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LONDON: The British backlash over the United
States’ handling of postinvasion Iraq grew Sunday as another top
military commander blasted what he called Washington’s “fatally
flawed” policy.
The remarks came as the BBC
reported that British troops had begun pulling out from their Iraqi
headquarters in Basra, citing the Iraqi head of security in the
southern province.
A British defense ministry
spokesman declined to confirm the reports, telling AFP: “What is
being talked about is an ongoing operation, and we will not
comment.”
Britain’s domestic Press
Association also reported that unidentified government sources had
confirmed that the pullout from the Basra palace headquarters was
under way, and said it would likely be completed by midnight,
British time.
In the latest sign of growing
tensions between London and Washington over Iraq, the top British
officer involved in planning postwar Iraq, said he raised serious
concerns with then US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the
possibility of the country descending into chaos.
But Rumsfeld “ignored” or
“dismissed” his warnings, retired Major General Tim Cross, 56,
told the Sunday Mirror newspaper.
On Saturday, the head of the
British Arm during the 2003 invasion launched a fierce attack on the
United States over its handling of troubled Iraq since.
General Sir Mike Jackson branded
US postinvasion policy “intellectually bankrupt” and said
Rumsfeld was “one of the most responsible for the current
situation in Iraq.”
His comments were criticized by
John Bolton, the US’s former ambassador to the United Nations, who
told BBC radio Saturday he had “read into a version of history
that simply is not supported by the evidence.”
The comments from both top
officers came as the British government has been trying to soothe
reported tensions with the United States over Iraq by insisting it
will not cut and run from the southern province of Basra.
General Jack Keane, a former
vice-chief of staff of the US Army, said last month there was
“frustration” in Washington at the deteriorating security
situation in the British-run area.
The Pentagon announced this week
that it was ready to intervene in southern Iraq to quell any unrest
in Basra.
The Sunday Times newspaper,
citing unnamed government department officials, said Britain was
preparing to hand over control of Basra to the Iraqi army as early
as next month.
Around 5,500 British troops are
in the south training Iraqi security forces, a figure that is set to
drop to 5,000 by the end of the year.
“Right from the very beginning
we were all very concerned about the lack of detail that had gone
into the postwar plan—and there is no doubt that Rumsfeld was at
the heart of that process,” Cross, the deputy head of the
coalition’s Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance
in 2003, said.
“I had lunch with Rumsfeld in
Washington before the invasion in 2003 and raised concerns about the
need to internationalize the reconstruction of Iraq and work closely
with the United Nations.
“I also raised concerns over
the numbers of troops available to maintain security and aid
reconstruction.
“He didn’t want to hear that
message. The US had already convinced themselves that Iraq would
emerge reasonably quickly as a stable democracy.”
Cross said that he was not alone
in suggesting to Rumsfeld that life in Iraq post-invasion would not
be as easy as he thought.
“But he ignored my comment. He
dismissed it,” he added.
British Prime Minister Gordon
Brown, who took over from Tony Blair on June 27, had been expected
by some commentators to take a more dovish stance on Iraq.
But he has resisted calls for a
timetable for the withdrawal of British troops, and a spokesman for
his Downing Street office on Sunday responded to calls from
opposition politicians for a full inquiry into the war by saying
that there had already been three “pretty exhaustive” inquiries.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary
David Miliband and Defense Secretary Des Browne wrote a joint
article in Friday’s Washington Post newspaper saying it was
“time to set the record straight” after weeks of “misplaced
criticism.”
“The question some people have
asked is: have British forces failed in Basra? The answer is no,”
they added.
--AFP
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