"First, I worry about Shia extremism and Iranian interference, which is increasing. In the long term, Iraqis won't allow Iranians to take over their country - but, in the short term, I'm worried about Basra and the Port of Um Qasr."
Why is there this worry? Well, the British are in charge of Basra and the region but are planning to withdraw, and events on the ground don't seem to be slowing them down:
The last contingent of British soldiers based in the center of this southern city will leave by Friday, says a senior Iraqi security official, adding that a deal has been struck with leaders of Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army to ensure their safe departure.
That's nice. The Idiot Sadr is their negotiating partner. Pulling out from Basra is just a step to getting out of southern Iraq.
This worries us greatly:
Gen Jack Keane, architect of the US "surge", said the British are more focused on training Iraqi troops than controlling "deteriorating" security.
He added that there is a "general disengagement" by UK forces in Basra.
Meanwhile, the US military's deputy commander in Iraq said Britain was on track to hand over responsibility to Iraqi forces in Basra later this year. ...
Gen Raymond Odierno told the BBC that a final assessment on whether the handover should go ahead would be made next month, but added that the US would not send troops to Basra when the British forces withdrew.
We may not need to send troops to Basra, since the Iraqis are sending a brigade to the city. But that is a separate issue of whether we need to send troops to southern Iraq outside of Basra, including Um Qasr. I wrote that we will need to send troops to southern Iraq just to protect our supply lines to our forces in central and western Iraq.
Our troops don't pull bullets, bandages, beans, and batteries out of their collective butts. They have to be trucked in every day. I cannot imagine we will leave that supply line to the mercy of Shia unauthorized militias and Iranian good will. We may not occupy Basra, but we will send a brigade or two to police the roads from Kuwait to the Euphrates at the very least.
This is the basic reason that I think calls to withdraw our troops to Kurdish regions are pure idiocy.
