Generals criticise Basra withdrawal

The controversial pullout of British forces from Basra in southern Iraq has come under fresh criticism from British and US generals.

Retired American commanders said the withdrawal of troops from central Basra Palace to a large military base at the airport outside the city was a "defeat" that left local people "terrorised" by militias.

One of the most senior UK officers to serve in Iraq, former Lieutenant General Sir Robert Fry, said: "The Americans decided to win. We decided to leave." The comments, made in a new BBC2 documentary tonight, revive debate about whether the British pullout from Basra city in September 2007 was a prudent tactical move or a humiliating retreat.

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The British general who paved the way for the withdrawal said he was constrained by the conflicting approaches to the war coming out of London and Washington.

Major General Jonathan Shaw, who commanded coalition forces in southern Iraq from January to August 2007, told the programme: "I think the biggest problem was the political problem. There was America surging, there was Britain reducing force levels. Our political leaderships were moving in different directions and that was extremely awkward."

He also referred to secret negotiations he held with leaders of the Mahdi Army militia in Basra, which critics say led to the city being handed over to militants in exchange for the safe passage of British troops back to the base at the airport.

Basra Palace was coming under more mortar and rocket attacks than anywhere else in Iraq by the time the 550 British soldiers based there were pulled out. Retired US General Jack Keane, one of the architects of the American troop surge in Iraq, strongly criticised the British strategy.

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He told the programme: "I think it was a huge mistake to pull out of Basra and to go out to the airfield and to leave the people of Basra to be subjected to the Iranian surrogates who brutalised them, intimidated them, terrorised them."

Former Colonel Peter Mansoor, who was executive officer to General David Petraeus, then commander of coalition forces in Iraq, added: "I don't know that you could see the British withdrawal from Basra in 2007 in any light other than a defeat."

SOLDIER ACCUSED OF KILLING COLLEAGUES

An American soldier has been accused of shooting dead two comrades during a row in Iraq.

Specialist Neftaly Platero is being held in custody during the investigation into last week's killings in Fallujah, a former insurgent stronghold 40 miles west of the capital Baghdad.

A US military spokesman said a "verbal altercation" broke out among four soldiers last Thursday and Platero "allegedly took his weapon and began shooting the other soldiers".

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