British accused of appeasing Shia militia in Basra

In Basra the signs of the feared militia are slowly receding. For the first time in years alcohol vendors are selling beer close to army checkpoints, and ringtones praising the rebel cleric Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr are vanishing from mobile phones.

Music shops are once again selling pop tunes instead of the recorded lectures of Shia ayatollahs.
But, as the city cautiously comes back to life after an offensive by Iraqi troops backed by hundreds of US soldiers, there is a lingering resentment towards the British Army.

Many here blame the British for allowing the al-Mahdi Army and other militias to impose a long reign of terror on the once cosmopolitan city.

The battle for Basra is still not over. An American airstrike yesterday killed another six men who had been attacking Iraqi troops from the militia's hold-out areas, which the Army has so far been unable to penetrate. Times

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki disregarded US advice in launching a campaign in Basra last month that plunged Iraqi troops in fighting without adequate preparation, the US commander in Iraq said Friday. General David Petraeus said US and Iraqi officers had developed a more deliberate plan to restore order in the strategic port city over a period of several months. US advice unheeded in Basra campaign: Petraeus