Legacy Move

21 February 2007



Blair Announces UK Draw Down in Iraq-Nam

Tony Blair is in the final months of his time as Prime Minister. Indeed, his resignation is likely after the May local elections. As he departs Number 10 Downing Street, his legacy will not be a better National Health Service, a more just society or better educated young people. It will be the war in Iraq-Nam. To polish that legacy up a bit, he announced earlier today that about 1,600 troops of Britain’s 7,100 troops will be brought home soon. The spin doctors have their work cut out for them.

Mr. Blair’s people are saying that the draw down is a sign of success, and the White House and the Green Zone Government are agreeing. Mr. Blair has said, “The issue is the operation that we have been conducting in Basra is now complete... And it has been successful as an operation and as a result there has been reconstruction that has come in behind it and we have been able to make real progress.” America’s National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said, “The president views this as a success. The president wants to do the same thing, to bring our troops home as soon as possible.” Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, told BBC Radio 4, “It’s very good news and the British Army will be thanked and we are grateful for everything they have done in the southern part of Iraq, they’ve done a brilliant job.”

Yet, the Tommies won’t be going up to Baghdad to help with America’s surge, nor to Anbar province to stiffen America’s very thin forces. The Telegraph reported, “The British troops remaining in Iraq will hand over all bases except for Basra Air Base and Basra Palace to the Iraqi authorities, and the bulk of them will withdraw to the air base over the next few months. From there, they will offer support to the Iraqi security forces and will have responsibility for training homegrown troops, securing the Iraq/Iran border, securing supply routes and conducting operations against extremists.” And the 1,600 will leave by the end of summer. After that, no promises. The British Army will stay “for as long as we are wanted and have a job to do,” according to the Prime Minister.

Others aren’t so enthusiastic. Former Labour minister Tony Benn said, “I always assumed that he would want to be able to announce some limited withdrawal before he left No 10. It is nothing to do with the real question, it doesn’t represent any change of policy whatsoever, in my opinion, but tactically it looks good.” Praising with faint damns has always been Mr. Benn’s forte, but given the open-ended commitment Britain retains, one can’t see any other interpretation.

No matter what Mr. Blair says, this is “mission not accomplished.” Sir Menzies Campbell, the leaders of the UK’s Liberal Democrats (who opposed the war from day one), said that Mr. Blair “leaves behind a country on the brink of civil war, reconstruction stalled, corruption endemic and the region as a whole a lot less stable than it was in 2003.”

For the White House, several PR problems arise. Is this the end of the coalition? (No, but some will ask.) Why won’t the Brits help in Baghdad? (Not their job) Why can the UK draw down forces when the US has to pour more into the country? That’s because America has been cack-handed in its use of excessive force against the civilians in Iraq-Nam, but don’t expect the administration to admit that the British succeeded where they haven’t. They’ll say they have the harder job, and it’s true because they made it so.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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