Video: Basra Handed over to Iraqis
Charles Johnson
Sun Dec 16, 2007 at 9:11 am PST • Views: 334
Britain is handing Basra back to the Iraqis.
Returning the province to Iraqi control Maj Gen Binns said the city had been pulled from the grip of its enemies. “I now formally hand it back to its friends,” he said. “We will continue to help train Basra security forces. But we are guests in your country, and we will act accordingly.”
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, who was present at the ceremony, said that Britain remained committed to helping the Iraqis with the political and economic reconstruction efforts: “Our aim is to see an Iraq run by Iraqis for all Iraqis.”
But he acknowledged that Britain was not handing “a land of milk and honey” to the Iraqis, and conceded that the region had several problems which needed to be tackled. “This remains a violent society whose tensions need to addressed, but they need to be addressed by Iraqi political leaders and it is politics that is going to have to come to the fore in the months and years ahead,” he said.
Here’s a (possibly biased) video clip from UK television that shows some of those problems that still need to be tackled.
Frank says: