Hand Over to Whom?

20 April 2007



Brits Hand over Maysan Province to Iraq-Namese Security Forces

On Wednesday, the British forces in Mesopotamia handed over another province to the Green Zone government. This is the fourth province over which the al-Maliki government has security responsibility, and the third the UK has returned to Baghdad control. The question, though, is whether the local authorities will answer to Baghdad or to militia commanders. The smart money is leaning toward the latter, and if that is the case, then the idea of having Iraq-Namese forces handle security in their own country undermines the government for which the US, UK and others are fighting.

The Telegraph’s Thomas Harding in Camp Sparrowhawk, Maysan, reported, “In a speech delivered on his behalf, Mr Maliki said three provinces in the autonomous Kurdistan region would be next, followed by Kerbala and Wasit provinces. ‘Then it will be province by province until we achieve [this transfer] before the end of the year’.” Mr. al-Maliki has promised to take on security duties in Iraq for well over a year, and every time he mentions his intentions, his target date is 6 months or so away.

Back in August, the British pulled out of their only permanent base in the province, Camp Abu Naji. At the time, the UK said it was a redeployment designed to help seal up the border with Iran. Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army had a different take on the move. Their loudspeakers were driven around Amarah (the big city in the province) announcing, “"This is the first Iraqi city that has kicked out the occupier.”

There was more violence in October, when the Mahdi Army sacked three police stations. Alexandra Zavis reporting for the Los Angeles Times wrote, “The British officers noted that it was Iraqi authorities who restored order by rushing in soldiers and a high-level security team from Baghdad to negotiate a truce with the help of tribal leaders. ‘At the end of the day, it was an Iraqi solution,’ said British Lt. Col. Richard Nixon-Eckersall, commander of the Queen's Royal Lancers battle group in Maysan.”

The local government has rebuilt the police stations, largely because the Sadrists are a significant force in Maysan’s provincial government. Ms. Zavis also reported that grocer Ammar Yasir Hassan told her, "Security is better simply because there are no more raids, confrontations, and explosions, which usually cause many casualties among innocent citizens.” Yet, Mr. Harding’s dispatch read in part, “Don’t leave Basra [the last place the Brits control] because we will have big chaos because the security situation is still critical,” one resident said. “We want to know how long until we get good government?” The residents of the UK and US are awaiting the same answer.

© 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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