US ready to replace Brits in southern Iraq

Sunday Telegraph:

America is preparing to pour thousands of extra troops into southern Iraq amid fears that Gordon Brown is committed to withdrawing British troops from the region early next year.

The White House and the Pentagon are understood to have drawn up detailed plans to secure the vital "umbilical cord" link road between Baghdad and Kuwait when the British depart.

Washington is also concerned that a British pull-out will leave the border with Iran undefended, as well as undermining US operations at a time when political pressure is mounting for an American withdrawal.

Tensions are understood to have deepened between London and Washington after Mr Brown's recent visit to the US, amid fears the Prime Minister is distancing himself from the Bush regime and its military objectives.

Military chiefs in the US have been "dismayed" by the threat of a unilateral pull-out from southern Iraq by British forces.

...

Fortunately, such a move would be a net improvement for Iraq. The Brits softly, softly approach has been pretty much of a failure, and their retreat to forward operating basis like the Dems wanted the US to do has been a disaster for the people in Basra who are the mercy of local war lords and gangs.

The Sunday Scotsman says some of the British officials are upset about the criticism of Anthony Cordesman who said had, "a withering claim that Britain had effectively handed control of its zone to local 'mafiosi.'" Cordesman is improbably described as a right wing commentator and adviser. That will come as a surprise to most of us right wingers who have thought he was an equal opportunity critic.