http://iraq.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/02/01/violence-rages-as-rockets-are-aimed-at-british-base/ A Great Decisions 2008 Blog Thu, 24 Jul 2008 15:55:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=wordpress-mu-1.0 http://iraq.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/02/01/violence-rages-as-rockets-are-aimed-at-british-base/#comment-200 Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:50:40 +0000 http://iraq.foreignpolicyblogs.com/2008/02/01/violence-rages-as-rockets-are-aimed-at-british-base/#comment-200 [...] What first caught my eye was an article in the UK Daily Mail yesterday (which I think is little more than a tabloid, but occasionally they have a gem or two) that said in its headline ‘Rocket attacks dent hopes of bringing British troops home from Basra‘. As readers of this blog know, we have chronicled the Basra situation before, here and here. This is a very interesting dynamic, as there is a lot of intra-Shi’ite rivalries going on. In September, British troops pulled out of Basra city and retreated to the outskirts of the city, where they remain on the grounds of the airport. They are there and continue to train Iraqi forces. The Brits were forced out by rocket fire last year, and only symbolically handed over power of the province to the Iraqis in December. They had been out for quite some time. With the violence raging in Basra between Iraqi security forces and the militias today, it is an important time to examine this in more depth. [...] […] What first caught my eye was an article in the UK Daily Mail yesterday (which I think is little more than a tabloid, but occasionally they have a gem or two) that said in its headline ‘Rocket attacks dent hopes of bringing British troops home from Basra‘. As readers of this blog know, we have chronicled the Basra situation before, here and here. This is a very interesting dynamic, as there is a lot of intra-Shi’ite rivalries going on. In September, British troops pulled out of Basra city and retreated to the outskirts of the city, where they remain on the grounds of the airport. They are there and continue to train Iraqi forces. The Brits were forced out by rocket fire last year, and only symbolically handed over power of the province to the Iraqis in December. They had been out for quite some time. With the violence raging in Basra between Iraqi security forces and the militias today, it is an important time to examine this in more depth. […]

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