Oh, and by the way, Basra's also fucked up.

[Cruzan]

British forces useless in Basra, say officials

When America's top commanders in Iraq held a conference with their British counterparts recently, Major General Jonathan Shaw - Britain's senior officer in Basra - was quick to share his views on how best to conduct counter-insurgency operations.

For much of the last four years, the Americans in the room would have listened carefully, used to deferring to their British colleagues' long experience in Northern Ireland. This time, however, eyes that would once have been attentive simply rolled.


On the defensive: British troops face angry scenes in Basra

Few were in the mood for a lecture about British superiority, when they fear that Downing Street's planned pull-out from Basra will squander any progress from their own hard-fought "troop surge" strategy elsewhere.

"It's insufferable for Christ's sake," said one senior figure closely involved in US military planning. "He comes on and he lectures everybody in the room about how to do a counter-insurgency. The guys were just rolling their eyeballs. The notorious Northern Ireland came up again. It's pretty frustrating. It would be okay if he was best in class, but now he's worst in class. Everybody else's area is getting better and his is getting worse."

The meeting, called by General David Petraeus, the senior US officer who has the task of managing the surge, is emblematic of what is fast becoming a minor crisis in Anglo-American military relations.

More

[Cruzan]

1. "The insurgents are calling the shots ... and in a worst-case scenario will

chase [British troops] out of southern Iraq."

http://www.620ktar.com/?nid=46&sid=289778

[Tesha]

2. See also...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1622519

[Javaman]

5. freaky. the link you provided takes me right back to this one. nt

[Tesha]

6. My mistake. How about this one? ;-)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1622304

[LeftishBrit]

3. Bush lost his poodle, but he still has his scapegoats

Bush can no longer be sure that Britain will continue to be 'willing', but we still have a useful purpose: to be available when Bush makes his usual response to any problem: find someone else to blame for it. He would never speak of his own government or military in the same sentence as the generally unmentionable D-word (defeat), but his allies are OK for that purpose.

Of course, Britain WAS wrong. Wrong to co-operate with this illegal, immoral and unwinnable war in the first place.

[rodeodance]

4. my gowd------they are set for a riot-from the people they susposedly are

protecting