U.K. MILITARY SOURCES CALL AL-BASRAH OPERATION 'UNMITIGATED DISASTER.'
British commanders in Al-Basrah have reportedly said that the Iraqi Army's operation targeting rogue militiamen in late March in Al-Basrah was an "unmitigated disaster," London's "Sunday Telegraph" reported on April 20. Senior sources told the newspaper that the mission was undermined by incompetent officers and untrained troops who were sent into battle with inadequate supplies of food, water, and ammunition. More than 15,000 Iraqi troops took part in the operation, which ultimately ended in a stalemate. Coalition-backed Iraqi forces relaunched the operation last week, and claim to have now cleared the area of militiamen. One British officer told the newspaper that the Iraqi Army's 14th Division had only 26 percent of the equipment necessary to take part in combat operations. "There were literally thousands of troops arriving in Basrah from all over Iraq. But they had no idea why they were there or what they were supposed to do. It was madness and to cap it all they had insufficient supplies of food, water, and ammunition," the officer said. "The Iraqi police were next to useless," he added. One senior British staff officer called Iraqi General Muhan al-Furayji, who was until last week commander of military operations in Al-Basrah (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 17, 2008), a "dangerous lunatic" who "ignored" advice. He said a British liaison team was sent to Iraqi Army headquarters during the battle and "were greeted by a group of Iraqi generals sitting around a large desk, shouting into their mobiles [phones] without a map in sight. Chaos ruled." KR
