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Iraqi And British Troops Launch Operation Sinbad In Basra
British and Iraqi troops set out Wednesday on an ambitious mission to pacify the southern city of Basra, root out its corrupt police and help the residents rebuild.Some 2,300 Iraqi army troops and 1,000 British soldiers are taking part in "Operation Sinbad," with another 2,000 British troops deployed in the surrounding area, said British forces spokesman Maj. Charlie Burbridge. The troops swept into a southeastern section of the city, Iraq's second-largest, at about 5:30 a.m. Eventually they will move through the entire city in an operation expected to take months, Burbridge said in a telephone interview from southern Iraq. "We're gradually inching our way forward. Ultimately our aim here is to take Basra to a place where it can be turned over to Iraqi control," he said. In June, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki declared a state of emergency in Basra following a rise in violence among mostly Shiite groups competing for power. Basra is 340 miles southeast of the capital, about 30 from the Iranian border. Since January 2005, the city has fallen under the influence of Shiite militias, which have infiltrated police and government institutions there. A big part of the operation is to crack down on police corruption, and a special team will be going station by station to weed out those involved, Burbridge said. "We know where the problems are," he said. He said Operation Sinbad is similar to the U.S. and Iraqi security drive in the capital, Operation Together Forward. There troops have been rooting out militias one neighborhood at a time, then following up with reconstruction projects. "It's broadly akin to the operation that has been going on in Baghdad," Burbridge said. "We're not going house to house, although we have a search warrant that allows us to do that, however, and if there is specific intelligence that a place needs to be searched and we will do that. But the focus is really on increasing the standard of living for your average Basra resident." Projects will start with simple things like street cleaning and ensuring street lights are working, then move to renovating hospitals and restoring a date plantation. "In time, it will employ several thousands of people," Burbridge said. There is no specific timeframe for the operation to be completed, but Burbridge said it will last "a number of months until the end of the year, at least." Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-09-27 |
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