No scenes of Iraqiis dangling from the skids of choppers for the Brits' ignominious surender and retreat from Iraq http://news.bbc.co.uk/... , or for the Canucks as they announce their defeat and end of their role in Afghanistan http://www.theglobeandmail.com/... Especially with the withdrawal of British forces from the last city in Iraq to sit in wait at the Basra airport for the politically correct moment to break for their planes, America now stands completely and irretrievably alone.
In keeping with their commitment to leave only after handing over control to the Iraqiis, it appears this last 5,000 of a once 18,000-strong contingent, are only waiting for any Iraqi slightly less obvious than Muqtada al-Sadr himself to wander by for them to hand off the keys to the city. The Brits can claim some success insofar as having handed off 3 of the 4 provinces to Iraqi "governors" appointed by the Maliki government. 'Tis a crying shame that 2 of those three have been bumped off. Alas, 3 steps forward, two steps back, I suppose. When they locate a fourth and final stooge, the Brits, as they did some 80 years before in the same country, will declare 'Mission Accomplished' and make like shit through a goose for their planes. The last time they split in such obvious haste, it was 1947, India, leaving a mere 2,000,000 to be slaughtered in ther ensuing sectarian violence. Hence, the need for good optics: preferably a smiling Iraqi national, in a business suit, with children at his side, thanking the Coalition of the Willing for what they did to his country, his countrymen, and his future. Hopefully, the microphones and cameras will be switched off and the whine of jet engines powering up will drown out the rifle shot that kills him.
The only spoiler to this rosy scenario would be for some ugly American to point out the obvious: the Brits are handing over southwestern Iraq to Iran and its proxies. If the Brits insist on leaving, that leaves only one course of action to the sole remaining power that has no troops, no money, and no friends, to fill the hole: air power. If Cheney and the neocons have their way, nobody is going anywhere fast in Iraq but to their graves, and Cheney's last Fuck You to the American people before evacuating his office will be a nasty little airstrike into Iran to remind us all of the glory they have brought to this nation.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/...
Stay tuned. At least the Brits will get to watch the fun on the telly, from the safety of their homes and in the arms of their loved ones.
As for the American troops left to fend for themselves, it may be the last lesson they'll learn, one learned long ago by many many Iraqiis: not only are suckers born every minute, they die too.