By Rich Bowden, M&C Staff Writer Dec 17, 2007, 13:56 GMT
(M&C) - British forces have officially handed over control of the province of Basra to Iraqi security forces - however the city's police chief has warned of the growing power of local militias.
British soldiers take up positions before the start of the handover ceremony outside Basra's airport, Iraq on 16 December 2007. British troops handed over control of Basra province to Iraqi authorities in a major step towards a full and final withdrawal from the country. 'Our aim is to see an Iraq run by Iraqis for all Iraqis,' British Foreign Minister David Miliband said in Basra. Basra, which lies 550 kilometres south of Baghdad, was the last province under British military control, four-and-a-half years after Britain joined the US-led invasion to overthrow former dictator Saddam Hussein. EPA/HAIDER AL-ASSADEE
The handover, after 4 and-a-half years of British control, was marked by a parade along the embankment in Basra and was welcomed by Iraqi security forces and local politicians.
"Today we stand at a historic juncture and a special day, one of the greatest days in the modern history of Basra," said provincial governor Mohammed Mosbah al-Waeliat at a ceremony at Basra airport, the last remaining bastion of British troops in the province.
However in an interview for the Guardian and ITV, Major General Jalil Khalaf, the new police commander, described a different state of affairs.
"They left me militia, they left me gangsters, and they left me all the troubles in the world," he said.
It has emerged that British forces inadvertently helped arm the rival militias after supplying weapons to Iraqi security forces, not realising many of the troops had militia allegiances.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband though, while accepting the ongoing problems surrounding Basra, insisted the time was right for withdrawal.
"The key conditions for the transfer of security responsibility to the Iraqi security forces are whether they are up to it: do they have the numbers? Do they have the leadership and training to provide leadership for this province? And the answer to those three questions is yes," he said.
However Colonel Tim Collins, who was the commander of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment at the time of the Iraqi invasion in 2003, said that the entire mission had been "muddled".
"I am not aware of any aim or objective and that was part of the problem," he told the Today programme.
"There was no clear mission. I think the whole enterprise has been muddled thinking and characterised by a lack of planning and over optimism," he said.
He added that the withdrawal from Basra has "badly damaged" Britain's military reputation.
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