Britons pullout from Basra: fears vs. aspirations

BASRA / IraqiNews.com: Envisaging a new era where no foreign troops have the upper hand, several Basra residents have hailed the withdrawal of British forces from their province as a form of success, with others voicing fears over the lack of readiness of their national troops to take over. Zayn al-Abideen, a 46-year-old employee in the Ports Company, told IraqiNews.com news agency that the replacement of Britons with U.S. forces will not change the security situation in the province. Abideen, however, said that he fears the Americans may commit abuses in the southern province, citing what he described as random killings and detentions in the capital Baghdad as a case in point. On March 31, British forces began an official withdrawal from Iraq, which is supposed to be completed by late May 2009. A ceremony was held at the British base at Basra International Airport, where a British Royal Navy flag was lowered and a U.S. Army flag was raised in its place. American forces are scheduled to take over until a full withdrawal is accomplished by late 2011. A total of 4,100 British servicemen were stationed in Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad. It has withdrawn 1,850 soldiers over the past few months. Britain, the United States’ prime ally in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has the second largest number of troops after the U.S. A total of 179 Britons have been killed in Iraq since the invasion. Last year, the Iraqi government signed an agreement with its British counterpart, under which 4,100 troops stayed in the country to train Iraqi forces. Nour Mahmoud, a 27-year-old lawyer, described the British presence in the province throughout the past few years as “useless.” “We want the occupying forces out of the country. We want responsibility to be handed over to the Iraqi army, which has the capacity and the courage to stand up to it,” the lawyer said. SS (S)/SR 1