NYT : British Army Leaves Basra

British Army Leaves Basra

By STEPHEN FARRELL | September 3, 2007

BAGHDAD, Sept. 3 — The British Army has withdrawn from its last base in Basra's city center, a move that leaves Iraq's second-largest city without foreign forces for the first time since the American-led invasion in 2003.

About 500 British troops left the base, Basra Palace, around 11 p.m. local time on Sunday, turning over their main command center inside the city to the Iraqi Army, said Gen. Mohan al-Fereiji, the commander of Iraqi forces in Basra. He told reporters that his forces were deployed in the palace compound.

The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said today that the British forces would take on an "overwatch" role but could "re-intervene" if necessary. He added that any change in the overall number of British troops in Iraq would "depend on the assessment of commanders on the ground over the coming weeks and months," according to a statement on the prime minister's Web site, quoting his interview with BBC Radio.

Basra residents reported overnight that they saw British military trucks accompanied by armored vehicles and helicopters leaving the base, Basra Palace, beside the Shatt al Arab waterway, heading for their airport headquarters miles outside the city, the oil-industry hub of southern Iraq.

While the British exit from Basra had been widely anticipated, the British government has given no timetable for the eventual withdrawal of British troops from Iraq.

The move is expected to be accompanied by a reduction in the size of the British force in southern Iraq to 5,000 troops from 5,500.

A Ministry of Defense statement said, "U.K. forces will now operate from their base at Basra Air Station, and will retain security responsibility for Basra until we hand over to provincial Iraqi control, which we anticipate in the autumn, conditions on the ground allowing."

The statement said the remaining British troops would continue to train the Iraqi Security Forces, while "retaining the capability to intervene in support of the I.S.F. should the security situation demand it."

The downsizing became clear in recent days from palace workers and local residents. Basra Saad al-Amery, a laundry worker at the palace for three years, said Sunday that he was sent home 10 days earlier, told that his job was finished.

"Six months ago we noticed that the British troops and the other contracting companies there in the palace started to move their equipment and vehicles outside the palace," he said. "Most of this was happening during the night after we went home."

Residents living near Basra Palace have reported nighttime movements of men and matériel over the past few months, and in recent days the Iraqi flag has been seen flying over the palace gates for the first time, in preparation for the building's transfer to Iraqi government control.

The British face widespread criticism that they have abandoned Basra to the Mahdi Army militia led by Moktada al-Sadr and other Shiite religious militant groups that oppose the presence of foreign forces in Iraq.

The militia is widely acknowledged to have infiltrated the security forces and provincial ministries.

British and Iraqi officials have been eager to avoid the looting that took place after the British evacuated other bases in the city.

British commanders have openly expressed their concern that their withdrawal could create propaganda value for hostile forces such as the Mahdi Army, which have attacked the palace with thousands of rockets and mortar shells in recent months.

The British may have benefited from the timing of last week's announcement by Mr. Sadr that the Mahdi Army would suspend operations for six months, after it fought with government forces in Karbala.

Nonetheless, some Iraqi officials have been openly critical of the British decision to evacuate Basra, contending that it leaves the city vulnerable to lawlessness and political violence.

On Sunday night, Hakim al-Mayahi, the provincial council member in charge of the security portfolio in Basra, said: "There have been many promises made by the British forces regarding the security problems, but they failed to fulfill most of these. That is in addition to the lack of support from the central government in Baghdad.

"We have a huge defect in the equipment and the arming of our security forces. The tribes and the locals have better weapons than our security forces, who weren't provided with more than the usual Kalashnikovs and R.P.G.'s while the tribes even have mortars and heavy machine guns."

British commanders have countered that their continued presence draws attacks and that the main problem in Basra is not an insurgency but criminal gangs.

"General Mohan's strategy is that we come out of the city because it allows him to deal with the Iraqis himself without the presence of the multinational forces, which are clearly a magnet for indirect fire at the moment," Brig. James Bashall, commander of the First Mechanized Brigade, said in July. "If we are out, then it makes it easier for the Iraqis to deal with Basra themselves."

Around the palace, some residents spoke bitterly of the British presence drawing errant Mahdi Army mortar fire onto their homes. Many have abandoned shattered houses.

Hajj Muhammad Abdul Karim, 56, said his two children and two grandchildren were killed by one mortar strike two months ago.

"My family was the victim of this chaos," he said. "All the neighbors kept on demanding the British troops leave the palace and go somewhere on the periphery because it is shameful for them to involve innocent civilians in their battle with their enemies."

Wael Saeed, a 34-year-old sportswear shop owner, said: "We are worried about what will happen after they leave. We might become safe from mortars but not from killing and assassination because the gangs and the militias will feel more free to act without the presence of the British troops, who are the only real power that can stop them."

Christine Hauser contributed reporting from New York, and Iraqi employees of The New York Times contributed reporting from Basra.