The Brits are getting ready to pack up and di di the hell out of Iraq.

They just handed Basra over to the Iraqis.

About three months ago they pulled back from the city of Basra to their base at the local airport, and by next March they plan to be down to 2,500 troops.

In a poll of 1,000 Basra residents for BBC Newsnight, more than 85% said they believed British troops have had a negative effect on the Iraqi province since 2003.
But two-thirds of those polled thought security would improve following the handover.

It’s unfortunate, but based on the behavior in other parts of Iraq, I believe that their version of security is secular in nature and consists primarily of the application of “peace through superior firepower.”

The way I see it. Basra (the city) is a test of the resolve of at least a part of Iraq.
It’s the country’s largest port and is surrounded by petroleum storage and production facilities. Leaving them with not only secular differences but with the inevitable disputes over the control of the oil and the money it generates.

The Shi’as will continue to control the area but, the Sunnis have a strong presence, so we’ll see if peaceful coexistence is possible.

One hopeful sign is that flights to Baghdad from Bosra’s international airport by Iraqi Airways have resumed and nobody is shooting them out of the sky…. Yet.