Quote Originally Posted by Tribesman
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