British To Withdraw From Maysan

British To Withdraw from Maysan, Muthanna
Dozens Killed

The British are obviously declaring victory in southern Iraq and going home. They are in the process of handing over security to local provincial governments in Maysan and Muthanna, and heading out.

Soon the Italians will do the same in Nasiriyah. Does Diwaniyah desperately need foreign troops?

Of course, when you say you are handing over to Maysan officials, you are actually handing over to Muqtada al-Sadr, whose bloc controls the provincial government. And the Sadrists deploy the Mahdi Army for security, whether in official police uniform or no. Likewise, Muthanna is Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq territory, and their “security” is one way or another Badr Corps.

But, well, that is what is in Iraq. It doesn’t turn out to be full of James Madisons. The British are doing the right thing. Basra doesn’t need them either. The Western occupation of southern Iraq will be gone, probably by the end of the year.

There are no US troops in Kurdistan to speak of, and its security is supplied by the peshmerga or Kurdish paramilitary.

So all that is left is the US garrisons in Baghdad and the Sunni Arab heartland. Why should the Sunni Arabs be the only ones to be occupied?

The US-installed governor of Anbar province, in the Sunni Arab west, was almost killed by a huge bombing of his convoy on Tuesday. Others around him did die or were wounded. And the civil war took 30 other lives.

The Sunni Arabs rejected the new constitution almost to a person last October. They are now trying to amend it. What they want, though, is unacceptable to all the Kurds and half of the Shiites, and the way I figure it, it mostly is not going to happen. Which means more trouble, for a long time.