Brits bow out of Basra

The withdrawal of 550 British troops from Basra Palace to Basra Air Station by no means marks the end of this conflict. So what next for Iraq?

The withdrawal of 550 British troops from Basra Palace to Basra Air Station, ten miles from the city centre, marks not the end, but the "passing of one phase of this dread conflict into another", said Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian. Of the 45,000 troops involved in the original invasion, there will soon be just 5,000, holed up in one airport. Sadly, this does not mean our troops have restored peace to the region; indeed, the Arab press have been quick to dub it a crushing defeat'.

There's no doubt it is "humiliating", said Michael Seamark in the Daily Mail. Our attempts to bring peace to Iraq's second city have left 168 servicemen and women dead. The withdrawal, four and a half years on, leaves the city largely in the hands of warring Shia militias, with the prospect of "more killings and kidnappings as they battle for power". The police, tasked with ensuring law and order, have been heavily infiltrated by militia members. Lieutenant Colonel Sanders, commanding officer of the withdrawing troops, said that as 90% of attacks were against UK troops, Basra should grow calmer. Others disagreed. Colonel Tim Collins said political failure' in both London and Washington had created a risk of civil war in Iraq and compared the pull-out to the US retreat from Vietnam.

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