British Commander denies that Shiite militias forced British troops out of Basra
September 22, 2007 7:14 am Basra, IraqBritish Commander Defends Basra Pullout - washingtonpost.com, September 22, 2007
LONDON, Sept. 21 — The commander of the British army said Friday that the recent withdrawal of British forces from downtown Basra was part of a “successful” strategic plan for Iraq and not the result of pressure from Shiite militias.
“To say that we were bombed out of Basra is just completely wrong,” Gen. Richard Dannatt said during a talk at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a research center in central London.
“We have been successful in southern Iraq,” Dannatt said. “Three of the four provinces that we were responsible for we have handed over to Iraqi control. That was always the plan. The optics of us drawing down and repositioning at the same time that the Americans were surging upwards — the optics, inevitably, were awkward.”