And, then there's Basra

And then, there's the British success story in Basra --- ooops:

In one of the most detailed independent reports on Basra since the invasion, the authoritative International Crisis Group (ICG) last week painted a devastating portrait of life in the city. It said Operation Sinbad, Britain's attempt between September 2006 and March this year to root out militias, restore security and kick-start economic reconstruction, appeared at first to be a qualified success. Criminality, political assassinations and sectarian killings receded somewhat, and relative calm prevailed.

"Yet this reality was both superficial and fleeting," says the ICG report. "By March-April 2007, renewed political tensions once more threatened to destabilise the city, and relentless attacks on British forces in effect had driven them off the streets into increasingly secluded compounds. Basra's residents and militiamen view this not as an orderly withdrawal, but rather as an ignominious defeat. Today the city is controlled by militias."

The ICG blames Britain for "the most glaring failing of all": the inability to establish a strong provincial administration capable of enforcing its will. Instead of the political parties responsible for the violence being confronted, they were treated as partners - an object lesson, it says, of what the Americans should not do as they carry out their security "surge" in Baghdad.

While others might disagree with the group's belief that British forces could ever have achieved such a transformation in Basra, they probably would not quarrel with its conclusion that "in Basra the British appear to have given up on the idea of establishing a functioning state, capable of equitably redistributing wealth and resources, establishing respect for the rule of law and instituting a genuine and accountable democracy". The report adds: "In any event, time is running out. Four years after the fall of Saddam's regime, they are facing increasingly frequent and bloody attacks, and it is hard to imagine them remaining for long." Even if the coalition wanted to re-engage, says the ICG "it already may well be too late".