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Monday, 17 December 2007

What "winning" in Iraq looks like

A new article in The Guardian reports on the horrendous conditions in Basra, the strategically important, oil-rich city in Southern Iraq now abandoned by British troops. The headline: "UK has left behind murder and chaos, says Basra police chief."

The article details that Shiite militias -- which British troops "unintentionally" armed for years by failing to realize that the "security forces" had no allegiance to the central government -- completely dominate the city. The militias are "strong enough to overpower security forces and brutal enough to behead women considered not sufficiently Islamic." According to the police chief, "Basra has become so lawless that in the last three months 45 women have been killed for being 'immoral' because they were not fully covered or because they may have given birth outside wedlock" -- Freedom is on the March -- and "Shia militia are better armed than his men and control Iraq's main port."

Needless to say, the British, upon withdrawing, claimed -- just as our government does endlessly -- that they had achieved victory in Basra. The British General in charge of Basra "said the province had 'begun to regain its strength'" and added: "I came to rid Basra of its enemies and I now formally hand Basra back to its friends." But residents of Basra who live with the reality of what our invasion has wrought are quite emphatic about what has happened. From the BBC several days ago: More