| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"can_o_worms" |
| Date: |
25 Jun 2006 06:09:15 PM |
| Object: |
British Troops irrelevant to Violence in Southern Iraq |
British 'helpless' as violence rises in southern Iraq
This article linked from Juan Cole's excellent
website : Informed Comment at juancole.com
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1096222.ece
By Kim Sengupta and Raymond Whitaker
Published: 25 June 2006
British forces are facing rising violence among Shia
Muslim factions in southern Iraq, but are powerless to
contain it, military and diplomatic sources have told
The Independent on Sunday. Both British and Iraqi
authorities were seeking to play down the situation,
they added.
The hidden political and factional tensions in the
British zone of Iraq, particularly in Basra, were
highlighted by a car bomb in the centre of the country's
second city on Friday. The local police said 10 were
killed and 15 wounded. Hospital sources said at least
five bodies were brought in. But the provincial governor,
embroiled in a bitter dispute with the police chief,
insisted only two people were killed. As violent
incidents have increased recently, political leaders in
other southern cities have also tried to minimise
casualty figures.
In Baghdad the Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, is due
to present a national reconciliation plan to parliament
today, aimed at reducing sectarian violence and defusing
a significant portion of the Sunni insurgency, although
Saddam Hussein loyalists and foreign fighters such as
al-Qa'ida are excluded. There are question- marks over
the plan, but it will do nothing to heal tensions among
Shias in their southern heartland.
Last week, as the Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett,
was declaring that the withdrawal of British forces from
parts of Iraq was evidence of "mission accomplished",
the senior British commander in the country disclosed
that the security situation in Basra had deteriorated.
Lieutenant General Nick Houghton told the Commons
defence committee: "There is a worrying amount of
violence and murder carried out between rival Shia
factions. There is no doubt that it has got worse of
late, due to the protracted period of talks to form
the government."
Since a spate of bomb attacks against them last autumn,
British forces have largely kept out of the centre of
Basra. Much of the police force in the south has been
taken over by Shia militias who often clash with one
another as well as intimidating ordinary people and
attacking what is left of the Sunni community in the
south.
Earlier this month a Sunni mosque in Basra was stormed
by the overwhelmingly Shia police force and 12 died - a
day after a market bombing killed 28. The police said
they wanted to search the mosque following intelligence
that arms and explosives linked to the bombing were
stored there, and claimed they only returned fire after
people inside the mosque began shooting at them.
Omar Rashid (not his full name), a Sunni carpenter of
34, injured by flying glass during the exchange, denied
police claims. "This was not the first time they have
raided this mosque," he said. "I have had two members of
my family killed, another 10 have fled."
British forces have been bystanders in these clashes,
but for the first time, according to sources on the
ground, they are coming under pressure from political
factions to leave areas of the south so that their
militia allies can move in. While there was a
co-ordinated announcement last week that Iraqi security
forces would soon take responsibility for Muthanna, a
province bordering Saudi Arabia, the Iraqi authorities
suddenly announced the next day that the more volatile
Maysan province, where British soldiers have been killed
this year, would also be handed over.
The relatively small number of British troops in the
two provinces will not be brought home, but will be
deployed in Basra, where Mr Maliki declared a state of
emergency during a visit from the capital last month.
The decision, which he said was taken in response to the
growing violence, is said to have caught British
officials by surprise. It was seen as a flexing of
muscle by the new Prime Minister, but also emphasises
how little control Britain has over events in the region.
This article linked from Juan Cole's excellent
website : Informed Comment at juancole.com
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1096222.ece
--
Did you know ?...Juan Cole's appointment as head
of Yale's department of Middle Eastern studies
was recently nixed by the Israel Lobby.
War for hearts and minds in academia rages on.
Juan Cole's website :
http://www.juancole.com/
.
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| User: "PagCal" |
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| Title: Re: British Troops irrelevant to Violence in Southern Iraq |
26 Jun 2006 03:55:18 AM |
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can_o_worms wrote:
British 'helpless' as violence rises in southern Iraq
This article linked from Juan Cole's excellent
website : Informed Comment at juancole.com
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1096222.ece
By Kim Sengupta and Raymond Whitaker
Published: 25 June 2006
British forces are facing rising violence among Shia
Muslim factions in southern Iraq, but are powerless to
contain it, military and diplomatic sources have told
The Independent on Sunday. Both British and Iraqi
authorities were seeking to play down the situation,
they added.
More proof that our mission there has failed, and it's time to get out.
.
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