Basra: Positives or Negatives?

The British pulled out of Basra, Iraq, the other day - declaring that, in effect, their mission there has been accomplished. That has basically how the media has reported it too.

But wait. The Guardian reports the situation in Basra from an Iraqi perspective on things:

"The full scale of the chaos left behind by British forces in Basra was revealed yesterday as the city's police chief described a province in the grip of well-armed militias strong enough to overpower security forces and brutal enough to behead women considered not sufficiently Islamic.

As British forces finally handed over security in Basra province, marking the end of 4½ years of control in southern Iraq, Major General Jalil Khalaf, the new police commander, said the occupation had left him with a situation close to mayhem. "They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world," he said in an interview for Guardian Films and ITV.

Khalaf painted a very different picture from that of British officials who, while acknowledging problems in southern Iraq, said yesterday's handover at Basra airbase was timely and appropriate."

Read The Guardian piece here - and view a graphic video as well.

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