British Soldiers Re-Deployed in Basra After Desertion of Thousands of Iraqi Soldiers

British army: units deployed in Basra

Basra - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 04 /04 /2008 Time 11:23:06
Basra, Apr 4, (VOI)–

During the last few days, British forces deployed a number of military units within the Iraqi army to support combat operations in Basra province, the media spokesperson for the Multi National Forces (MNF) in Iraq said on Friday.

"This measure is part of our continuous support to the Iraqi army 14th Brigade, after the mutual training we had with them inside the Iraqi cities and currently we are applying this supervision and advice on the ground," Captain Chris Ford told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI).

“The Brit soldiers who support Iraqi troops have strong ties with the 14th Brigade, through the combined training operations, and these experiences will help them to provide support in the suitable time," he added.

Ford perceived that offering support in this way "will enable the MNF to provide active air-surveillance for the Iraqi operations, in addition to continue providing advice in the fields of planning and logistics."
British soldiers were stationed in one base - the Basra International Airport, 25 km northeast of the province - after handing over the former presidential palaces, which they took as a military base, to the Iraqi forces.

The British forces in the oil-rich port city of Basra, 590 km south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, keep 5,250 troops within the MNF in Iraq after withdrawing 1,600 soldiers during the past months.
Britain was the United States' prime ally in the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

MH/SH

1,000 Iraqi soldiers quit Basra fight – paper

Basra - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 04 /04 /2008 Time 11:23:06
Basra, Apr 4, (VOI)-

More than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen either refused to fight or simply abandoned their posts during the inconclusive assault against Al-Mahdi Army militia in Basra last week, U.S. New York Times newspaper said quoting a senior Iraqi government official as saying on Friday.

“Iraqi military officials said the group included dozens of officers, including at least two senior field commanders in the battle,” the paper said.

“The crisis created by the desertions and other problems with the Basra operation was serious enough that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki hastily began funneling some 10,000 recruits from local Shi'i tribes into his armed forces,” it said.

The paper quoted a British military official as saying that al-Maliki had brought 6,600 reinforcements to Basra to join the 30,000 security personnel already stationed there, and a senior American military official said that he understood that 1,000 to 1,500 Iraqi forces had deserted or underperformed. That would represent a little over 4 percent of the total.

A new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq cites significant security improvements but concludes that security remains fragile, several American government officials said.

“Even as officials described problems with the planning and performance of the Iraqi forces during the Basra operation, signs emerged Wednesday that tensions with Muqtada al-Sadr, could flare up again. Mr. Sadr, who asked his followers to stop fighting on Sunday, called Thursday for a million Iraqis to march to the Shi'i holy city of Najaf next week to protest the American occupation of Iraq. He also issued a veiled threat against Mr. Maliki’s forces, whom he accused of violating the terms of an agreement with the Iraqi government to stand down,” the U.S. daily reported.

“Everyone who was not on the side of the security forces will go into the military courts,” al- Maliki said in a news briefing in the Green Zone. “Joining the army or police is not a trip or a picnic, there is something that they have to pay back to commit to the interests of the state and not the party or the sect.”

“Rayan C. Crocker, the United States ambassador to Iraq, said Mr. Maliki took the lead in talks with Shi'i tribes and said that the turnout of thousands of security applicants in Basra was testament to his success,” the paper said.

“It is very clear that they have moved over toward the prime minister in a very significant way,” Mr. Crocker said during a briefing in the United States Embassy in Baghdad.

“The tribal element he managed himself, as far as I can see,” he said. “You may recall he had a series of meetings with different tribal leaders, three or four of them, maybe more. That was something he focused on almost from the beginning, and pressed it hard straight through and has seen it pay off. Did he have counsel to do it, I don’t know. But he is the one who did it.”

“Two southern tribal sheiks said that by providing recruits for the security forces, they were expressing support for the government. But the sheiks made clear that the promise of good-paying jobs for the largely unemployed young men in their tribes had also been a powerful inducement,” the paper concluded.

SH

Al-Sadr orders 1 million march in Baghdad instead of Najaf-MP

Baghdad - Voices of Iraq
Friday , 04 /04 /2008 Time 11:23:06
Baghdad-Voices of Iraq
Baghdad, April4, (VOI)-

A Sadrist lawmaker on Friday said the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr ordered to stage one million-strong March in Baghdad instead of Najaf.

"People attending Friday prayers were informed the march would be in Baghdad, not the holy Shi'ite city of Najaf as announced on Thursday." A Sadrist MP Salih al-Ugaili told Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq(VOI) .

Sadr has called for 1 million Iraqis to march against what he calls the U.S. occupation of Iraq next week on the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad. The government says it will not try to block next week's march as long as it is peaceful.

The Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki ordered a crackdown on militia in the southern city of Basra last week, an hour after clashes and heavy fighting erupted with Al-Sadr Mahdi milita in Basra engulfing Baghdad and mjaor southern provinces. U.S. and British forces had to launch air and artillery strikes to support Iraqi troops.

The MP said hundreds of Sadr followers "staged sit-ins in the capital's Sadr City neighborhood, Sadr stronghold' which remain sealed off after last week's fighting.

"The sit-in ceremonies would last till further notice", he added, "the candles would be lit to call for ceasing imposing sieges on cities peacefully ".

Abu Jaafar, the official in charge of Sadr's office in Abu Dsheir, told VOI Sadr's office pitched a camp for a peaceful sit-in in Abu Dsheir upon orders from Sayyed Muqtada al-Sadr on Thursday to break the political stalemate and have the items of an agreement implemented," Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq – (VOI) by telephone.

Abu Jaafar was referring to a parliamentary committee set up to find facts about the armed clashes that erupted in southern Iraq last week.

Earlier on Friday Iraqi Prime Minister ordered an end to arrest raids in all areas to give a chance to gunmen to lay down their arms hours before the Sadrists go on a sit-in after the Friday prayers, according to an Iraqi cabinet statement.

"Maliki instructed to stop detention raids and give a chance to repentant gunmen to lay down their arms in all Iraqi areas," read the statement received by VOI.

"The premier also ordered to have the families that left their residential areas in all provinces due to acts of violence back home and grant financial assistance to the families of martyrs and the wounded in military operations."

The government's statement came after a media source in Sadr's office said "a peaceful sit-in would be staged on Friday to demand cessation of random detentions and escalations against the Sadrists."
AM

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