New Blow To Brits As Maliki Fires Basra Commanders
Point is simple. Maliki, who already blames the Brits for turning a blind eye to the Mahdi Army’s control of Basra and has decided to use the iron fist of the Iraqi Army, with support from the Americans, to reclaim control of the city, has kicked the Brits’ two favorite “do-nothing” Iraqi generals “upstairs”, and replaced them with two other Iraqi generals who he feels will be more aggressive in the government clamp-down on the city which has already proven highly succesful. Maliki feels the top two generals have been spoiled by the Brits’ complacency, and yanked them. At this point, Maliki seems to find the Brits useless, hates them, and wouldn’t give two shits if they were out of Iraq completely. As one person who read the following story commented: “Unfortunately,the British presence in Iraq is now nothing more than a token gesture”
Times Online:
The top two Iraqi commanders in Basra, the men the British military had placed their confidence in when handing back control of the city last December, have been removed from their positions and recalled to Baghdad by the Government.
Lieutenant-General Mohan al-Furaiji and Major-General Abdul-Jalil Khalaf will return to take up “higher staff positions”, said the Iraqi Ministry of Defence. Their departure comes less than a month after the Iraqi security forces launched a sudden and controversial offensive against Shia militants in Basra.
Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, sent Lieutenant-General Furaiji to the southern port city last summer to oversee all security forces on a temporary basis. Similarly, Major-General Khalaf was dispatched to take charge of the corruption and militia-riddled police.
Both men were praised repeatedly by British commanders as a main reason why they were able to pull back their troops from the centre of Basra last September and hand over control of security to the Iraqi authorities three months later.
Frustrated at persistent violence in the oil-rich city, however, Mr Maliki launched the March 25 operation, with hastily-scrambled support from the US military.
The crackdown triggered fierce clashes with militia loyal to the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, which spread to other southern cities and Baghdad. More than 1,300 police and soldiers refused to fight. They have since been sacked.
American commanders have criticised the hasty planning behind the campaign, which caught both the US and British military off guard. Mr Maliki gave his US allies barely more than a weekend’s notice of the impending attack, while the British, who are based in the province, were informed only a day before.
Despite the problems, a Ministry of Interior spokesman said that the two departing Iraqi commanders would return to the Ministry of Defence in higher staff positions. Lieutenant-General Furaiji and Major-General Khalaf had been “rewarded for their successful mission against the criminals in Basra”, he said.
A British military spokesman at Britain’s base outside Basra also thanked the two men for their “hard work and tireless determination”.
Major Tom Holloway said: “We pay tribute to the important contribution that Generals Mohan and Jalil have made with security in Basra since their appointment last summer.”
The pair will be replaced respectively by Major-General Mohammed Jawad Huwaidi and Major-General Adil Daham.
In ongoing offensives, coalition forces launched an air strike that killed four militants who fired at Iraqi troops in Basra this morning.
Major Holloway said the aircraft fired a missile at a group of five gunmen carrying rocket-propelled grenades, killing four and wounding one. A second missile was fired at their vehicle, destroying it. Iraqi police said that six people were killed and three wounded in the strike.
Iraqi forces, with embedded American advisors, have made scores of arrests in Basra since the campaign began and uncovered a number of weapons caches.
Earlier this week, Iraqi soldiers rescued British hostage Richard Butler, a photojournalist on assignment for the American network CBS News, from a house in Basra where he had been held captive for just under two months. They were tipped off by children in the neighbourhood.
Be respectful of others and their opinions. Inflammatory remarks and inane leftist drivel will be deleted. It ain’t about free speech, remember you’re in a private domain. My website, my prerogative.
If you can't handle using your real email address, don't bother posting a comment.
My, my who could have guessed that the good ol’ USA’s wonderful soldiers and leaders would have the abilities to pivot in place and succeed in showing the Lefty World that Honor, Bravery and Selflessness would impress even the Iraqis. A big BRAVO…to our Iraqi allies too!
April 17th, 2008 at 4:49 amMr. Maliki, found out the superior Brits weren’t all that superior. We learned that in 1776 and 1812. First thing we did for them is when we took out the Barbary Pirates. They had been paying tolls to them. The British should give serious thought to shipping stone by stone all those famous British buildings, including Big Ben and reassemble on the strip in Las Vegas. This is what England used to look like. They can keep Westminster Abbey, they can turn that into a mosk.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:51 am“Once Great Britain”..The troops are a fine lot, it’s the command and leadership that needs to be removed. like the Iraqis themselves did. That once proud nation is being lead down the dhimmi trail and the public seems complacent or utterly uninformed…or just too damn far left (and thus blind) now.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:48 amWith all the great articles about Britain’s leadership these past few days on this site, I recommend this article as icing on the cake.
http://americanthinker.com/2008/04/good_grief_gordon_brown.html
April 17th, 2008 at 7:08 amWell, there’s always the promise of King Arthur returning.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:22 amThere was an incident a few months ago in Afghanistan that involved the British also. 2 diplomats were expelled by the Afghan government for trying to secretly negotiate with the Talaban in their AOR. The Brits seem to do alot of negotiating on their own, to avoid getting any troops involved in combat.
April 17th, 2008 at 9:07 amJohn Cunningham said: “First thing we did for them is when we took out the Barbary Pirates. They had been paying tolls to them.”
Actually, we were paying tolls too to have our merchant ships left alone. Problem was that a lot of the pirates would still attack. We were using almost 20% of the national income to try and payoff the pirates and their controlling countries before we decided to do something about it. The solution was the creation of the US Navy and the Marines that would be able to go ashore and fight. That is why the Marines’ song starts with the words “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli” … their first great task … free the world of the terror of the Barbary pirates. BTW, the Barbary pirates were Muslims. I know, I know shocker right? Who would have thought that terror and brutality only partially appeased by extorted funds or by total submission would have been the M.O. of Muslims?
April 17th, 2008 at 9:27 amCPLViper- The barbary pirates.
How patriarchal of you to cite forbidden US history. That sort of dogma is unacceptable inside the current guidelines here at the NEA. You will report to reeducation facilities pronto!
God bless the founding fathers, USN, USMC, TJ, and Stephen Decatur.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:14 amP.S. Any reads you’d like to pass along? Thanks.
CPLViper- The barbary pirates.
How patriarchal of you to cite forbidden US history. That sort of dogma is unacceptable inside the current guidelines here at the NEA. You will report to reeducation facilities pronto!
God bless the founding fathers, USN, USMC, TJ, and Stephen Decatur.
April 17th, 2008 at 10:14 amP.S. Any reads you’d like to pass along? Thanks.
You might want to watch these “fired” individuals.
- The INP is standing up a 3rd Division in Salahadin and it will need a new commander.
- The IA is standing four new corps and they will need new commanders. There are only seven operational commands and one is commanded by INP. That means four of the six IA OC commanders are going to get “fired” so they can be promoted to corps’ commanders.
Quit feeding the propaganda about the IA losing in Basrah. They didn’t…
April 17th, 2008 at 10:33 amPS The new INP 3rd Div will be responsible for the northern 30 percent of Iraq, not just one little province…
April 17th, 2008 at 10:35 amPS Everybody claimed Pertaeus was “fired” when he went to write the doctrine…
Now he is in command. There is a simular pattern here.
I expect both of these senior officers to do a stint at the senior officer course of the National Defense University, then the IA gets a new Corps commander and the INP gets a new Division commander.
You really shouldn’t trust press reporting. Most have no comprehension of how militaries operate…
April 17th, 2008 at 11:03 am@rightangle
Here’s a link you might be interested in:
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/jefferson_papers/mtjprece.html
@D.J Elliot
“Quit feeding the propaganda about the IA losing in Basrah. They didn’t…”
Me: No shit FNG. You must be new here.
“You really shouldn’t trust press reporting. Most have no comprehension of how militaries operate…”
Me: Thanks for stating the obvious. This ain’t the LLMSM. This is Dollard Country. Since most of us are either serving military or ex-military supporting the warfighters, we already figured that out eons ago.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:51 amHahaha you tell em, Dan.
I like Maliki more and more. Love the crackdown and the chance to get the dirty IA and IP to show their colors and get the boot.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:17 pmCplViper, I just watched a documentary on the Marine Corps on the military channel. It said the Marines were created to fight the British during the Revolutionary war because we were outgunned on the seas. They would climb the masts and when we came along side, would fire volleys of shot into the British…..so it was even before the pirates….
April 17th, 2008 at 2:43 pmDan of Diego
The Royal Marines had been doing that 100 years before the US Marines…thats what Marines do.
The brits were not just paying the pirates to leave them alone but encouraged attacks on American shipping…one of the reasons for “The Shores of Tripoli”.
The war of 1812 was a close thing and the brits were again trecherous but fortuneatly they have this thing about picking the worst of their generals, a tradition repeated lately in Iraq, for strategic missions.
Semper Fi to all Jarheads and our allies in the army
Serfer
April 17th, 2008 at 4:16 pmwith all due respect to the commenters, praise be to the infidels one and all, If you refer to Roggio’s website, and click on staff, you will find DJElliot. Please keep up the good work, sir.
April 17th, 2008 at 4:53 pmListen, We fought Two wars against the Brits, one for idependance and one for supporting France where they burned down our first White House. We saved their asses twice against the Germans, When we ask for their assistance to help the United States they do a half hearted attempt and then Cut and Run.
Britain is not a friend of the United States, They just tolerate us. They prey for Socialism and cling to Monarchic lust. Countries like South Korea, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Iraq are more of an ally then Britain ever really was.
The British people are nothing like Americans and share very little in common. We never have.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:40 pm@Dan(The Infidel) Thanks for the link, I hadn’t come across that one in some earlier i-searches. Too bad todays dems, unlike Jefferson, are more willing in suing for peace. They never realize how costly those pieces of freedom are to regain. Gunboat diplomacy works everytime.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:06 pmLooks like it is time that the IA is stepping up to the plate. Now I hope they can hit the fastball, hard-slider and curve. Batting practise is over.
April 17th, 2008 at 7:22 pm@rightangle
Well said.
April 17th, 2008 at 8:43 pm