US ready to move into Basra as British pull out

The Pentagon has said it will deploy troops to Basra if necessary to fill the vacuum left by a British withdrawal.

Brig Gen Richard Sherlock, deputy director for operational planning at the Pentagon, was adamant US forces would not allow any security advances in southern Iraq to be squandered, even if it meant running the risk of weakening American efforts elsewhere in the country.

He said the US command would “reposition forces with the battlefield geography in mind so that they don’t give up gains that they’ve made in different areas, including in Basra and the south”.

He added: “As the UK forces reposition ... all that will be taken into account.”

The uncertainty about how quickly Gordon Brown will take troops out of Iraq has raised tensions with Washington ahead of a progress report by the US commander in Iraq, Gen David Petraeus, to be delivered soon to Congress.

In recent weeks US military analysts, former generals and unnamed Bush administration sources have suggested that British forces have failed in Basra and are set to flee just as they are most needed, as their US allies finally appear to be making some headway in improving security and most other members of the coalition have quit.

Britain has 5,500 troops in Iraq - 5,000 at a vast airport complex
outside the city and the remainder in an old palace in the city centre.

There are plans to pull the 500 at the Basra Palace out of the country soon.

Most British troops in Iraq are on what
the Government describes as “overwatch”, protecting their bases,
training Iraqi forces and responding to threats only if attacked.

They also protect US supply routes from Kuwait.

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