What is JNV & the JNV Network? JUSTICE not VENGEANCE logo
Home page
What is JNV?
JNV's principles
What we do
Anti-war Briefings & Documents
Events Diary
Contacts
Useful links

Mailing lists

Sign the Pledge of Resistance against an attack on Iraq
 
 

3 June 2007

JNV News Screen

IRAQ - PHONY BRITISH WITHDRAWAL PLANNED TO ENABLE 'INVESTMENT' IN AFGHANISTAN

The Sunday Times and the Sunday Telegraph both had front page stories on this.

The Telegraph (which has stronger links to the Armed Forces) had a leak:

'A senior military official told The Sunday Telegraph: "Britain is not physically capable of fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq at the same time. The question is: which do we give up? The Government and the defence chiefs have decided that we should give up Iraq.

' "There is an agreed timetable, a glide path, which will see a complete unilateral withdrawal in 12 months."

'The plan, however, has not met with the approval of all senior officers, many of whom believe that Iraq is strategically more important to Britain's interests than Afghanistan.

'The official added: "There is a belief within the Ministry of Defence and Government that success is easier to measure in Afghanistan and that makes it more attractive.

'The official added: "At the most senior level in the MoD, the decision has been taken that Britain should be 'investing' in Afghanistan rather than Iraq, and that is the advice that will be given to Gordon Brown."

The Sunday Times names names:

'British commanders in Iraq have drawn up plans to allow Gordon Brown to withdraw almost all UK troops by the end of the year.

'The British commander in southern Iraq, Major-General Jonathan Shaw, produced a “commander’s tactical advice” several weeks ago, senior defence sources said last night. The advice was written for Lieutenant-General Nick Houghton, the chief of joint operations, in London after the Ministry of Defence asked for options that could be presented to Brown when he takes over as prime minister.

'Brown is due to fly to Iraq to be briefed by Shaw and other commanders on when Britain’s 5,500 troops should be pulled out of Iraq.

'Shaw’s “tactical advice” was endorsed by the most senior British officer in Iraq, Lieutenant-General Graeme Lamb, who is deputy coalition commander and based in Baghdad. The advice referred to UK success in training the Iraq security forces in the south of the country, but is also understood to have highlighted the danger of staying in Basra for too long.

'Shaw’s advice suggested leaving a number of small training teams in the south to advise the Iraqi military forces but withdrawing the rest of the British troops by the end of December.'

So the point of this is to withdraw British ground troops from Iraq in order to 'invest' them in Afghanistan.

But withdrawing ground troops is not the same as full military withdrawal, which would mean pulling out all naval, air, special forces, and intelligence forces - the levers Britain hopes to use to continue participating in the occupation and domination of Iraq.