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British to leave Iraq,in two weeks - 12/21/2007 10:36:47 PM

Owner59

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'London says its troops have done their job well. The areas they patrolled in southern Iraq will now be placed under the authority of newly trained Iraqi soldiers and police.

"Things are getting better here for a very obvious reason," defence secretary Des Browne said during a visit to Basra a month ago.

"The Iraqis themselves are much more capable of taking responsibility for their own security."

Yet, the outcome of Britain's biggest overseas military campaign in more than 50 years feels, at best, ambiguous.
Critics say Basra is now a place where Shi'ite militia men administer justice and spray paint walls with threats to kill women who go out without veils. Interpreters who worked for the British have been kidnapped, tortured and killed.
Some experts have concluded Britain lost its war.'

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/cloud-of-ambiguity-as-british-leave-iraq-1242068.html

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RE: British to leave Iraq,in two weeks - 12/21/2007 10:51:23 PM

lazarus1983

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I am really interested to see how their areas they patrolled fare, without their British Big Brother. Let's hope they are stable and well controlled.

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RE: British to leave Iraq,in two weeks - 12/22/2007 5:00:54 AM

NorthernGent

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There's a flaw in the reason underpinning the notion that "things are getting better".

It's based on the observations of the British Army, and, as they have reduced numbers in the region and increasingly withdrawn from their original position, they are not in a position to understand whether "things are getting better" or not.

According to reports coming from ordinary Iraqis, things are certainly not getting better. Factions have used the chaos as a means to settle old scores and battle for control.

I will guarantee you this:

Post British and American withdrawal, the respective governments will use accounts from ordinary Iraqis to promote the view that the place has descended into chaos since their withdrawl; in contrast, accounts from ordinary Iraqis are thin on the ground, at present.

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RE: British to leave Iraq,in two weeks - 12/22/2007 5:14:50 AM

EvilCrimeLord

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When you are part of the problem you can’t be part of the solution and that is what they have discovered. Iraqis die in attacks targeted at coalition troops, Iraqis die in politically motivated attacks against the Iraqi government because of their support for coalition troops.

It’s what has always been said; someone in that country has to take the lead and I expect many will die trying to.

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RE: British to leave Iraq,in two weeks - 12/22/2007 5:26:45 AM

NorthernGent

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quote:

ORIGINAL: EvilCrimeLord

When you are part of the problem you can’t be part of the solution and that is what they have discovered. Iraqis die in attacks targeted at coalition troops, Iraqis die in politically motivated attacks against the Iraqi government because of their support for coalition troops.

It’s what has always been said; someone in that country has to take the lead and I expect many will die trying to.

I suspect you're correct; many will die in a battle for control.

That someone, however, has to be an Iraqi, rather than an occupying force applying the rules. Paradoxically, the occupation is laying the foundations for fundamentalism, as opposed to the oft-cited code of democracy. Then again, I suppose that's the plan: fundamentalism is a barrier to progress, and will serve British and American vested interests.

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RE: British to leave Iraq,in two weeks - 12/22/2007 5:42:59 AM

seeksfemslave

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If the existing Iraqui fundamentalist factions are so stupid as to keep killing one another having been offered a chance to govern themselves, so be it.
I confidently await the first asylum seeker from the one main group in Iraq fleeing from the "attentions" of the other.
Its already happened with an ex Taliban from Afghanistan.

I heard NG offered him lodgings for a couple of weeks.
Only a rumour I expect.

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