ORAC
13th Oct 2008, 11:56
Gordon Brown has humiliated British forces in Iraq (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/con_coughlin/blog/2008/10/13/gordon_brown_has_humiliated_british_forces_in_iraq)
What an ignominious way for the British Armed Forces' involvement in Iraq to end. Rather than returning with heads held high for a victory parade, they are informed by Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, that their services are no longer required and would they mind catching the first plane home to blighty (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/3187410/British-troops-not-needed-in-Iraq-says-Nouri-al-Maliki.html).
After all the sacrifices of the past five years, our mission to Iraq ends not with a bang, but a whimper. And it's all Gordon Brown's fault. As I write in today's edition, Mr al-Maliki has hardly said a civil word to British commanders in Iraq since the government ordered British forces to withdraw from the centre of Basra last September and abandon Iraq's second city to the control of lawless Shia militias and criminal gangs. The Iraqis - in one of their first serious combat operations - took control of the city themselves in the spring, and since then British forces have been left kicking their heels at the heavily fortified air base on the outskirts of Basra.
You can't blame the Armed Forces for this mess. They still want to be out on patrol helping the Iraqis with the painful process of rebuilding their country after three decades of Baathist tyranny.
But Mr Brown always regarded Iraq as "Blair's war", and the moment he entered Downing Street he sought to bring British forces home at the first available opportunity.
And now he has got what he wants, with Mr al-Maliki stating graphically that British forces are no longer making a useful contribution to his country's security, and might just as well pack up and go home.
Mr Brown will no doubt be pleased to hear this, but in his haste to end Britain's involvement in Iraq he has inflicted a shameful humiliation on the reputation and standing of Britain's Armed Forces.
What an ignominious way for the British Armed Forces' involvement in Iraq to end. Rather than returning with heads held high for a victory parade, they are informed by Nouri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, that their services are no longer required and would they mind catching the first plane home to blighty (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/3187410/British-troops-not-needed-in-Iraq-says-Nouri-al-Maliki.html).
After all the sacrifices of the past five years, our mission to Iraq ends not with a bang, but a whimper. And it's all Gordon Brown's fault. As I write in today's edition, Mr al-Maliki has hardly said a civil word to British commanders in Iraq since the government ordered British forces to withdraw from the centre of Basra last September and abandon Iraq's second city to the control of lawless Shia militias and criminal gangs. The Iraqis - in one of their first serious combat operations - took control of the city themselves in the spring, and since then British forces have been left kicking their heels at the heavily fortified air base on the outskirts of Basra.
You can't blame the Armed Forces for this mess. They still want to be out on patrol helping the Iraqis with the painful process of rebuilding their country after three decades of Baathist tyranny.
But Mr Brown always regarded Iraq as "Blair's war", and the moment he entered Downing Street he sought to bring British forces home at the first available opportunity.
And now he has got what he wants, with Mr al-Maliki stating graphically that British forces are no longer making a useful contribution to his country's security, and might just as well pack up and go home.
Mr Brown will no doubt be pleased to hear this, but in his haste to end Britain's involvement in Iraq he has inflicted a shameful humiliation on the reputation and standing of Britain's Armed Forces.