Beginning Of The End For UK Troops In Basra - Sky News

Geoff Meade, Defence correspondent
Britain has formally handed over Basra to US troops, marking the start of the withdrawal from the UK's most contentious war for half a century.

UK Maj Gen Andy Salmon has now relinquished command to American Maj Gen Michael Oates, who heads up the new Multi National Division South.
The ceremonial lowering of the divisional flag signalled the end to British control of their Basra base, six years after the invasion.

Gen Salmon and his headquarters staff will start packing to leave Iraq in the next 48 hours.
Over the coming four months, almost all of Britain’s remaining contingent will follow.
Where UK forces took the lead in battling insurgents, the few left will concentrate on training and mentoring Iraqi units.

Streets that once saw some of the fiercest rebellion, with British soldiers and armoured vehicles under regular attack, are left in the control of the Iraqi government.
Security is provided by local troops and police.

Near normal life has returned, as once-regular blood letting has now reduced to sporadic outbursts. But the achievement has come at the cost of 179 British lives and untold thousands of Iraqi casualties.

The campaign has also seen UK forces at their best and worst.

It was here that Johnson Beharry became the only serving holder of the Victoria Cross.
But it was also the theatre where prisoner abuse lead to the first British war crime conviction and the still-unsolved killing of Baha Mousa, the hotel receptionist who died in military custody.
The Ministry of Defence claims that the last 18 months have been a period of particular progress, with Basra safer and more stable than before and poised to exploit its enormous wealth as an oil producing centre.

However, the Americans are not so convinced of its benign future to leave the safety of their main supply line from Kuwait entirely in the hands of the locals.

The US 10th Mountain Division will patrol regularly against any renewal of the violence that will be the main memory of those whose duty is coming to an end.

U.K. Military Transfers Command of Basra to U.S. - Wall Street Journal

The British military transferred over coalition command of the oil-rich southern province of Basra to the U.S. on Tuesday. It was the latest step toward the withdrawal of the remaining 4,100 British troops from Iraq by midsummer.

The British troops will be withdrawn in phases, with combat operations due to end at the end of May and all but about 400 troops withdrawn by the end of July. Those staying behind will be involved in training Iraqis, according to the British Ministry of Defense.

"As the Iraq people continue to stand on their own, we will support them and we will stand together shoulder-to-shoulder united against our common enemies and committed to peace and prosperity," the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, said at a ceremony to mark the Basra handover.

Britain, which had been a staunch U.S. ally since the March 2003 invasion, handed over security responsibilities in Basra to the Iraqis late last year but continued to maintain its presence on a base at the airport outside the city.

The British military has reported 179 deaths since the war started.
Iraq's deputy chief of staff for armed forces Lt. Gen. Naseer al-Ebadi thanked the British forces for training and equipping the Iraqis and said his forces were ready to take over. "Iraqi security forces are capable of maintaining order and security," he said.

U.S. Takes Over as Britain Begins Basra Pullout - New York Times

BASRA, Iraq — After six years as America’s closest western ally in Iraq, Britain handed over command in the Basra area to the United States on Tuesday as a prelude to withdrawing its last 4,100 troops from the country.

At its height, the British commitment to the American-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003 totaled more than 40,000 personnel, including ground troops and pilots. But with its army stretched by a growing deployment in Afghanistan, Britain has gradually scaled back its presence and handed over security duties to Iraqi forces.

At a ceremony at a civilian air terminal here, Maj. Gen. Andy Salmon of Britain’s Royal Marines handed control of forces in the Basra area to American Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, who will command the British forces as they draw down.

Most are scheduled to leave the country by the end of July, but several hundred will be left an advisory capacity, British military officials said.

“We stayed the course and we endured,” General Salmon said at the ceremony, during which the band of the Royal Marines played the British, American, and Iraqi national anthems.
Some 7,000 American soldiers will move in to replace the British divisions by late summer, General Oates said. Prior to Tuesday’s handover, some 2,000 American troops in Basra were under British command.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of American forces in Iraq, praised the British deployment in Iraq and said that the transition ceremony “comes with mixed emotions.”

“None of this has been easy. We have faced tremendous adversity,” he said, telling British representatives: “You have given the people of Iraq an opportunity to build a bright and prosperous future.” He said the handover represented a “transition, not an end.”

Ever since a massive operation last year spearheaded by the Iraqi army, with substantial British and American support, security has improved significantly in Basra, though residents still complain of a severe lack of jobs and basic services. Coalition forces have become an uncommon sight in Basra’s streets, which are dotted by Iraqi police and army checkpoints.

Iraqis security forces are technically in control of Basra, and the remaining American troops will primarily serve as advisors, General Oates said.