British Troop Withdrawal May Be A True Re-deployment
Everyone has heard about the announcement last week by British Prime Minister Tony Blair that he was withdrawing 1,600 troops from Iraq.
What you may not have heard was this:
“Blair said British forces will begin leaving Iraq, particularly Basra, where Iraqi security forces have taken primary responsibility for operations. He emphasized that the United Kingdom’s combat capability in Iraq won’t be diminished and that the remaining British forces will focus on training Iraqi forces and securing the Iranian border and supply routes.”
Hmm. That seems to be a lot different message than the media trumpeted British troop withdrawal from Iraq story, where the Brits are just packing up and going home. Also, the Brits are saying they are putting in 1,400 troops into Afghanistan:
“Great Britain will deploy an additional 1,400 troops to Afghanistan this summer, British Secretary of State for Defense Desmond Browne told the country’s Parliament yesterday. Most of the troops will be based in Helmand province, bringing Britain’s force in Afghanistan to about 7,700, he said. Browne said the additional troops are needed to continue progress already made, and he expressed disappointment that other NATO countries haven’t stepped forward to provide sufficient forces, particularly in light of an anticipated Taliban offensive this spring.”
So what we have here is a net removal of troops by Brittan of 200 troops; nothing to wring your hands over and wail “the Iraq war is doomed.” As a mater of fact what you DO have here is British troops stepping up to the plate and sending troops to help shore-up coalition forces in Iraq when they could have just reduced their numbers by 1,600 troops, since the Iraqis have taken over responsibility for security in Basra – which is in and of itself, great news. All this in the face of a rumored “Taliban offensive in the spring” which some on the left have hoped will be on the magnitude of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam (man they are fascinated with that war) but may never arrive or be vastly smaller in scope.
Either way, things are not as bad as we would be lead to believe.
What you may not have heard was this:
“Blair said British forces will begin leaving Iraq, particularly Basra, where Iraqi security forces have taken primary responsibility for operations. He emphasized that the United Kingdom’s combat capability in Iraq won’t be diminished and that the remaining British forces will focus on training Iraqi forces and securing the Iranian border and supply routes.”
Hmm. That seems to be a lot different message than the media trumpeted British troop withdrawal from Iraq story, where the Brits are just packing up and going home. Also, the Brits are saying they are putting in 1,400 troops into Afghanistan:
“Great Britain will deploy an additional 1,400 troops to Afghanistan this summer, British Secretary of State for Defense Desmond Browne told the country’s Parliament yesterday. Most of the troops will be based in Helmand province, bringing Britain’s force in Afghanistan to about 7,700, he said. Browne said the additional troops are needed to continue progress already made, and he expressed disappointment that other NATO countries haven’t stepped forward to provide sufficient forces, particularly in light of an anticipated Taliban offensive this spring.”
So what we have here is a net removal of troops by Brittan of 200 troops; nothing to wring your hands over and wail “the Iraq war is doomed.” As a mater of fact what you DO have here is British troops stepping up to the plate and sending troops to help shore-up coalition forces in Iraq when they could have just reduced their numbers by 1,600 troops, since the Iraqis have taken over responsibility for security in Basra – which is in and of itself, great news. All this in the face of a rumored “Taliban offensive in the spring” which some on the left have hoped will be on the magnitude of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam (man they are fascinated with that war) but may never arrive or be vastly smaller in scope.
Either way, things are not as bad as we would be lead to believe.
Labels: iraq, war on terror
posted by Alpheus at 12:30 PM
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