Brits Bribed Militia Not To Attack Them In Basra

It is well known that, despite the spin at the time, the British army left Basra under cover of darkness tails between the legs after squatting in Basra Airport for a year. The retired US general Jack Keane says: ''I think it was a huge mistake to pull out . . . and to leave the people of Basra subject to the Iranian surrogates who brutalised them, intimidated them, terrorised them."

A US colonel, Peter Mansoor, who was executive officer to the US commander Gen David Petraeus, says Basra was in "dire straits". "I don't know that you could see the British withdrawal from Basra in 2007 in any other light other than a defeat," he said.

Basra residents said ruthless Islamic law was imposed after the British left, with 45 women murdered. "The British chose to protect themselves and abandoned us," Walid Faris told the BBC. Story Here