Patrick McIlheran, Feb. 21, 2007:
Expect to hear the surrender chorus yammering on about how Britain's drawdown of troops from 7,100 to 5,500 in coming months [From the Basra area -- Brawler] signals that our allies are abandoning us.
Which ignores fact. The British are leaving troops in Iraq, mainly to train Iraqis. This differs from what we're doing there -- because the British are in a different part of Iraq, where conditions differ. As Prime Minister Tony Blair pointed out, "The situation in Basra is very different from Baghdad," he was quoted in the Times. "There is no Sunni insurgency. There is no al-Qaeda base. There is little Shia on Sunni violence. The bulk of the attacks are on the Multinational Force. It has never presented anything like the challenge of Baghdad."
In fact, the British are turning over their main base near Basra to the Iraqis. Swaths of the south, the part of Iraq they cover, are in Iraqi control.
This withdrawal is a landmark of the very thing the surrender side here claims can never happen: Iraqis controlling their own country.
CNN today:
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Fighting between Iraqi security forces and supporters of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr left 50 dead in the southern city of Basra and spread to several Baghdad districts Tuesday, Iraqi officials said.
The fighting erupted as al-Sadr's political organization launched a nationwide civil disobedience movement to protest recent arrests of its members.
The discord threatens to unravel a much-praised cease-fire by the cleric's militia, the Mehdi Army, which U.S. commanders have credited with helping ease the sectarian warfare that gripped Iraq in 2006.
An official with Basra's Provincial Council, speaking on condition of anonymity, told CNN that at least 50 people were killed and 120 wounded Tuesday.
The dead included Iraqi troops, police, civilians and militiamen, the official said.
In addition, at least 30 Iraqi security force members were kidnapped by militia fighters in Basra, he said.
I guess it all depends how you define "control."
The Brawler noted at the time that McIlheran's assessment was bunk, asking "Is Patrick McIlheran watching the same war?" The Brawler even noted prophetically (fine, along with hundreds of other observers):
Paddy: It's tough to say that anyone's "controlling" Basra given the level of violence has been increasing, rather than decreasing. A fact the Pentagon acknowledges. And what Iraqis are going to be controlling this part of the country? The Brawler would suggest Muqtada al Sadr before too long. Is that part of the British master plan?
This resurgence of violence was completely and utterly predictable to anyone familiar with the history of the region or the history of occupations (I'll refrain from saying "imperialism") in general. Really, it doesn't take a genius to comprehend this. But it helps if you're not ideologically invested in the Bush presidency.
But, no doubt before the week is out, McIlheran will once again insult or condemn as un-American people -- the surrender chorus, now a majority of people in this country -- who want us to get out of Iraq.
Meanwhile. the grim odometer (an old Paddy term) turns and starts approaching 5,000 (from the same CNN story):
The U.S. soldier who died Tuesday was on patrol in the largely Sunni district of Adhamiyah when a mortar attack struck, Stover said. The fatality brings the number of U.S. dead in the five-year-old war to 4,001, including eight Defense Department civilians.
Comments