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The last chapter of British engagement in the Iraq conflict slowly comes to a close as British commanders hand control of Basra to American troops, who will now be overseeing operations in the area before they themselves leave in June.
Today the Defence Secretary, John Hutton, attended a memorial service for the 179 troops who died there. It is not a happy ending. Allowing for the professionalism of British forces, innumerable acts of courage on the part of individuals and high aspirations from their commanders, the reputation of the Army has been diminished, not enhanced, in southern Iraq.
At the start it seemed that the British could bring a different approach to the conflict, more about engaging with local communities than with the confrontational and arms-length tactics of US troops. Yet that optimism withered with the reality of the situation in Basra, where the Army found itself under constant rocket and mortar attack from the Mahdi Army militia and withdrew in 2007 from the city centre to the local airbase. British troops did not have the means to tackle local Shia militias as the US troops did with their surge in the north. Instead, a year ago, Basra was rescued from the militias by a US-backed Iraqi army offensive.
Granted the Army did good work in training Iraqi forces, which had been infiltrated by hostile parties, but that is a very limited result from six years' engagement. Basra is now more peaceful than it was but that is only partly due to the British. Now, as the Prime Minister limits the numbers of fresh troops being sent to Afghanistan to 700, it may be that there, too, British forces will be too few for the job in hand.
If the Army finds its standing diminished as a result of this inglorious episode, this humiliation pales by comparison with the political damage inflicted on the Government. The conflict in which the troops were engaged was fundamentally flawed because it was based on the untruth with which Tony Blair took Britain into the war behind the US, that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. That morally tarnished the Government and the damage to its reputation remains.
Gordon's travails
The advent of spring has, appropriately enough, brought a surge of economic confidence, or at least, a greater degree of public optimism than at any time since the start of the credit crunch. Yet it seems unlikely to rub off on the Prime Minister, whose personal feelbad factor becomes ever more obvious. The rebellion of 27 Labour MPs in yesterday's vote in the Commons against the Government was only the latest evidence of his declining authority within his own ranks - he picked a fight that he did not deserve to win and that showed poor judgment.
Today's vote on MPs' expenses may well be carried but that is because it is an interim measure until the Committee for Standards in Public Life makes full recommendations for reform later in the year. The Prime Minister's proposals for an attendance payment for MPs had some merit but in the face of overwhelming opposition it was dropped. That, too, has had an impact on his authority.
But it is the economy that, rightly, is proving Mr Brown's undoing. His attempts to blame the British economic crisis on global factors outside his control have failed as the scale of the national debt crisis becomes apparent. The Budget has, to put it mildly, failed to inspire confidence. Mr Brown is, unfortunately, not a quitter. But given this drift, it will be a very long year before the next election.
Hockney's gift
David Hockney, arguably Britain's finest painter, has transformed his way of working by embracing the iPhone. And, very generously, he has provided our readers with a unique digital version of one of his pictures. A Hockney for 50p: that really is a bargain.
Reader views (2)
When the Americans finally leave Iraq it will descend into a bloody civil war between Sunni, Shia and Kurdish factions fighting over oil, political power and other resources. These different religious groups will never agree to any sort of political compromise. They are like naughty children only with guns.
- Les, Middlesbrough, UK, 01/05/2009 07:57
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40 million people freed from the despotic rule of a mad man. God bless the Brits for their hard work and sacrifice. Future generations of Iraqis will appreciate what was done here.......history will be changed for the better
- William Heard, USA Army, Tikrit, Iraq, 30/04/2009 16:05
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