.Report: UK troops cut deal and avoided Iraq battle
LONDON (AP) - A secret deal with an Iran-backed militia kept British forces out of a battle in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, leaving U.S. and Iraqi forces to fight alone, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The Ministry of Defense denied any deal was struck and said it held back to ensure that the operation was seen as Iraqi-led.
The pact between Britain and the Mahdi Army was aimed at coercing the Shiite militia back into the political process and marginalizing extremist factions, the The Times of London reported, quoting an unidentified senior defense official. But the effect was that 4,000 British soldiers were kept out of action for six days until a deal brokered in Iran ended heavy fighting.
The Times described the deal as an "accommodation," and said that under its terms, no British soldier could enter Basra, which sits 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, without the permission of Defense Secretary Des Browne.
In a statement, the defense ministry rejected the story, saying "no 'secret deal' or 'accommodation' kept us out of the city," and that the only reason British involvement was limited was to ensure the operation was perceived by residents of Basra as Iraqi-led.
A separate report earlier this week in Britain's Independent also suggested a secret deal existed between the militia and the British. Col. Richard Iron told the newspaper that the deal to withdraw involved the release of 120 prisoners, but left the city at the mercy of criminal gangs.
"As 90 percent of the attacks were against us, we thought if we moved out, we would remove the source of the problem," Iron told the Independent. "But actually the Jaish al-Mahdi (the Mahdi army) had been fighting us because we were the only obstacle to their total control."
The British military turned over provincial control of Basra to the Iraqi government in late December despite vicious infighting between Shiite factions and widespread militia infiltration of the local security forces. But British troops remained on standby at their airport base outside the city.
The American forces and elite Iraqi army units brought in as reinforcements did most of the fighting in the battle, which began March 25 and was aimed at removing criminal gangs from the port city.
But the defense ministry said that the operation was planned, led, and executed by the Iraqis, and that British troops were not sent into Basra because "there was no structure in place in the city for units to go back in and start mentoring the Iraqi troops."
"When the action was launched, British forces provided a raft of military support including armor, artillery, airpower, medical and logistic support," the ministry said.
U.S. Marines sent from distant Anbar province did fight alongside Iraqi forces and U.S. jets conducted airstrikes.
In an interview with The Associated Press in early June, Iraqi Brig. Gen. Baha Hussein Abed, the deputy commander of the Iraqi army's 1st Division which fought alongside U.S. Marines in Basra during the operation, said the British allowed the militias free reign in Basra and other southern cities.
"What happened in Basra, Nasiriyah, Amarah and other areas falls on the shoulders of the British forces," he said. "Basra is considered the economic capital of Iraq, but the British let the militias do what they wanted."
AP
The pact between Britain and the Mahdi Army was aimed at coercing the Shiite militia back into the political process and marginalizing extremist factions, the The Times of London reported, quoting an unidentified senior defense official. But the effect was that 4,000 British soldiers were kept out of action for six days until a deal brokered in Iran ended heavy fighting.
The Times described the deal as an "accommodation," and said that under its terms, no British soldier could enter Basra, which sits 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, without the permission of Defense Secretary Des Browne.
In a statement, the defense ministry rejected the story, saying "no 'secret deal' or 'accommodation' kept us out of the city," and that the only reason British involvement was limited was to ensure the operation was perceived by residents of Basra as Iraqi-led.
A separate report earlier this week in Britain's Independent also suggested a secret deal existed between the militia and the British. Col. Richard Iron told the newspaper that the deal to withdraw involved the release of 120 prisoners, but left the city at the mercy of criminal gangs.
"As 90 percent of the attacks were against us, we thought if we moved out, we would remove the source of the problem," Iron told the Independent. "But actually the Jaish al-Mahdi (the Mahdi army) had been fighting us because we were the only obstacle to their total control."
The British military turned over provincial control of Basra to the Iraqi government in late December despite vicious infighting between Shiite factions and widespread militia infiltration of the local security forces. But British troops remained on standby at their airport base outside the city.
The American forces and elite Iraqi army units brought in as reinforcements did most of the fighting in the battle, which began March 25 and was aimed at removing criminal gangs from the port city.
But the defense ministry said that the operation was planned, led, and executed by the Iraqis, and that British troops were not sent into Basra because "there was no structure in place in the city for units to go back in and start mentoring the Iraqi troops."
"When the action was launched, British forces provided a raft of military support including armor, artillery, airpower, medical and logistic support," the ministry said.
U.S. Marines sent from distant Anbar province did fight alongside Iraqi forces and U.S. jets conducted airstrikes.
In an interview with The Associated Press in early June, Iraqi Brig. Gen. Baha Hussein Abed, the deputy commander of the Iraqi army's 1st Division which fought alongside U.S. Marines in Basra during the operation, said the British allowed the militias free reign in Basra and other southern cities.
"What happened in Basra, Nasiriyah, Amarah and other areas falls on the shoulders of the British forces," he said. "Basra is considered the economic capital of Iraq, but the British let the militias do what they wanted."
AP
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