ARmy Rumour SErvice

Not much of an anal yst are you? Use the search function it's been discussed to death on here.

I got a suntan and a medal.

Oh, and D&V, but we don't like to talk about that.

In a nutshell

We came, we saw, we pacified

In July 2006 we 'pacified' Al Muthanna province (we did) Later we 'pacified' Maysan province (did we fuck!) and even later still we 'pacified' Basra (did we double fuck!!)

These were 'timelines' ... ie: decisions, made by poisonous, political, socialist filth who despise our Military and don't listen to sound, military advice from the Commanders on the ground. Just like you have in The Whitehouse today. Enjoy

What Happened in Basra?

Stays in Basra :D

Originally Posted by ACAB

decisions, made by poisonous, political, socialist filth who despise our Military and don't listen to sound, military advice from the Commanders on the ground.

Properly in a nutshell.

Originally Posted by warmonger82

To all HM's soldiers and marines,

I am an analyst with the US Army Reserve and my reserve unit is due to deploy in the near future to Iraq. In preparation for the upcoming rotation I have been reading a bit about the history of the war up to this point and I have come across several disturbing articles online that pertain to UK operations in the Basra. Name this times article Iraq snubbed Britain and calls US into Basra battle - Times Online and this one from the independent Revealed: The true extent of Britain's failure in Basra - Middle East, World - The Independent. Both pieces state that UK forces were unable to contain the Shiite militias and that after PM Blair pulled British forces out of Iraq Al-Maliki had to send in the IA with US support to clear out the militants.

I want to hear the Basra story from British squaddies and officers.

Goldbricker is that you ya little scamp


We agreed a pull out date we pulled out
It kicked off we weren't there to sort it out
Some Americans viewed this as a defeat

They are organising your victory parade through Baghdad as I type

Good luck with that

Warmonger82,

At the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland, there were in excess of 18,000 British troops in Belfast alone. It took three decades to bring the conflict to a close - and that in a part of the United Kingdom, where the local populace spoke the same language and shared much the same culture as the soldiers on the ground. In Basra, by contrast, there were far fewer troops to try to control a much larger and more 'alien' city. Commanders knew that more troops were needed, as well as a long-term commitment and a willingness to accept substantial numbers of casualties. None of these things were politically acceptable back home; the campaign was deeply unpopular with the electorate, leading to the absurd situation of the Government having to stuggle to justify the deployment of a relative handful of extra troops and looking for an exit strategy almost as soon as the invasion was over, regardless of whether Basra was pacified or not.

Many of us who served in Iraq feel betrayed by our political masters, who managed the campaign in such a way as to leave us with both hands tied around our balls. Unlike veterans of, say, the Falklands War, our fate will not be to look back with pride at a victory but to put up with 14 year old boys typing things like 'Brit faggots' on internet message boards. Your own Vietnam vets will know the feeling, I'm sure.

Yes, we failed in Basra. It's worth bearing in mind though that various American commanders expressed admiration for the British troops 'on the ground', that of the 318 non-US coalition fatalities, 179 - well over half - were British and that along with Australia and Romania we were the last of your allies to leave Iraq (when the Iraqi Government asked all non-US troops to leave).

Hope that helps.

Originally Posted by ACAB

In a nutshell

We came, we saw, we pacified

In July 2006 we 'pacified' Al Muthanna province (we did) Later we 'pacified' Maysan province (did we fuck!) and even later still we 'pacified' Basra (did we double fuck!!)

These were 'timelines' ... ie: decisions, made by poisonous, political, socialist filth who despise our Military and don't listen to sound, military advice from the Commanders on the ground. Just like you have in The Whitehouse today. Enjoy

The whole enterprise was doomed when the desicion was taken to purge the Iraqi administration of Ba'ath party members and disband the Iraqi Army (oh the fun of paying them). There was no way we could succeed.