Cordesman on the British defeat in Iraq and its implications for the US
September 22, 2007 12:40 pm Iraq070221_british_basra.pdf (application/pdf Object), Feb. 2007
The British won some tactical clashes in Maysan and Basra in May-November 2004, but Operation Telic’s tactical victories over the Sadrists did not stop Islamists from taking
steadily more local political power and controlling security at the neighborhood level when British troops were not present.
As Michael Knight and Ed Williams point out in an excellent recent analysis for WINEP, SCIRI, Sadrists, Dawa and other Shi’ite Islamists won 38 out of 41 seats in the provincial
elections in Basra in January 2005, and 35 out of 41 seats in Maysan….
The British decisively lost the south - which produces over 90% of government revenues and has over 70% of Iraq’s proven oil reserves — more than two years ago.
…the British - which had lost at the political level in early 2005 - were defeated at the military level and confronted with “no go” zones in many areas from the fall of 2005 onwards.