UK 'failed to make Basra safe'

173 members of the armed forces have died in Iraq since the start of the latest conflict and now we here that the UK

"has failed to make Basra safe"

What does this say about the sacrifice made by these people, Was it all worth it, what have we achieved and are we running away with out tails between our legs.

The report on the BBC says

The initial goal of UK forces in south eastern Iraq was to establish the security necessary for the development of representative political institutions and for economic reconstruction. Although progress has been made, this goal remains unfulfilled."

It also suggested that the relative security of Basra did not mean that the root causes of violence had been tackled.

The report added: "There remain murderous, corrupt and militia-infiltrated elements within the police which must be rooted out as a matter of priority."It went on to speculate on the future role of UK forces in Iraq. The report said: "If there is still a role for UK forces in Iraq, those forces must be capable of doing more than just protecting themselves at Basra Air Station.

This basically means we have achieved little in our 4 years in Basra and that our continuing presence is pointless with the current level of troops.

The report also explains that

The relative security of Basra is said to owe more to the dominance of militias and criminal gangs, who are said to have achieved a fragile balance in the city, than to the success of the multinational and Iraqi security forces in tackling the root causes of the violence.

So basically we have the standard gang warfare of a disintegrating society. This is our gift to Iraq.

I can only point to the relative success that the US now seem to be having in other areas after intensifying its commitments to Iraq. Our problem is that we no longer have the capability to do this and also fight in Afghanistan, why because we do not invest in our Armed Forces.

Des Browne bleats on about how the Defence budget is keeping pace with inflation completely ignoring that most of the increase is for two ships and that inflation in the highly technical defence world runs at least twice as high as normal bread and butter inflation. This means that year on year we have been, and are, losing up to 5% of our capabilities purely to inflation never mind any other cuts this government foists on the armed services at a time when they are at their most stretched in nearly 50 years.

Makes you glad to be British.

BBC NEWS | Politics | UK 'failed to make Basra safe'