Iraq
After the withdrawal of forces of Terror came
The Chilcot report to the British government for the invasion of Iraq interested in the country hardly anyone. In Basra, the inhabitants of the British in stitch feel relaxed and the influence of Iran to be delivered.
“Finally, we’re allowed to eat again,” says a woman on the way to the vegetable market, “what scissors me as the British.” It is the first day of the Islamic Eid al-Fitr, the so-called Zuckerfests, which ends the fasting month of Ramadan. This year it was fasting particularly hard in the sweltering heat, nothing to eat, nothing to drink, as long as it is day.
The summer started earlier than usual with temperatures of over 40 degrees. Suhaila walks past an ice cream shop in the Baghdad district of Mansour, and the same five balls are ordered at once. “The British are yet far away,” answers another Cafébeucher that takes on the Rauwadstraße square, where the Café tables and chairs.
“What is it?” after he asks again, a report on the Invasion of the British in Iraq in 2003? “This is cold coffee,” says another, “snow of yesterday”. The people here in Baghdad have currently other Worries. “Over there, you can still count the dead,” says Suhaila and shows on the opposite side of the Tigris river, where, in the district of Sunday, the devastating bomb attack 250 deaths.
From their point of view, it is absurd, after such a long time a report about the meaning and purpose of occupation. For nearly nine years, the British from Iraq are deducted at the end of 2009, the withdrawal of troops was completed, two years earlier than the Americans. “That’s an eternity for Iraqi conditions,” nod all Eisesser. “We Iraqis are quickly forgotten.”
Without perspective: young people in Basra on the Shatt al-Arab Bank
British-controlled Basra
British troops were part of the international coalition under the leadership of the United States, in March 2003 in the Iraq invasion. The military action led to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, who ruled the country since the end of the 1970s, dictatorial. From the beginning, the role of great Britain, the bot according to the Americans, the largest contingent of forces was hotly debated. The then British Prime Minister Tony Blair, many Iraqis still regard as the wagging tail of the “leader of the pack” George W. Bush, who as US President to the invasion.
The Southern provinces of Iraq, with the then third-largest city in the country, Basra, came under British control. Baghdad and the North of the country controlled by the Americans. A total of 179 British soldiers have died in the six years of British occupation of their lives. How many Iraqis are in resistance to their occupiers were killed, is unclear, estimates ranging from 200,000 to a Million deaths. The US Administration announced that only the numbers of victims from their ranks and their allied security forces.
The deduction was defeat
In Basra, one hears other sounds. The British were removed too soon, some say behind his Hand, had left the city and the people the influence of Iran. The current struggle of various Shia militias for dominance since the Terror of IS now the second-largest city, was also a consequence of misguided British policy.
Kiss on the Qur’an: The Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani blesses in Basra volunteers who want to fight against Sunni
Even then, U.S. Colonel Peter Mansoor had called for the withdrawal of the British from Basra as a defeat. The British Telegraph headlined: “our finest hour!” and spoke of the shady Deals of military leadership with the rebels. Basra was in a desperate plight, Mansoor, who worked in Baghdad with General David Petraeus.
And actually. After the British had withdrawn to their base at the airport, advanced, the then Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki with the army in the city, the militia of his rival Shiite leader Moktada al-fight Sadr. Bloody battles were the result.
Finally, the British and Americans intervened and decided in favor of the government forces. The political conflict is not resolved until today, the wounds of the past are not healed. Although the terror militia IS not able, in spite of countless Attempts to gain a foothold in the Shiite-dominated Basra feet, but crime and corruption are rife, as nowhere else in Iraq. In the meantime, many inhabitants want to Basras and the person responsible in the city – and provincial Council of a detachment of Baghdad and the full autonomy for the Region, in the South.
Fear of Iranian ears
“The British are gone, without something to leave behind,” complains On al-Bachary, head of the Iraqi-British chamber of Commerce in Basra. They had hoped that at least civil British organisations remained in the city. “But everything, everything is with the troops the way”. There are no British investments, not a Consulate anymore, hardly any trade relations. They are entirely been the influence of Iran to be delivered.
In Erklärungsnot: Britain’s former Premier Tony Blair, on a troops visit in 2004 in Basra
The influence of Iran is also in the road image Basras noticeable. As the British had to Say, saw you droning on a lot of women unveiled or with a loose scarf on the head. Now almost all women wear black Abbajas, long coats with all the hair, soft top black veil. Also, the Full face veil.
The British left in the lurch, also feels Kasim Mohammed al-Fayad, a member of the chamber of Commerce and industry in Basra. “To look at the markets and in the shops,” he advises. “All of them Were from Iran, we have no Balance in our offer.” Others go a step further and say: “Only the British have mixed everything up, then they ran off.” Quotes you don’t want to be with the set but. The fear of the “Iranian ears” in the city is too big.