US Marines to help self-deluded Brits in S. Iraq
American troops will be deployed to southern Iraq this summer with orders to adopt a more robust approach than the “self-delusional” British.
A senior US officer has told the Telegraph that Iraqi troops had not been ready to assume responsibility for Basra when British forces withdrew late last year.
He also said that US commanders in Iraq believe the Shia south is ready to copy the developments that transformed the western province of Anbar from being the main hotbed of insurgency into one of Iraq’s most peaceful regions. To foster this change, US troops are moving south for the first time since the 2003 war.
“There’s going to be a whole new approach when we send troops down there,” said the US officer.
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“We won’t take the self-delusional route of convincing ourselves that the Iraqis are ready to fight but then standing back while they fall apart. …