Britain pulls troops out of Iraq's Basra city

FE Team | Published: September 04, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

BASRA, (Iraq), Sept 3 (AFP): After four and a half inconclusive years of fighting, British forces during the night slipped out of their last base in the Iraqi oil port of Basra, handing control Monday to their Iraqi comrades.
The move comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and London, its closest ally in Iraq, over their policy in the war-torn nation, with the British troops leaving behind a city in the grip of a brutal militia turf war.
"British troops began their withdrawal from Basra Palace at 11:00 last night (1900 GMT)," said General Mohan Farhad, commander of Basra military operations.
"The Iraqi army has now taken over responsibility and the area is off-limits. No one can approach except those who are authorised," he told AFP.
Iraqi soldiers were seen hoisting the Iraqi flag and setting up guards outside the palace complex, which Farhad said would remain under Iraqi military control until Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki decides its fate.
A British defence ministry spokesman in London told AFP that some British soldiers remain at the base, refusing for security reasons to give details of how many and when they will be transferred.
"The pullout is not finished," he added.
The evacuation of the 500 troops from Saddam Hussein's former palace on the banks of the Shatt al-Arab waterway to a desert airbase paves the way for a full British handover of security in the region to Iraqi authorities.
The British defence ministry said this could take place in the autumn.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown denied the withdrawal was a "defeat" and stressing that British troops stood ready to "reintervene" if the security situation demanded.
"This is a pre-planned and this is an organised move," Brown told BBC radio.
"We will discharge all our responsibilities to the Iraqi people; we will discharge our international obligations exacted in the United Nations."
In recent weeks, the United States and Britain have been at odds over Iraq, with General Jack Keane, a former vice-chief of staff of the US Army, saying last month there was "frustration" in Washington at the deteriorating security situation in the British-run area.
But retired Major General Tim Cross, the top British officer involved in planning post-war Iraq, hit back, saying he had raised serious concerns with then US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the possibility of the country descending into chaos.
But Rumsfeld "ignored" or "dismissed" his warnings, Cross told the Sunday Mirror newspaper.
On Saturday, the head of the British army during the March 2003 invasion also launched a fierce attack on the United States over its handling of troubled Iraq since.
General Sir Mike Jackson branded US post-invasion policy "intellectually bankrupt" and said Rumsfeld was "one of the most responsible for the current situation in Iraq."
There are about 5,500 British troops in Iraq, most of whom are based in and around Basra, though that number is set to drop to around 5,000 by the end of the year.
They will now handle training and supervision of local forces, supporting them if required.
The British troops leave behind a city in the grip of a brutal turf war between rival militia and many policy experts now speak candidly of a British defeat in southern Iraq, and warn of more chaos ahead.
Meanwhile : President Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq Monday, using the war zone as a backdrop to argue his case that the buildup of US troops is helping stabilising the nation. The president secretly flew 11 hours to Iraq as a showdown nears with Congress over whether his decision in January to order 30,000 more US troops to Iraq is working. He landed at an air base in Anbar province west of Baghdad.
Next week, Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the US ambassador in Baghdad, testify before Congress. Their assessment of the conflict, along with a progress report the White House must give lawmakers by Sept. 15, will determine the next chapter of the war.
The United States cannot sustain the troop buildup indefinitely. And with Democrats calling for withdrawals and a rising US death toll that has topped 3,700, the president is hardpressed to give Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's much more time to find a political solution to the fighting.