Juan Cole Predicts British Withdrawal from Iraq by Year's End

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press

Wednesday May 03, 2006 16:29

by redjade

{ from Iraq, that is }

'...actually handing over to Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc controls the provincial government...'

Muqtada al-Sadr is not James Madison

British To Withdraw

The British are obviously declaring victory in southern Iraq and going home. They are in the process of handing over security to local provincial governments in Maysan and Muthanna, and heading out.

Soon the Italians will do the same in Nasiriyah. Does Diwaniyah desperately need foreign troops?

Of course, when you say you are handing over to Maysan officials, you are actually handing over to Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc controls the provincial government. And the Sadrists deploy the Mahdi Army for security, whether in official police uniform or no. Likewise, Muthanna is Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq territory, and their "security" is one way or another Badr Corps.

But, well, that is what is in Iraq. It doesn't turn out to be full of James Madisons. The British are doing the right thing. Basra doesn't need them either. The Western occupation of southern Iraq will be gone, probably by the end of the year.

There are no US troops in Kurdistan to speak of, and its security is supplied by the peshmerga or Kurdish paramilitary.

So all that is left is the US garrisons in Baghdad and the Sunni Arab heartland. Why should the Sunni Arabs be the only ones to be occupied?

more at:
http://www.juancole.com/2006/05/british-to-withdraw-fro....html

Muqtada al-Sadr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muqtada_al-Sadr

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Comments (6 of 6)

US does not consider Taliban terrorists

Wed May 03, 2006 18:40

US does not consider Taliban terrorists

When the US State Department issued its annual Country Reports on Terrorism last Friday, it listed numerous state-sponsors of terrorism, like Iran, and groups it considers foreign terrorist organizations, like Hamas, Al Qaeda, and Hizbullah. Conspiciously absent from the lists, however, was the Taliban.

more at
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0502/dailyUpdate.html

ex-CIA Agent Confronts Rumsfeld, calls him a Liar

Fri May 05, 2006 11:42

Ray McGovern: So I would like to ask you to be up front with the American people, why did you lie to get us into a war that was not necessary, that has caused these kinds of casualties? why?

Rumsfeld: Well, first of all, I haven't lied. I did not lie then. Colin Powell didn't lie. He spent weeks and weeks with the Central Intelligence Agency people and prepared a presentation that I know he believed was accurate, and he presented that to the United Nations. the president spent weeks and weeks with the central intelligence people and he went to the american people and made a presentation. i'm not in the intelligence business. they gave the world their honest opinion. it appears that there were not weapons of mass destruction there.

Ray McGovern: You said you knew where they were.

Rumsfeld: I did not. I said I knew where suspect sites were and -

Ray McGovern: You said you knew where they were Tikrit, Baghdad, northeast, south, west of there. Those are your words.

Rumsfeld: My words -- my words were that -- no, no, wait a minute, wait a minute. Let him stay one second. Just a second.

Full Transcript:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/5/4/161349/3083

Watch the video:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/04/rumsfeld-called-out

Ray McGovern
''...a retired CIA officer and critic of President George W. Bush. McGovern was a Federal employee under seven U.S. presidents over 27 years and presented the morning intelligence briefings at the White House for many years.''
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_McGovern

—————————

Proof that Rumsfeld did Lie is on the Pentagon Website....

March 30, 2003

MR. STEPHANOPOULOS: Finally, weapons of mass destruction. Key goal of the military campaign is finding those weapons of mass destruction. None have been found yet. There was a raid on the Answar Al-Islam Camp up in the north last night. A lot of people expected to find ricin there. None was found. How big of a problem is that? And is it curious to you that given how much control U.S. and coalition forces now have in the country, they haven't found any weapons of mass destruction?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Not at all. If you think -- let me take that, both pieces -- the area in the south and the west and the north that coalition forces control is substantial. It happens not to be the area where weapons of mass destruction were dispersed. We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat.

http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2003/t03302003_t....html

What in Basra

by anon

Fri May 05, 2006 12:13

Will they really leave these in the control of Iraqi people

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/walking-the-line-ii....htm/

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/media/images/disp/blog...0.jpg
Al Basra Oil Terminal: ABOT

US Trained Iraqi Soldiers Protest Naked

Fri May 05, 2006 17:12

good question, anon

———

''...when they found out they wouldn't be serving right there in Fallujah, near their homes-look what they did. They started ripping off their uniforms-they say, "we won't go." .... are those the people we are betting our future on?'

see the video....
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/05/04.html#a8166

Basra Begins to Fall Apart

Sat May 27, 2006 10:19

Basra in the south of Iraq is beginning to splinter under increasing violence and sectarian divisions. Smuggling of oil on a large scale coupled with increasing violence and the lack of basic services like water and electricity has caused increasing tensions in the city, 570km south of Baghdad. More than 100 civilians have been killed in Basra so far this month.

Before the recent spate of killings, Basra had a reputation as one of the most peaceful cities in occupied Iraq. The British military -- whose 8,000 soldiers in Iraq control Basra -- were considered by many to be more humane than their American counterparts.

But when thousands of residents took to the streets earlier this month to protest high unemployment and corruption in the governor's office, the British attacked the demonstrators with helicopters. Fighters responded.

"They shot down a helicopter," As'aad Kareem, president of the Iraqi oil workers union in Basra told IPS. "It was real resistance. They shot it down because the British were supporting the governor and shooting at the people in the demonstration. And the governor didn't stop the British from bombing the demonstration, and so that's his responsibility also."

more at
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0526-07.htm

UK Loses Iraq War: Iranian-Backed Militia Groups Take Control

Mon May 29, 2006 13:40

Southern Iraq, long touted as a peaceful region that's likely to be among the first areas returned to Iraqi control, is now dominated by Shiite Muslim warlords and militiamen who are laying the groundwork for an Islamic fundamentalist government, say senior British and Iraqi officials in the area.

The militias appear to be supported by Iranian intelligence or military units that are shipping weapons to the militias in Iraq and providing training for them in Iran.

Some British officials believe the Iranians want to hasten the withdrawal of U.S.-backed coalition forces to pave the way for Iran-friendly clerical rule.

Iranian influence is evident throughout the area. In one government office, an aide approached a Knight Ridder reporter and, mistaking him for an Iranian, said, "Don't be afraid to speak Farsi in Basra. We are a branch of Iran."

"We get an idea that (military training) courses are being run" in Iran, said Lt. Col. David Labouchere, who commands British units in the province of Maysan, north of Basra. "People are training on the other side of the border and then coming back."

[....]

Some British officers also believe that Iran is working through Iraq's Shiite-dominated central government.

Earlier this month, Iraq's Interior Ministry sent a letter ordering Basra's police chief to hire or promote 50 men with direct ties to one of Iraq's largest Shiite militias, the Badr Organization, according to Yuill, who said he'd reviewed the document.

The letter was signed by Bayan Jabr, the then-interior minister, who has deep ties to Badr. The Iranian-backed Badr Organization is the armed wing of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, one of the most powerful Shiite political parties in the country.

Yuill said that Jabr had on several occasions in the past year directed the police chief to stack the ranks of the police with Badr recruits. Jabr was recently named finance minister. A new interior minister has yet to be named.

"My gut feeling is he (Jabr) was trying to improve the Iranian power base, probably with the hope of creating a separate, almost Iranian state in Iraq," Yuill said. "A lot of the people I've talked to in the chain of (Iraqi police) command with militia links are known to have ties to Iranian intelligence."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0527-05.htm

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Juan Cole Predicts British Withdrawal from Iraq by Year's End

Comments (6 of 6)