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Strategies & Market Trends : Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mishedlo who wrote (64715)	3/21/2007 2:41:59 PM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

British troops pull out of base in Iraq's Basra BASRA, Iraq, March 20 (Reuters) - British troops in Iraq's southern Basra oil port pulled out of their heavily attacked base in the heart of the city on Tuesday, the first to be handed to Iraqi forces who are slowly taking control of security. Prime Minister Tony Blair said in February that Britain would begin withdrawing a quarter of its 7,000 troops, who are stationed mainly in and around Basra in Iraq's largely stable Shi'ite south, in the coming months. The commander of British forces in southern Iraq, Major-General Jonathan Shaw, characterised the pullout, on the fourth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, as a repositioning of his troops and not a withdrawal. He dismissed suggestions that British troops had been "bombed out" of the Old State Building in central Basra, a frequent target of mortar attack, saying the pullout was according to a timetable. The troops have moved to Basra airport, the biggest of four bases still in British hands. The others are the Shatt al-Arab Hotel in northern Basra, the British consulate at Basra Palace and the large Shuaiba logistical base west of the city. But Shaw said the "greatest obstacle" to Iraqis taking full control of Basra province was the perception it was lawless. "This perception is created by the high number of attacks on MNF (Multi-National Forces)," he told a news conference with the governor of Basra and the commander of the Iraqi army's 10 division. British military officials are no longer talking about transferring control of Basra to Iraqis by the spring. "Spring had been suggested but we have shifted out of any sort of timetable and are saying when conditions are right," British military spokesman Major David Gell told Reuters. While Basra has not experienced the levels of violence seen in Baghdad, criminal gangs have taken root amid fighting between rival Shi'ite militias and political parties for control of its vast oil wealth. British forces have also targeted criminal elements within the local police force. ... alertnet.org