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| Iraq |
| US general blames Britain for Basra crisis |
| 2007-08-24 |
| The first sign of serious tension between Gordon Brown and President George W Bush over Iraq have emerged as a senior US general said the withdrawal of British troops was creating a security crisis in the south of the country. Gen Jack Keane, who is close to the White House and was the architect of the American troop "surge" in Baghdad this year, said the policy was helping to turn Basra into a city of "gangland warfare". "I think what has happened is that they [the insurgents] know British numbers are going down and see the character of operations is changing," he told The Daily Telegraph. They sense it and have got the momentum going. That's what's happening. There is a power play but they know no one is going to interfere with them." The remarks represent the first public questioning of British strategy by a senior US military official since Mr Brown became Prime Minister at the end of June. Gen Keane said the situation had deteriorated to the point where military commanders had even considered using US forces to reinforce the dwindling British presence. Privately, some US and British commanders believe that by backing the phased withdrawal and hinting that Afghanistan is a higher priority, Mr Brown is buoying up the morale of insurgents. The Ministry of Defence said there were problems in Basra but claimed that the ability of Iraq's own security forces to confront them was improving. Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, accused Mr Brown of ignoring the Iraq issue while soldiers were dying. He said: ''Our forces deserve clear political leadership, which is singularly lacking at present while our troops are toiling in a very deadly and difficult situation.'' The number of British troops in Iraq has fallen from 7,200 at the start of this year to 5,500. This will drop to 5,000 by the beginning of next month. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #3 The blame game begins.. |
| Posted by: Oztralian 2007-08-24 18:02 |
| #2 Maybe the Brits didn't handle this the right way, but the cause of the trouble is another country, one that is spelled almost the same as Iraq. |
| Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds 2007-08-24 09:15 |
| #1 More shame for England. And no alternative government on offer. We will live to regret this time for generations to come. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-08-24 09:09 |