The lesser half of the "coalition of the willing" has LOST, folks, presaging the U.S.' ultimate fate in Iraq:
"As British leave, Basra deteriorates; Shi'ite militias fight one another for control of city" by Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks/Washington Post August 9, 2007
WASHINGTON -- After Saddam Hussein's overthrow in April 2003, British forces took control of the region, and the cosmopolitan port city of Basra thrived with trade, arts and universities. As recently as February, Basra was hailed by Vice President Dick Cheney as a part of Iraq "where things are going pretty well."
But now, said a senior US official in Baghdad with long experience in the south, "it's hard now to paint Basra as a success story."
[Really? That is NOT WHAT I'VE HEARD through my SHIT MEDIA!]
For the past four years, the administration's narrative of the Iraq war has centered on Al Qaeda, Iran and the sectarian violence they have promoted. But in the homogenous south -- where there are virtually no US troops or Al Qaeda fighters, few Sunnis and by most accounts limited influence by Iran -- Shi'ite militias fight each other as well as British troops. A British strategy launched last fall to reclaim Basra neighborhoods from violent actors -- similar to the current US strategy in Baghdad -- brought no lasting success.
[Limited influence by Iran? TIRED of the LIES yet, reader?
So sick of GOVERNMENT-SPONSORED SPEW on t.v. and the papers.]
"The British have basically been defeated in the south," a senior US intelligence official said recently in Baghdad. They are abandoning their former headquarters at Basra Palace, where a recent official visitor from London described them as "surrounded like cowboys and Indians" by militia fighters. An airport base outside the city, where a regional US Embassy office and Britain's remaining 5,500 troops are barricaded behind building-high sandbags, has been attacked with mortars or rockets nearly 600 times over the past four months.
[Holy shit! It's an ALAMO situation! This is progress?
I AM TIRED of being LIED TO, dammit!!!]
The administration has been reluctant to publicly criticize the British withdrawal. But a British defense specialist serving as a consultant in Baghdad acknowledged in an e-mail that the United States "has been very concerned for some time now about a) the lawless situation in Basra and b) the political and military impact of the British pullback. This has been expressed at the highest levels" by the US government to British authorities.
[Tired of GOVERNMENT LIES, aren't you, reader?
Yeah, they have PUBLIC LIES and PRIVATE PLANS!]
The government of new Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pointed to the current relative calm in three of the region's four provinces -- barring Basra -- as evidence of success. According to one British official, Brown told President Bush when they met last week at Camp David that Britain hopes to turn Basra over to Iraqi control in the next few months.
Although neighboring Iran's presence is pervasive -- with cultural influence, humanitarian aid, arms and money -- US officials and outside experts think that the Iraqi parties are using Iran more than vice versa. Iraqis in the south have long memories of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, one US official said, and when a southern Shiite "wants to tar someone, they call them an Iranian." He said the United States is "always very concerned about Iranian influence, as well we should be, but there is a difference between influence and control. It would be very difficult for the Iranians to establish control."
[So the LIE about Iran is PUT to REST!
They are not going to be able to take over Iraq!
Iraq's Shiites FOUGHT WITH Saddam against the Iranians!!!
The Kurds fought on the side of Iran! That's why they got the gas!]
The ICG study described Iran, Britain, and the United States as confused about what is happening in Basra. During a recent visit there, the US official said, he was unable to meet with any local Iraqis outside the airport base or to travel beyond the secured route between the base and the palace."
[Yeah, but the SURGE is making PROGRESS!
Man, am I fucking SICK of BEING LIED TO by THIS CRIMINAL GOVERNMENT and shit MSM!]
