Lt General “Custer” Takes Over in Basra

Lloyd Austin to battle Moqtada al Sadr

Can we expect the US to nuke Green Zone and blame it
on the Iranians?

FirstPost.co.uk

The senior American ground commander in Iraq has decided to take charge of coalition
operations in Basra.
Lt Gen Lloyd Austin (right), the American corps commander, is reported
to have decided that British tactics in Basra
have failed and that coalition forces, led by Americans, must back Iraqi army
efforts to wrest control of Basra
from the militias of Moqtada al-Sadr.
"The British policy appears to be in tatters," an adviser in Baghdad told me a few
hours ago. Last August a deal was struck with the militias to allow the British
to withdraw forces from inside the city to a base outside at the international
airport. There the British troops have been in an 'overwatch' posture - mainly
mentoring and training the 14th and 10th Divisions of the new Iraqi army and
providing back-up to Iraqi troops and police if called for.

When Iraq's
prime minister Nouri al-Maliki ordered Iraqi forces to break the grip of
Moqtada's Mahdi army on Basra,
the British did not send in reinforcements to help. The Iraqi army made little
headway, and about 1,500 troops deserted. A ceasefire was then brokered between
the militia and the army through Iran.

The British did provide air cover from fighters and
unmanned surveillance drones, as did the Americans. But British efforts have
been criticised as too little, too late.

Because of the recent violence, Gordon Brown's government
has stopped any further reduction of British troops from the current 4,100. But
they're still holed up at the airport. British commanders now believe their
forces have to get more involved in keeping order in Basra,
or pull out altogether - particularly as they are desperately needed in Afghanistan.

This can only be decided by Gordon Brown. It's a huge
challenge. Retreat could too easily be seen as defeat and further damage his
battered relations with Washington. 

FIRST POSTED APRIL 8, 2008