"Monday December 17, 2007 07:04 EST
What "winning" in Iraq looks like-- Glenn Greenwald
(updated below)
A new article in The Guardian reports on the horrendous conditions in Basra, the strategically important, oil-rich city in Southern Iraq now abandoned by British troops. The headline: "UK has left behind murder and chaos, says Basra police chief."
The article details that Shiite militias -- which British troops "unintentionally" armed for years by failing to realize that the "security forces" had no allegiance to the central government -- completely dominate the city. The militias are "strong enough to overpower security forces and brutal enough to behead women considered not sufficiently Islamic." According to the police chief, "Basra has become so lawless that in the last three months 45 women have been killed for being 'immoral' because they were not fully covered or because they may have given birth outside wedlock" -- Freedom is on the March -- and "Shia militia are better armed than his men and control Iraq's main port."
Needless to say, the British, upon withdrawing, claimed -- just as our government does endlessly -- that they had achieved victory in Basra. The British General in charge of Basra "said the province had 'begun to regain its strength'" and added: "I came to rid Basra of its enemies and I now formally hand Basra back to its friends." But residents of Basra who live with the reality of what our invasion has wrought are quite emphatic about what has happened. From the BBC several days ago:
--MORE--""U.S. Army to keep big force in Baghdad"
"Surge" has become "escalation." -- Mike Rivero of What Really Happened
As the blogs knew at the time of the "surge!"
"The U.S. military has decided to keep an imposing troop presence in Baghdad. The change in strategy represents the military's challenge of how to reduce the number of soldiers without sacrificing security, the Times reported."
And AmeriKa will HAVE NO WITHDRAWAL, despite what the MSM says!
Troop pullouts to leave only US in Iraq
"Nearly five years into the occupation of Iraq, the 'coalition of the willing' is about to lose two of its key supporters.
The British handover to Iraqi forces is seen as the beginning of the end for Britain, which plans to cut its troop numbers dramatically.
With Australia planning to withdraw its combat troops, the United States will soon be the only country left."
US Army loses another 12,000 guns and trucks
"The US military in Iraq has lost track of another 12,000 weapons, including more than 800 machine-guns, and everything from 2100 new electricity generators to half a dozen garbage trucks.
The latest gap in record-keeping follows a report by the US government's accountability office in the summer which revealed that 190,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles and automatic pistols earmarked for Iraqi government forces had gone astray in 2004 and 2005 and could be in insurgent hands.
Items which had disappeared without leaving a paper trail included 2300 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 7000 pistols and 18 heavy recovery vehicles worth £5m.
More than 2100 of 2900 electricity generators - scarce and expensive in a country where mains supplies have become erratic - have also vanished. They cost £3.5m to buy.
Six modern garbage trucks from a delivery of 18 on Baghdad's rubbish-strewn streets could not be located. They were valued at £350,000.
The auditors said that the Multi-National Security Command Iraq could not give reasonable assurance that money for the Iraqi forces was being used properly and properly protected from "waste and mismanagement."
Let's just get the fuck out of there, and quit wasting lives and resources!