Letters (Guardian): No role for British forces in Iraq

[ProSense]

Letters

No role for British forces in Iraq

Thursday August 31, 2006
The Guardian

The retreat last week of 1,200 British soldiers from Amara and the looting and destruction of their camp is a watershed for the occupation of Iraq (Comment, August 26). That camp had come under almost nightly attacks as the military and political influence of the occupying forces receded. Relocation of foreign armies outside urban areas is unlikely to protect them from longer range attacks. On the contrary, the reshuffling of British forces around the oil fields and the Iranian border areas in Maysan province will be seen for what it is: an attempt to maintain strategic control of Iraq's resources.

Many of us have long been calling for an early and timed withdrawal of US and British forces, and we have called upon the Iraqi parliament to set a date for the evacuation, a stance that would give this institution the legitimacy and respect it presently lacks. We believe the occupation forces remain the prime cause of Iraq's present predicament and a major obstacle to any realistic solution that would help spare Iraqi and other lives.

Blair's refusal to withdraw British forces is dangerous bravado; a doomed project of a shadow empire that is highly damaging to its victims. There may still be time for an early and orderly British withdrawal that would hasten a US evacuation and bring about an internally and regionally negotiated arrangement, sparing Iraq the torment of further war-like schemes and regional power play. Britain has a responsibility towards Iraq to act sensibly with other European countries and with Iraq's neighbours. The British military can have no place in any such action, and occupation troops wherever they are will come under attack by Iraqis. Given Britain's unfortunate history with Iraq, it can make a positive contribution to peace and pay its debt to the people of Iraq only through non-military means, such as education, health and economic support.

Kamal Majid, Kamil Mahdi, Sami Ramadani, Haifa Zangana, Sabah Jawad, Hani Lazim, Kadhim al-Mousawi, Fenik Adham, Ali al-Asam, Mundher al-Adhami

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1861707,00.html