Top Shiite says Britain has given up in Iraq

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/top-shiite-says-britain-has-given-up-in-iraq/2007/08/20/1187462172977.html

THE British Army has no choice but to retreat from Iraq after being defeated by insurgents while its involvement in the war has made terrorist attacks on home soil more likely, according to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Sheikh Al-Sadr, who heads Iraq's biggest grassroots movement and its military wing, the Mahdi Army, told the Independent newspaper: "The British have given up and they know they will be leaving Iraq soon.

"They are retreating because of the resistance they have faced. Without that, they would have stayed for much longer. They have made enemies among all Muslims and they now face attacks at home because of their war."

A spokesman from the British Ministry of Defence said its troop reduction was based on the security situation, not the death toll. He said the Government has not yet decided to withdraw and affirmed its commitment to remain as long as the Iraqi Government wanted it to.

[panader0]

1. It sucks when guys like Al-Sadr are smarter than our leaders.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Why would being a referee in Iraq be more successful than the hapless

program of keeping the Catholics and the Protestants from battling each other in Northern Ireland? Just delays the inevitable.

[poverlay]

3. Mmmm, the "Coalition of the throwing their hands up in disgust...". I feel so safe. ...nt