Britain suffered defeat in Iraq, says US general

[maddezmom]

Source: BBC

The UK's decision to initially pull troops back to Basra airport was a "mistake" said the US general The British army suffered defeat in Iraq when it pulled out of Basra, a senior American general has argued.

¬snip¬

The former UK commander in southern Iraq said his actions were constrained by political considerations.

"I think it was a huge mistake to pull out of Basra and to go out to the airfield and to leave the people of Basra to be subjected to the Iranian surrogates who brutalised them, intimidated them, terrorised them," Gen Keane told the BBC Two series Secret Iraq.

Although retired, the general was instrumental in persuading President Bush to send more troops to Iraq in 2007 in what was known as the Surge.


Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11419878

[sakabatou]

1. And tomorrow, a UK general will say the US was defeated

[Alamuti Lotus]

2. Better instead to be brutalized, intimidated, and terrorized by the US-UK occupation force

:eyes:

[corpseratemedia]

3. wise decision to pull back or projection?

i go with the latter

[Mugweed]

4. The entire world suffered defeat when Iraq was invaded.

The defeat of sovereignty, truth, ethics...

[unhappycamper]

5. So now it's official.

The final score (so far): Afghanistan 3, Britain 0.

[saigon68]

6. LOL

[formercia]

8. The Man who would be King

There's a large cemetery in Rawalpindi Pakistan for Brits who never made it home.

They should both go visit and ponder a little British History.

[Turborama]

9. The article in the OP is about Iraq, not Afghanistan. n/t

[unhappycamper]

10. I saw that after my editing time had ceased.

My bad. :(

[JohnyCanuck]

11. There is a British military cemetery from colonial times in Iraq too.

Fifty years after the last of its soldiers leaves Iraq, will the U.S. be holding memorial services in Iraq for those died there?

Probably not, because the U.S. dead are taken home for burial.

It's different with the British.

Nearly 300 British subjects are buried at the Royal Air Force Cemetery in Habbaniya, 60 miles from Baghdad. They died between 1936, when the cemetery was opened, and 1959, when the British left Iraq.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2008/12/fifty-years-aft.html

[Solly Mack]

7. Snort