UK handing control over Basra to the Iraqis

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced that the Iraqi province of Basra is to be handed over to Iraqi control within two weeks.

The new security measures in Iraq seem to be working. It’s time the Iraqis started to learn to look after their own security. They can’t indefinitely depend on foreign forces to keep their house in order.

Many countries have pulled their troops out of Iraq. Some left in response to terrorist attacks threats. Spain was the only country to withdraw following Madrid bombing attack which left about two 200 deaths and about a thousand injured. Comparatively very few countries are left. Continuous withdrawal or reduction of forces from countries like UK will just put more pressure on the US forces to stay there.

The British seem to have made victorious reduction in their troops. They were defiant of terrorist threats that can happen in UK although some were carried out like July 7^th deadly attacks in London. The British have reduced their forces or handed over areas to the Iraqis after accomplishing their mission and making sure the parts they withdraw from in Iraq are in safe Iraqi hands after training Iraqi forces to cope with security challenges.

The British have been successful in making Basra, relatively, one of the safest parts of Iraq. Casualties there seem minimum compared to Baghdad where thousands have died since 2003. The British can be remembered for having left a clean place that has comparatively suffered less violence.

For Iraq to become a stable country, it needs to pull all its forces, political and religious, for national unity. Having one part secure and another a great risk, especially for the locals, will make Iraq in constant state of trouble and bloodshed.