Britain announced Wednesday it will withdraw all but a handful of its 4,000 soldiers from Iraq next year, ending a mission that was unpopular at home and failed to curb the rise of Iranian-backed Shiite militias in the south.
The British failed to curb the Iranians? I think this is too harsh a judgment. Yes, the Shia Islamists under Iran's influence gained power under their watch. And a lot of people annoyingly praised Britain's "softly, softly" approach while condemning our so-called heavy-handed approach against the Sunni Arabs.
But the British area of responsibility was the economy of force operation while we went after the Sunnis of the Baathists, tribes, and jihadis in the center and west. And could we have maintained Shia support for the war if we targetted Shias while Sunni Arab suicide bombers were slaughtering Shias?
The British held the line well enough for us to reach this point in the war. I'll not complain about the British at this stage. That's the bottom line as far as I'm concerned.
