We have thousands of American troops pinned down behind concrete and razor wire barriers. We have almost 80 attacks a day on coalition troops all over the country. We have to airlift most personnel from Baghdad Airport to the Greenzone.
And now, our other coalition partner in the south, The British, have abandoned base Abu Naji after days of coordinated mortar and rocket attacks.
Maj. Charlie Burbridge, a British military spokesman, said the last of 1,200 troops left Camp Abu Naji, just outside Amarah, at noon Thursday, after several days of heavy mortar and rocket fire by a local militia, which local residents identified as the Sadr-controlled Mahdi Army. Adopting tactics used by a British special forces unit in North Africa during World War II, 600 of the soldiers plan to slip soon into the marshlands and deserts of eastern Maysan in an attempt to secure the Iranian border.
More and a link after the flip.
This is the story that military officials really don't want you to read. This is a creeping loss. This is a military gain for Sadr and his street enforcers over a superior and more modern Army. This is what happens when you allow supply lines to be stretched and eventually cut off.
They are trying to spin this differently though. They are telling us the British did this so they could instead take thee same troops and send them on special operations. Personally, I don't believe it. I believe this is a miniature version of the Battle of Islawanda in South Africa in 1897. Though not as bloody, a British expeditionary force was slaughtered and then chased across the terrain in a running battle for a few days by Zulu warriors.
Maj. Charlie Burbridge, a British military spokesman, said the last of 1,200 troops left Camp Abu Naji, just outside Amarah, at noon Thursday, after several days of heavy mortar and rocket fire by a local militia, which local residents identified as the Sadr-controlled Mahdi Army. Adopting tactics used by a British special forces unit in North Africa during World War II, 600 of the soldiers plan to slip soon into the marshlands and deserts of eastern Maysan in an attempt to secure the Iranian border.
The repositioning is the first public acknowledgment that forces from the U.S.-led military coalition in Iraq have entered into guerrilla warfare to combat the insurgents and militias they have been fighting for more than three years.
The move also underscores both the rising power of Sadr's Shiite Muslim militia, which has clashed with American forces in an attempt to drive them out of the country, and burgeoning alarm over Shiite-ruled Iran's perceived role in exacerbating the sectarian violence roiling Iraq. U.S. officials have accused Iran of supplying bombs and other weapons to Shiite militias here.
The withdrawal sparked wide-scale looting at the base and then intense clashes late Thursday between Iraqi army forces guarding the camp and unknown attackers, a military intelligence official said. The volatile situation worsened when the 2nd Battalion of the Iraqi army's 4th Brigade mutinied and attacked a local military outpost, said the official, who spoke on condition that his name not be used.
Link here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
So, no this is not Shaka Zulu. It is a military force retreating slowly. Forget everything you've heard about cutting and running. This is the kind of thing that the western media hides, but the insurgents treasure as a win.
The mood was quite different in Amarah, where jubilant residents flocked to Sadr's office to offer their congratulations. Drivers in the street honked their car horns in celebration. Some prepared to take to the streets to rejoice.
"Today is a holiday in our province," said Abu Mustaffa, an unemployed 45-year-old from the city's al-Hussein district. "Thanks be to God!"
It is a big win for them and probably good reason to believe that the British abandoned the base for a good reason:
Burbridge acknowledged that constant shelling of the base in Amarah by militia forces, including 17 mortar rounds fired in recent days that wounded three people, were part of the reason the camp closed.
"By no longer presenting a static target, we reduce the ability of the militias to strike us," he said. But he rejected Sadr's claim that the British had been defeated and pushed out of Amarah. "It's very difficult to claim a victory without causing significant casualties."
So this is a military win for the bad guys, and the British are probably feeling one way about it:
They do not intend to stay.
But that's another story for another time.