British complete Basra pullout

Above: British armored vehicles at Basra Palace in Basra during today's handover to the Iraqi Palace Protection Force. Left: An Iraqi soldier guards the gates in front of Basra Palace today.

Britain pulls out from Basra, leaving Iraqis in control

Iraqi soldiers hoisted the nation's flag over the Basra palace compound Monday after British troops withdrew from their last garrison in the city, leaving the country's second biggest city largely in the hands in the hands of Iranian-backed Shiite militias...

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the move was planned for months and that British troops would be available to help Iraqi forces "in certain circumstances.

"This is essentially a move from where we were in a combat role in four provinces, and now we are moving over time to being in an overwatch role," Brown told the British Broadcasting Corporation...

The departure of most of the remaining 500-member British force from the palace left the nation's second largest city without any multinational presence for the first time since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

Iraqi defense minister confident army will secure Basra after British withdrawal

Iraq's defense minister said on Monday that he was confident his military will be able to maintain security after British troop pullout from Basra, the country's second largest city.

"We are working very seriously to fill the security vacuum and we expect in the next few days to fill it in a good way," Defense Minister Abdul-Qadir al-Obaidi said during a transit stop at Beirut airport on his way to Europe.

"I am certain that the security situation will be much better," he added but did not elaborate whether he meant the Iraqis would do a better job than the British and how that would come about.

But al-Obaidi conceded that the British forces will act "as a backup for our forces when we request it."

Britain on Monday fully withdrew about 500 British soldiers from Basra Palace — their last base in the downtown of the second-largest Iraqi city — to join 5,000 other British personnel at an air base camp on the fringes of the port city.

Read the rest at the International Herald Tribune

Basra celebrates British withdrawal

Basra's residents expressed pride and satisfaction today at the news that the British troops had slipped out of the city overnight after more than four years of occupation, and most gave credit to the Mahdi Army militia for having driven them out...

Abu Ahmad, 36, an aide in the Basra office of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who controls the Mahdi army, told The Times: "This victory happened with the help of Allah and all those who gave their lives to achieve this goal, the nightly attacks on the palace with mortars and shells, under Moqtada's leadership."

Many inhabitants of Basra agreed. "The withdrawal of British forces was a success for the Mahdi army and a victory for the people of Basra. It is time to start a new chapter and rebuild our city," said Zuher Abid Ali, 41, an engineer.

"We're very happy because there are no more (foreign) troops in Basra," added Sami Ahmed, 31, a shopkeeper. "The militias forced British troops to leave."

Read the rest at the Times of London

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