MORE ON BASRA

The LA Times and the Guardian had contradictory reports FROM THE SAME IRAQI OFFICIAL about the situation in Basra. The Times was positive, the Guardian wasn't. A report in the Christian Science Monitor comes down on the negative side:


British hand over Basra in disarray
Nine of 18 provinces are now under Iraqi security forces.
But central and southern Iraq face a vicious power struggle
between Shiite parties and militias.
By Sam Dagher | Correspondent
and Abdul-Karim al-Samer | Contributor

from the December 17, 2007 edition

"The British legacy in Basra is criminal gangs, a corrupt and infiltrated police force, and borders open to all," says a senior Iraqi Army official in the province, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of his remarks. "We are planning an operation to pursue these death squads."

Basra is in the midst of a power struggle among Shiite parties. The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) party and its Iran-friendly affiliate, Badr, are competing with the Fadhila party, which holds the governorship of the province, and the movement of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose Mahdi Army militia is regarded as the most potent force on the ground.

The police force and most government institutions in the province have been divided by these forces into fiefdoms. This has created fertile grounds for gangs, smugglers, and extremists often bound by financial interests to these same forces. The province also hosts a strong Iranian presence, and is caught in an intra-Shiite struggle for control of central and southern Iraq.

An interior ministry official based in Basra and in charge of police inspection in southern Iraq said during a recent visit to Baghdad that General Khalaf has made little headway in cleansing the police force of militia influence. "Out of the 17,000 policemen in Basra, about 14,000 are beholden to militias and some to the Iranian secret service," he says, requesting anonymity. The British training of an estimated 10,000 policemen in the south, he adds, has done little to alter their loyalties.