Brits Out!

[Tribesman]

I remember someone posting, a while back, an article that was critical of the US approach to the insurgency while congratulating the British for their "soft touch", what happened?

What happened was they completed their mission , they got on with the locals , got them set up and handed over , that was the mission wasn't it .
Just because America is only just getting started you cannot blame the British for having finished already .

This just means that more Americans will be forced to try and pick up the slack once the British abdicate their responsibilities...

The British are abdicating nothing , they did their job .
If America is years behind schedule with their job then that is Americas fault .

[Xiahou]

What happened was they completed their mission , they got on with the locals , got them set up and handed over , that was the mission wasn't it .
Just because America is only just getting started you cannot blame the British for having finished already .

Mission accomplished, is that it? Basra was never handed over. It's still under British authority.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Brigadier General Anthony Hunter-Choat, a security director for Iraq's reconstruction programme, said America had initially backed the British "softly, softly" approach to security in Basra, by which power was devolved to tribal leaders, rather than ruling from the top down.

"The Americans thought the British were highly successful," he said. "Now they've started to think that the people the British used to keep the place going are not the right people to hand Basra over to."

A think-tank report, quoted in the report, said the legacy of British rule in Basra was "the systematic misuse of official institutions, political assassinations, tribal vendettas, neighbourhood vigilantism and enforcement of social mores, together with the rise of criminal mafias". A former British defence official, now working in Baghdad, said London's push to withdraw forces had been criticised at the "highest levels" in Washington. America "has been very concerned for some time now about a) the lawless situation in Basra and b) the political and military impact of the British pull back," he said.
link

[Tribesman]

Mission accomplished, is that it? Basra was never handed over. It's still under British authority

Basra is being handed over . Mission accomplished .

BTW Nice story Xiahou , does it escape your notice that what the article decribes is the exact same thing you recently praised when the Americans did it in Anbar province .

[Xiahou]

Basra is being handed over . Mission accomplished .

Leaving doesn't make the mission accomplished.

BTW Nice story Xiahou , does it escape your notice that what the article decribes is the exact same thing you recently praised when the Americans did it in Anbar province .

I don't think you know what you're talking about- feel free to prove me wrong though.