British Troops Needed Us Help to Quell Basra, Brigadier Admits
UK commander says that army in Iraq could no longer conduct large-scale operations on its own
British and Iraqi troops could not have quelled the militia in Basra earlier this year without US firepower, the UK commander in the city said yesterday.
The full extent to which Iraqi and British forces relied on the US was disclosed by Brigadier Julian Free, head of 4 Mechanized Brigade, which recently returned to Germany after six months at Basra airport. "I needed some help," he said referring to what he called the "huge amount of armored combat power" the US brought from western Iraq to accompany Iraqi reinforcements for Charge of the Knights, the operation to drive out the Shia militia.
"We didn't have enough capacity in the air and we didn't have enough capability on the ground," Free said. The British army could no longer conduct large-scale operations on its own but that did not mean it had failed, he added.
Britain fed and watered about 900 US troops who had flown in from elsewhere in Iraq to Basra airport. Britain also provided logistical, medical, and air support to 30,000 Iraqi forces, he said.
Free described how British commanders had earlier drawn up a three-stage plan with General Mohan, the Iraqi commander in Basra. One Friday in March he went to Baghdad to argue for the plan at a meeting with David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq. The next day, Free said, Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, insisted: "No, I've got my own plan." By Sunday, Iraqi troops started appearing in Basra.
Free's account to journalists yesterday made clear that operations to drive out rebel elements of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army and criminal groups was a priority for the Iraqi government and that it could be done quickly and effectively only with American help.
Some US military commanders have sharply criticized the UK for not having sufficient troops in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, controlled by British forces after the 2003 invasion, and for allowing the militia to police the city's streets. Operation Charge of the Knights suggests Maliki was also getting impatient.
The full extent to which Iraqi and British forces relied on the US was disclosed by Brigadier Julian Free, head of 4 Mechanized Brigade, which recently returned to Germany after six months at Basra airport. "I needed some help," he said referring to what he called the "huge amount of armored combat power" the US brought from western Iraq to accompany Iraqi reinforcements for Charge of the Knights, the operation to drive out the Shia militia.
"We didn't have enough capacity in the air and we didn't have enough capability on the ground," Free said. The British army could no longer conduct large-scale operations on its own but that did not mean it had failed, he added.
Britain fed and watered about 900 US troops who had flown in from elsewhere in Iraq to Basra airport. Britain also provided logistical, medical, and air support to 30,000 Iraqi forces, he said.
Free described how British commanders had earlier drawn up a three-stage plan with General Mohan, the Iraqi commander in Basra. One Friday in March he went to Baghdad to argue for the plan at a meeting with David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq. The next day, Free said, Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, insisted: "No, I've got my own plan." By Sunday, Iraqi troops started appearing in Basra.
Free's account to journalists yesterday made clear that operations to drive out rebel elements of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army and criminal groups was a priority for the Iraqi government and that it could be done quickly and effectively only with American help.
Some US military commanders have sharply criticized the UK for not having sufficient troops in Basra, Iraq's second largest city, controlled by British forces after the 2003 invasion, and for allowing the militia to police the city's streets. Operation Charge of the Knights suggests Maliki was also getting impatient.
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