Juan Cole: Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki [Muttaqi] called Friday < http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/world/3667660.html > for Britain to withdraw its troops from the southern Iraqi city of Basra (pop. 1.3 million), which is only 20 miles from the Iranian border. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair rejected the call, saying that the British were in Basra at the invitation of the Iraqi government and as authorized by a United Nations Security Council resolution. (Blair, who tossed the UNSC in the trash can when it suited him before the war, obviously has no shame).
Nadim al-Jabiri of the Basra provincial council said that the British troops were still needed for the moment. But it is not clear that he was speaking for a majority on the council, since it is currently boycotting the British.
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