I do believe that most of the armed forces do think they are protecting their homeland or helping Iraq-But they do not get to read about the possible hidden agendas of their governments while they are off fighting do they?

Originally posted by Knights
I'm willing to bet as soon as we pull out all of these will go backward- the Governement will collapse and internal fighting will spiral, resulting in a new dictatorship.

I'm willing to bet with you.

There is a power struggle going on and we are in the middle of it. Best thing to do is just leave them to it.

this is the problem with Iraq;

MoD spokesman said there was a green Shiite flag flying on the building, but not the black flag associated with the Mahdi Army.

Even the police force is controlled by sectarianism.

It's impossible to rule a country were sectarian passion is running through every part of the society, from government to police. It's unworkable.

Iraq will only grow under a secular nation I say.

Originally posted by mr-lizard

Freedom from what? Life? All the UK and more specifically America has done is ruin their country, destroy their lives and inject terror and fear into their daily existence.
The US has dragged the UK into this hell hole and unfortunately when the Brits decide enough is enough, I think it's the Yanks who are going to get the dirty end of the stick. Sad but probably true.

The Iraq war is nothing short of a complete and utter failure...

Has the US done that or have they done that to themselves? We removed Saddam, and have since spent years trying to give that country back to its people in the form of a more free and democratic society, but we have since realized what they really want is to kill each other off over different beliefs than to have a good life. This is sad but what is even sadder is other countries like Iran are eager to help them towards their own destruction. For Iran it would be nice to win a war when your enemy kills themselves without the need to even send one troop in.



[edit on 26-8-2007 by Xtrozero]

The British troops used to patrol the streets without heavy helmets instead they wore their less intimidiating cloth headgear

They tried their best to help the people in the region with security and rebuilding but have suffered greater and greater violence in the past year

Its best now if they start to withdraw and leave the sectarian groupings to fight it out , their softly softly approach worked at first but nows the time to get out.

Originally posted by The_Coo
The British troops used to patrol the streets without heavy helmets instead they wore their less intimidating cloth headgear

You mean the Beret?

It's called "winning hearts and minds", thats why the British army switched to beret so we didn't intimidate the local population. And played football in the street with the kids.

A common practice for the British and other European armies.

This article is a load of ****.
The British havn't even started to withdraw from any where yet!!!
They arn't going to withdraw for another 6months at least, also when they do withdraw they are going to hand back the palace and ALL OF THE POLICE STATIONS at once, leaving Basrah airfield and port under British control for a few months until we are all gone.

Originally posted by Silcone Synapse

When speaking from my own personal point of view I could not agree with you more,however-
When looked at from the perspective of lets say Lockheed/halliburton/KBR/betchel,or indeed any arms dealers-this whole episode has been nothing less than a boom in their business profits.Hell thats without even giving a mention to the oil cartels...
So the death of many of our own brave soldiers who truly believed they were helping their country,and the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq(remember,this war began in 1991) have made a very tidy sum indeed for many companies,who of course happen to have close ties with those pushing the war agenda.
The Juggernaut of industrialised warfare rumbles on,based on lies,death and destruction as usual.

Sick or WHAT?

How about from the perspective of a little girl that now goes to school, and the perspective of the Kurds who have recovered quite well in the north, or the perspective of the 100,000s that were not part of the Baath party.
There are a lot of different perspectives that do not make the news' "if it bleeds it reads" perspective.

It is truly sad that the whole world but England wants the US to fail. Even the Democratic Party would rather push a failure in bush's face than to pat him on the back from a success story, so of course this will end in a failed attempt but whose failure will it be? Will it be Bush, our military, the world, the People of Iraq where would you like to put it?

Originally posted by SKUNK2
The British havn't even started to withdraw from any where yet!!!

You might want to check the BBC before ranting....

It is truly sad that the whole world but England wants the US to fail

You mean the United Kingdom? That's the name of my country.

England hasn't been a country since 1707.

en.wikipedia.org...

Check out that link of wiki, it should help you understand the United Kingdom.

[edit on 26-8-2007 by infinite]

Personally I'm glad the Brits are pulling out as neither we or anyone else needed to invade that sovereign country. I only wish the Yanks were as well. Unfortunately what is going to happen in Iraq is going to happen if not in the short term then in the long term and a lot of people are going to die.

The Brits did the job they were asked to do and no one can say they haven't. We can leave with our heads held high as having done our bit. I hope no one thinks we are cutting and running. When we were asked to stand up and be counted we stood right at the front of the (small) queue.

What happens now in Basra will be an indicator of what is going to happen in the rest of that country. So if Basra fails then the U S should pull out immediately as no matter how long they stay the same will happen in the rest of Iraq.

The war was wrong when it was conceived and it is wrong now. The U S and G B should have concentrated on Al Qaeda.

Originally posted by infinite

It is truly sad that the whole world but England wants the US to fail

You mean the United Kingdom? That's the name of my country.

England hasn't been a country since 1707.

en.wikipedia.org...

Check out that link of wiki, it should help you understand the United Kingdom.

[edit on 26-8-2007 by infinite]

ya what ever....

[edit on 26-8-2007 by Xtrozero]