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British Troops Driven from South Iraq City

According to the Washington Post [8/25, 8/26] 1,200 British soldiers abandoned a military base in Southern Iraq after days mortar and rocket attacks. Unidentified guerrillas are behind the attacks. The Post claims they are affiliated with Moqtada al-Sadr. The base is in the southern city of Amarah. We hear frequently of attacks on US troops in the center of the Iraq, the so-called Sunni triangle. This occurred in the supposedly "quiet" South.

"This is the first Iraqi city that has kicked out the occupier!" trumpeted a message from Sadr's office that played on car-mounted speakers in Amarah, capital of the southern province of Maysan. "We have to celebrate this occasion!"

The British say the troops left to go into the marshes between Iran and Iraq to cut-off arms deliveries to insurgent forces. It's a nice story to cover a humiliating retreat. One would think the British would have turned the fort over to the Iraqi army which was supposedly guarding the camp. They couldn't. The Iraqi Army soldiers did nothing as locals came into the camp and took everything of value. Reportedly even the bricks in the military camp were taken.

The Post reports, " 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." The troops had been told they were being sent to Baghdad. They ended their mutiny only after being told they were not being redeployed.

So what is the plan for Iraq? Saddam is captured. The institutions and constitutions of the "government" have been built. The new Iraqi army has been "trained" [the insurgents didn't seem to need training]. And still things grow worse. The whole structure is jerry built and if the U.S. army leaves it will collapse with a stiff breeze.

But the neocon artists won't admit error just like Nixon wouldn't in '70 and '71. Then Tricky Dick blamed his failure on support for the "Viet Cong" in Laos and Cambodia and invaded those countries. Today it's the Iranians who are being set up. The more things change...