The Curmudgeon

YOU'LL COME FOR THE CURSES. YOU'LL STAY FOR THE MUDGEONRY.

Monday, February 06, 2006

Sovereign States

A senior American general has been gracious enough to suggest that Britain could begin withdrawing troops from Iraq, and presumably sending them to Afghanistan, within the next four or five months. Once local security forces are prepared to take on the mantle, the coalition "would be happy to reduce troop numbers". Well, I'm glad they've all been asked. This being self-evidently a democratic exercise, naturally everyone gets a vote, from the big players like Italy and South Korea down to the weeny but well-meaning like Estonia, Macedonia and Kazakhstan. From all that one could see of this announcement in the tabloids, British sovereignty was not noticeably affected.

Meanwhile, Paul Keetch of the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee noted the improvements in security that have been achieved since Mission Accomplished a few months back: "When I went two and a half years ago to Basra we could walk around with troops in berets and some security but basically free to move around," he said. "When we went there last week we would not leave the base, indeed walking from building to building in the base we had to put on full body-armour."

Brigadier James Everard, who will be leading the 20th Armoured Division into Iraq in May (Operation Pullout Accomplished, I take it), blamed the disorder on a "small rotten core" among the police. He advocated "a process of progressive disengagement as we feel there is a credible, capable Iraqi security force". As soon as we feel that, presumably, the sovereign, elected Iraqi government will do its part and ask us, very nicely, to leave.

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