Jonathan Steele (Guardian Utd): The job is done -- Blair must leave Iraq

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Monday May 9

The job is done
The prime minister must accept that most British people want the troops out of Iraq
By Jonathan Steele

Tony Blair insists British troops cannot leave Iraq until Iraq's own police and army can guarantee security. It is, of course, the same argument that George Bush uses to justify keeping close to 150,000 US soldiers in the country.

Never mind the fact that pulling foreign troops out would almost certainly improve Iraq's security, since much of the violence is directed against the occupation. Without the occupation, the insurgency would decline dramatically.

Let us take Blair's position at face value. Has he not noticed that in Basra and the other two south-eastern provinces where British forces are based the insurgency barely exists? It is true that another British soldier died last week in Amara, a traditionally difficult town, but Basra has been quiet for months. Suicide bombers are conspicuous by their absence. Attacks on British forces are rare, and fatalities even rarer. On election day in January there was almost no violence.

The reasons are varied, the main one being that the Shia political groups which control Basra are taking the long view. They form the backbone of Iraq's new government in Baghdad and have no particular complaint with the current drift of Iraqi politics nationally. Although they are Islamists, the conservative stamp they have put on the city has not been opposed by the British.

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[FloridaPat]

1. Remember Vietnam. Same excuse for being there. We pulled out

and the country immediately went into peace mode. I've heard there are other examples too. Could it be that without US troops the oil would be sold to the highest bidder? Or maybe the countries that actually helped Iraq and didn't invade them????

[bpilgrim]

2. Russia & China hope we NEVER pullout

until the treasury and our military are completely drained.

of course since this is exactly the neoCONs plans and why they are so easily duped though i think even they are starting to see the writing on the wall... of course they see it as a further justification for their global designs and will respond accordingly.

what will our M$MW (happy smiling media) say once nukes start going off round the globe?


http://images.globalfreepress.com

peace