Militia elements have infiltrated the police in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, British Army chief General Sir Mike Jackson acknowledged Thursday. Sir Mike, chief of the UK general staff, told BBC domestic radio he believed that there was an Iranian influence in the infiltration, though that was not necessarily directed by the Iranian Government in Tehran. The British Government has alleged that Iranian-sourced weaponry has been used in attacks on British forces in Iraq.Asked by the BBC if security in Iraq is getting better or worse, Sir Mike replied "It is a varied picture. I think that is true of all of the lines of development. Without doubt, it seems to me that the political process is moving on, I think to the admiration of everybody, who see Iraqis exercising at long last their democratic rights. The ... Iraqi security forces, particularly the Army, which I spent some time looking at last week, is quite impressive, in my view. It is true that the security level and the incidents are anything but what we would want at the moment. But we need to keep a sense of proportion here, that this is not representative of the vast majority of Iraqis. These incidents appear to be perpetrated by people who wish to prevent that better, democratic future for Iraq."
And asked about the influence of militias in Basra, which is patrolled by British forces, Sir Mike said "It is clear that to some degree, it is more difficult to be precise, but to some degree the local police have been infiltrated by people whose loyalty is to some sectoral group, and not to the people as a whole. This is obviously not the right answer, and we are taking steps alongside the Iraqis themselves, to put this right".