Iraqi Says Final Battle For Basra Near

[Barrett808]

Source: The Independent

Iraqi Says Final Battle For Basra Near
The Independent | By Kim Sengupta | March 21, 2008

BASRA, Iraq - Gen. Mohan al-Furayji, the Iraqi commander in charge of security in the south of Iraq, has warned his troops they must prepare for the final battle to defeat the Shia militias terrorising Basra.

For the British force based at Basra airport, the general's strategy raises the spectre of a return to the city they left last September after a summer of incessant attacks by the gunmen.

Mohan is determined that the armed Shia groups have to be defeated before the provincial elections in the autumn. Failure to do so, he maintains, will mean the gunmen will take over what is left of the degenerating political process, making it impossible to shift them in the near future. No date has been fixed for the drive against the militias in Basra, he said yesterday. But he also delivered an uncompromising warning to his troops: they must be ready for a decisive military push, and it will come soon.

...

British troops no longer venture into the city. But the UK has pledged to give Mohan military support if asked, and senior government sources say that Gordon Brown's pledge to cut the number of troops here from 4,100 to 2,500 will almost certainly be postponed until at least the end of the year.

Read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-final-battle-for-basra-is-near-says-iraqi-general-798409.html

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But what about "the final battle for Mosul"?

[acmavm]

1. Hell, I thought the words 'Mission Accomplished' inferred some

kind of finality. We all saw how that went.

[Magleetis]

2. More death and destruction

That will fix it.

[grytpype]

3. Stuff like this gets NO coverage in the American media!!!!!

It's like nothing whatsoever is happening over there!

[msongs]

4. well they have democracy now according to the carlysle group nt