Major General Barney White-Spunner, the UK's senior military officer in southern Iraq, has been talking about his pride in the success of Iraqi troops during the ongoing operation in Basra which has seen them rid the city of a number of militia elements.Speaking to Evan Davis on BBC Radio Four's Today programme Maj Gen White-Spunner described the current situation in Basra as Iraqi forces, supported by UK and other Coalition troops, continued the ongoing security operation, Charge of the Knights, in the city.
The interview began with an assessment by Evan Davis that the news coming out of Basra in recent days has been increasingly positive:
"That's certainly our view and I think it's very pleasing," said Maj Gen White-Spunner. "In Hayaniyah and al-Qibla the population was delighted to see the Iraqi forces and actually our main concern in the Hayaniyah, as I speak this morning, is trying to mend the sewage system.
"I think for me the greatest change in the last month has been this loss of public support for militias and this sort of longing for normality that we've seen amongst the population. So, you know, we're cautiously optimistic at the moment."
Evan Davis continued by asking whether the recent gains are sustainable, questioning whether if the sewers are not mended, that people may become discontented again and disorder could return to the streets:
"I think that's a very pertinent point. There's an awful lot of poor Shia families in Basra, and the economy has been slower to develop than we would have liked," Maj Gen White-Spunner conceded. "I think, as we've often said, maybe people were guilty of not appreciating quite how much it's been damaged during the 90s by Saddam. And there's always a danger of young people being lured into criminal gangs whilst normal social opportunities are not available to them.
"And there's certainly still some militia in the city and they certainly still pose a threat. But many of their leadership have been arrested by the Iraqis or have fled, and people in Basra very much hope that they won't come back. But your key point is absolutely right and there are a lot of initiatives ongoing, led by the government of Iraq, who are starting to spend a lot of money down here. There's also our own Basra Development Commission set up by the Prime Minister which is doing excellent work in trying to get private firms involved here."
Maj Gen White-Spunner was also challenged on whether he thought the current, relative stability could have been achieved earlier:
"I think what's critical to this is that it's Iraqi-led and it's - I know you've heard this line from us often - but I mean it had to be an Iraqi solution, there was never going to be a very long-term solution with the British running the security day to day in Basra.
"We had to train the Iraqi security forces, which is what we've been doing for the past few years. I have to say we do actually take a real sense of pride from what they've achieved, they've been incredibly professional in Basra.
"They've also been sensitive to the needs of the population. They have realised the importance of aid distribution, of doing humanitarian work, of sticking to arresting people only with arrest warrants, which I think shows a tremendous maturity. I think what we needed to happen is the Iraqi forces needed to be got to the stage that they're at now."