Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Time to quit Iraq
Jonathan Steele
British troops have been in Basra for more than two years. They should leave now.
TONY BLAIR insists British troops cannot leave Iraq until Iraq's own police and army can guarantee security. It is, of course, the same argument that George W. Bush uses to justify keeping close on 150,000 U.S. soldiers in that country.
Never mind the fact that pulling foreign troops out would almost certainly improve Iraq's security, since much of the violence is directed against the occupation. Without the occupation, the insurgency would decline dramatically.
Let us take Mr. Blair's position at face value. Has he not noticed that in Basra and the other two south-eastern provinces where British forces are based the insurgency barely exists? It is true that another British soldier died last week in Amara, a traditionally difficult town, but Basra has been quiet for months. Suicide bombers are conspicuous by their absence. Attacks on British forces are rare, and fatalities even rarer. On election day in January there was almost no violence.
The reasons are varied, the main one being that the Shia political groups which control Basra are taking the long view. They form the backbone of Iraq's new government in Baghdad and have no particular complaint with the current drift of Iraqi politics nationally. Although they are Islamists, the conservative stamp they have put on the city has not been opposed by the British.
The radical Shias around the cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who strongly denounce the occupation and have taken up arms against it are not as active in Basra as they are in Baghdad and the holy city of Najaf, which is closer to the capital.
So, although there are special factors which explain it, the bottom line is that Iraq's south-east has no real insurgency to speak of.
Why then are British troops needed? They could pull out immediately, and neither the people of Iraq's south-east nor the people of Britain would regret it.
By accepting that most British people want out of Iraq, and telling Mr. Bush we cannot remain there purely out of solidarity with the Americans, Mr. Blair could go a long way towards restoring the public trust he has lost during the past two and a half years.
There was no majority for the war before it started, and apart from a few weeks while the invasion was under way, there has been no such support since.
Ultimately, it is a matter of courage. Has Mr. Blair the guts to tell Mr. Bush that he cannot stand beside him any longer on a war which is unpopular in Britain? British troops have been in occupation in Basra for more than two years. Their job is done. They should leave now.
- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
Copyright © 2005, The Hindu.