Basra, Britain’s Mesopotamian mess revisited
DAMASCUS – Alarms are ringing in London that the British army is being severely defeated in Iraq, as the city of Basra (where its 7th Armored Brigade has been based since 2003) slips rapidly into uncontrollable sectarian violence.
Basra has always been troublesome. From there, two uprisings were launched against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and 1999, only to be crushed with great force by the currently imprisoned dictator. British officials, though, refuse to accept the reality that since entering the city on April 6, 2003, they have done nothing to eradicate sectarian militias, and violence is now exploding in the southern Iraqi city, with nobody able to bring it to a halt.
Unrest escalated when a British helicopter was shot down in Basra on May 6 by a shoulder-launched missile, killing five British
troops. British Defense Minister Des Browne, learning from his US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld, played down the event, calling it “an isolated incident” that had been “magnified” by the press. Coinciding with Browne’s statement was a roadside bomb that killed two British soldiers in Basra this Monday, bringing the number of British deaths in Iraq since 2003 to 111.
British troops can no longer travel on foot, for fear of ambushes, and have to use helicopters as taxis. As London digests this “magnified” reality, it plans to present the Iraqi police force in the south with 814 new cars, costing a total of US$145 million.
Basra, a predominantly Shi’ite city, has been won over from the British by the rebel-cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. The young rebel gained the minds and hearts of the inhabitants of Basra when he began his rebellion against the Americans, and then-prime minister Iyad Allawi, in 2004. The people of Basra originally welcomed the British as liberators, but the expression on everybody’s face was: “Thank you for what you did and for helping us get rid of Saddam. Now, when are you leaving?”
Muqtada found an excited crowd willing to listen to his anti-Anglo-American rhetoric in 2004-05 and was able to recruit members of the British-trained Iraqi police force in Basra into his Mehdi Army, where they now serve as undercover agents for Muqtada. By day, they officially patrol the streets and gather information about logistics, and by night, they don the costume of the Mehdi Army and pick fights with traditional enemies of Muqtada.
Today, Muqtada’s pictures are plastered all over the streets of Basra, in the police station and in the homes of private citizens, who pray for his long life and good health, claiming that he is saving them from both the occupation and the Sunni community. He has particular influence among the city’s poor and youth.
A Basra under Muqtada’s control, however, means a mini-theocracy in Iraq. Alcohol is banned and veiling is becoming a must. Women are warned to put the veil on when they venture outdoors in Basra to avoid being harrassed by armed militias. Merchants who sold alcohol have been executed or attacked.
atimes.com