Military commanders tell British PM to withdraw from Iraq without delay

Senior UK military commanders have told their government that Britain can achieve "nothing more" in south-east Iraq, and that the 5,500 British troops still deployed there should move towards withdrawal without further delay. Last month Prime Minister Gordon Brown said after meeting President Bush at Camp David that the decision to hand over security in Basra province–the last of the four held by the British–"will be made on the military advice of our commanders on the ground." He added: "Whatever happens, we will make a full statement to Parliament when it returns [in October]." Two generals told The Independent last week that the military advice given to the prime minister was: "We've done what we can in the south [of Iraq]." Commanders want to hand over Basra Palace–where 500 British troops are subjected to up to 60 rocket and mortar strikes a day, and resupply convoys have been described as "nightly suicide missions"–by the end of August. The withdrawal of 500 soldiers has already been announced by the government. The Army is drawing up plans to "reposture" the 5,000 that will be left at Basra airport, and aims to bring the bulk of them home in the next few months. Before the invasion in 2003, officers were told that the Army's war aims were to bring stability and democracy to Iraq and to the Middle East as a whole. Those ambitions have been drastically revised. The priorities now are an orderly withdrawal, with the reputation and capability of the Army "reasonably intact," and for Britain to remain a "credible ally." The final phrase appears to refer to tensions with the US, which has more troops in Iraq than at any other time, including the invasion, as it seeks to impose order in Baghdad and neighboring provinces. US criticism of Britain's desire to pull back in southern Iraq has recently become public, with a US intelligence official telling The Washington Post this month that "the British have basically been defeated in the south." A senior British commander countered, "That's to miss the point. It was never that kind of battle, in which we set out to defeat an enemy." Other officers said the British force was never configured to "clear and hold" Basra in the way the US is seeking to do in Baghdad.