A Dunkirk Spirit for the new Dark Ages
Danny | 02.09.2007 20:46 | Iraq
In the middle ages uneducated fundamentalist Christian crusaders built castles deep in hostile Muslim territory while launching occasional massacres of the locals and suffering terrible defeats in pointless wars. Today we have Baghdads Greenzone and Basra Airport.
British troops have evacuated Basra Palace today, their last remaining position in the city, and retreated to Basra Airport. This is due to constant and intense attacks against them in the Palace leasing to many of the combat deaths they have suffered. It is the biggest British military humilation since Dunkirk, but like that evacuation this is being sold to the British public as a great success. Not so in the US and in Iraq or the rest of the world. There can be no doubt the British army always hoped to be able to hold the Palace. They based the British consulate there and spent £14 million equipping it, to what is now probably the most air-conditioned militia base in Iraq.
The new policy is to hold the more defendable airport until a full evacuation from Iraq is politically acceptable to the US. In what is being euphemistically called 'overwatch' occasional sorties will be launched from their last remaining base in Iraq to support which ever local militia has the most police uniforms when attacking another local militia. The legal duties of any occupying force to supply security and basic provisions have been abandoned.
This is not an end to British casualties as the airport is far from secure. Neither is this the start of a full retreat from Iraq for the British army , as their US political masters simply cannot allow that. If the British left tommorow the US would have to move in. Ignore the political ramifications of a UK withdrawal. Ignore the fact 60% of Iraqi oil is there, and most Iraqi imports pass through there providing a stranglehold over the rest of the country. The US will ensure that Basra has an occupying force for one dominant reason that is never mentioned in the British press. The inevitable forthcoming US retreat from Iraq will have to pass through Basra. It is simple logistics. Basra was the first target in the occupation and it will be the last place to be truly freed. A full US retreat through Kuwait would not be possible without Basra port, it would be a tortuous retreat through hostile territory that would see the US army take heavy casualties and have to shed most of it's equipment en route.
The new policy is to hold the more defendable airport until a full evacuation from Iraq is politically acceptable to the US. In what is being euphemistically called 'overwatch' occasional sorties will be launched from their last remaining base in Iraq to support which ever local militia has the most police uniforms when attacking another local militia. The legal duties of any occupying force to supply security and basic provisions have been abandoned.
This is not an end to British casualties as the airport is far from secure. Neither is this the start of a full retreat from Iraq for the British army , as their US political masters simply cannot allow that. If the British left tommorow the US would have to move in. Ignore the political ramifications of a UK withdrawal. Ignore the fact 60% of Iraqi oil is there, and most Iraqi imports pass through there providing a stranglehold over the rest of the country. The US will ensure that Basra has an occupying force for one dominant reason that is never mentioned in the British press. The inevitable forthcoming US retreat from Iraq will have to pass through Basra. It is simple logistics. Basra was the first target in the occupation and it will be the last place to be truly freed. A full US retreat through Kuwait would not be possible without Basra port, it would be a tortuous retreat through hostile territory that would see the US army take heavy casualties and have to shed most of it's equipment en route.
Danny
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