Top Military Brass tell Brown - withdraw from Iraq - now

[TonyGosling]

Military commanders tell Brown to withdraw from Iraq without delay
By Raymond Whitaker and Robert Fox
Published: 19 August 2007
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2876541.ece

Senior military commanders have told the Government that Britain can achieve "nothing more" in south-east Iraq, and that the 5,500 British troops still deployed there should move towards withdrawal without further delay.

Last month Gordon Brown said after meeting George Bush at Camp David that the decision to hand over security in Basra province – the last of the four held by the British – "will be made on the military advice of our commanders on the ground". He added: "Whatever happens, we will make a full statement to Parliament when it returns [in October]."

Two generals told The Independent on Sunday last week that the military advice given to the Prime Minister was, "We've done what we can in the south [of Iraq]". Commanders want to hand over Basra Palace – where 500 British troops are subjected to up to 60 rocket and mortar strikes a day, and resupply convoys have been described as "nightly suicide missions" – by the end of August. The withdrawal of 500 soldiers has already been announced by the Government. The Army is drawing up plans to "reposture" the 5,000 that will be left at Basra airport, and aims to bring the bulk of them home in the next few months.

Before the invasion in 2003, officers were told that the Army's war aims were to bring stability and democracy to Iraq and to the Middle East as a whole. Those ambitions have been drastically revised.....................

[conspiracy analyst]

They have been withdrawing for years.
Just not in the way one would expect them to.
Most withdrawals now occuring either in body bags or due to injuries on the battlefield.
According to a report I saw somewhere Micheal Moore has seen that the Veterans Association of the Amry in the USA has new additions of 150,000 on the payroll since the war began. This is a tremendous number.

Having invested so much, both in money and humans the USA CANNOT withdraw voluntarily, nor will it. It will replay its Vietnam debacle.

Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.

Interesting piece in the NY Times from GI's in Iraq

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/opinion/19jayamaha.html