Secret deal kept Brits out of Basra fight

Times:

A secret deal between Britain and the notorious al-Mahdi militia prevented British Forces from coming to the aid of their US and Iraqi allies for nearly a week during the battle for Basra this year, The Times has learnt.

Four thousand British troops – including elements of the SAS and an entire mechanised brigade – watched from the sidelines for six days because of an “accommodation” with the Iranian-backed group, according to American and Iraqi officers who took part in the assault.

US Marines and soldiers had to be rushed in to fill the void, fighting bitter street battles and facing mortar fire, rockets and roadside bombs with their Iraqi counterparts.

Hundreds of militiamen were killed or arrested in the fighting. About 60 Iraqis were killed or injured. One US Marine died and sevenwere wounded.

US advisers who accompanied the Iraqi forces into the fight were shocked to learn of the accommodation made last summer by British Intelligence and elements of al-Mahdi Army, the militia loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shia Muslim cleric.

The deal, which aimed to encourage the Shia movement back into the political process and marginalise extremist factions, has dealt a huge blow to Britain’s reputation in Iraq.

Under its terms, no British soldier could enter Basra without the permission of Des Browne, the Defence Secretary. By the time he gave his approval, most of the fighting was over and the damage to Britain’s reputation had already been done.

Senior British defence sources told The Times that Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, who ordered the assault, and high-ranking US military officers had become disillusioned with the British as a result of their failure to act. Another confirmed that the deal, negotiated by British Intelligence, had been a costly mistake.

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That deserves a big NO KIDDING. The soft headed softly-softly policy that the UK perceived as a counterinsurgency strategy was a big failure in Iraq and Afghanistan. While many of the Brits were whispering what a mistake the US counterinsurgency policy was, they were the ones who were getting it wrong.

You can't protect the people by turning their fate over to thugs. You need troops in place who can protect the people and train the Iraqis at the same time. What the Brits did was retreat to an FOB much like the Democrats wanted the US to do. their failure is an example of what a disaster the policy favored by the Democrats would have been.

When Obama claims that retreating would have put pressure on the Iraqis to reach compromise, Basra demonstrates just what kind of compromise would have happened.