Article

2007-12-14 Iraq

US troops may replace British army in Basra

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Posted by GolfBravoUSMC 2007-12-14 01:13|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top

#1 Like I did not see that coming.

Posted by twobyfour 2007-12-14 04:15|| 2007-12-14 04:15|| Front Page Top

#2 Gordon Brown has no backbone especially where muslims are concerned!!!

Posted by Paul 2007-12-14 05:43|| 2007-12-14 05:43|| Front Page Top

#3 The Brits have troops...the US has an army....

Posted by Angeater Peacock1369 2007-12-14 06:37|| 2007-12-14 06:37|| Front Page Top

#4 The British have wonderful soldiers, just not a good army.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2007-12-14 07:26|| 2007-12-14 07:26|| Front Page Top

#5 Wellington fought his Peninsular battles with a parliamentary bucket on his foot. Some things never change.

Posted by Fred 2007-12-14 07:41|| 2007-12-14 07:41|| Front Page Top

#6 The road as well as Basra's borders with Iran and Kuwait will continue to be secured with British fire-power. A battle group, led by the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, confronts the daily dangers of patrols in the insurgent-rich region. "We've got an area the size of the North West of England to protect with 550 men," said Lt Col Gary Deakin. "We'll be maintaining security in a patch that includes the combat supply route, Iraq's only deep-water port and the borders. It's our area and we'll do what we can to maintain security in it."

It sounds like quietly they'll continue to do an awful lot, while openly continuing to do nothing at all. That must be terribly frustrating for the serious soldiers.

Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife 2007-12-14 09:32|| 2007-12-14 09:32|| Front Page Top

#7 "Lions led by Donkeys" is a popular British Army phrase.

I think you can guess why.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2007-12-14 10:09|| 2007-12-14 10:09|| Front Page Top

#8 The English army is pretty done, as far as the EU is concerned. This might be their swan song. So I suspect that in the mid term, private mercenary armies will quietly be assembled in Europe.

Not a radical idea, actually lapsing back to the old days in the time of the 100 years war. Such armies will be mostly used as "for hire force projection", whenever the EU wishes to do anything outside its borders.

Since Russia is about the only threat left to Europe, except internally, they have reached the conclusion that they don't need any military.

Of course they are wrong in this regard, but have to learn the hard way. If nothing else, once the EU no longer has a military, all any group has to do is to be able to overwhelm the police, and they become the new government.

Posted by Anonymoose 2007-12-14 10:32|| 2007-12-14 10:32|| Front Page Top

#9 Or the Mercs take over. Sounds a lot like the later Roman empire that hired massive amounts of Barbarian armies sine no Roman citizen wanted to be in the army. Of course, once the pay dried up or the Barbarians saw a chance, they turned on their masters and either pillaged or bit off a good chunk of Roman territory.

Posted by DarthVader">DarthVader 2007-12-14 11:05|| 2007-12-14 11:05|| Front Page Top

#10 I'm a Brit. I'm embarrassed. No Navy (to speak of anymore), an Army that the brass won't commit (in Iraq anyway). Thank God for the US of A. Only good news: Brown won't be in office that long and there are some signs of a rightward/Atlanticist revival in UK politics. Some.

Posted by Peter Carroll 2007-12-14 12:09|| 2007-12-14 12:09|| Front Page Top

#11 Seems a good test case for the Iraqi Army to take over.

Posted by rjschwarz 2007-12-14 17:09|| 2007-12-14 17:09|| Front Page Top

#12 It's probably just as well. We eventually have to go into southern Iraq and destroy the Shia religious militias. Both the Sadr and Badr have been doing our work for us, but eventually one will come out on top and then the Americans will have to lower the boom.

Posted by ed 2007-12-14 18:26|| 2007-12-14 18:26|| Front Page Top

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