A Song for Basra

So British troops are being pulled out of Basra. They are trying to spin this as a victory. It's not, it is a defeat.

"In reality, southern Iraq is a quagmire that has defeated all British efforts to impose order, and Blair was pressed by his military commanders to get out altogether -- and quickly. The departure has only been slowed, for the moment, by the pleas of Bush administration officials like Cheney."

Also ringing hollow is Bliar's recent refusal to admit he was wrong with Iraq. When you hear Neo-Labour/Neo-Cons pushing the line that they had to invade Iraq as part of the War on Terror (TM) - when you read how the war is really going...

"The Sunni insurgency continues to demonstrate an ability to adapt its tactics in its asymmetrical war against the U.S. occupying forces and rival Shiite elements in Baghdad. In addition to continued success in efforts to down U.S. helicopters – eight have been shot down in just over a month – different Sunni insurgent groups have been successful in learning from one another’s strategies and mimicking each other’s attacks, making improvements when possible. The latest product of this type of decentralized co-operation is a terrifying new addition to one of the insurgents’ favorite weapons; the truck bomb. By adding canisters of chlorine to conventional explosive charges, these new impromptu weapons maximize civilian casualties and – perhaps more importantly – panic."