Iraqi forces are handed power as withdrawal begins

Samawa, MUTHANNA - Britain began its formal process of withdrawal from Iraq yesterday with a quiet first step in a path American and British officials hope will ultimately lead to a grand exit strategy.

None was as quiet, however, as the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

Most of his speech at the ceremony to mark this historic event went unheard because the sound system failed due to a power cut.

As the microphone hissed, cackled and then fell silent, the compere attempted to continue with the show "The electricity was wavering because it was overcome by our great love for you," he said, hopefully.

But it was not the most auspicious of starts in Muthanna, the province held up as a model of what has been achieved since the 'liberation' by US and British led forces.

There were no members of the public present at the 'Olympic Stadium' of the sleepy and dusty little provincial capital, Samawa, to witness the Prime Minister and other dignitaries' tussles with broadcasting.

Those present were all invited guests and the date of the handover had not been publicised to prevent a symbolic attack by insurgents.

Muthanna is not typical of other areas in the British controlled zone. Its 20,000 square miles are mostly desert, while its population of 550,000 is roughly the same as a small English county.

Furthermore the main foreign presence here were the Japanese and the Australians, with the British contingent consisting of just under 250 troops.

Nevertheless, what was being commemorated yesterday was significant, if more so for Iraq than Britain.

Three years, three months, three weeks and four days after the US led invasion an Iraqi government was getting back the control of security for one of its 18 provinces, at- British officials insist- Iraq's own request.

There was undoubted pride among the Iraqis taking place in the function yesterday.

In the audible parts of his speech Mr al-Maliki said: " It is a great national day which will be registered in the history of Iraq, this step forward will bring happiness to all Iraqis".

Governor Mohammed Ali Abbas al-Hassai stated: "This means they mean it when they say there will be an end to the occupation."

Muthanna, British and US officials hope, will be the precursor to an exit strategy on a much larger scale.

They claim it will be followed by Maysan, which is also under British control; Dhiqar, where the Italians are based, and then the three Kurdish provinces in the north which have seen relatively little violence.

Major General John Cooper, the commander of British forces in Iraq, said he believed there were "four or five" Iraqi provinces where conditions are reaching the point where they can be handed back to the Iraqi government.

He remained circumspect, however, on which ones they were, as well as the timescale involved.

One of the main problems in the British controlled South had been the infiltration of the police service by Shia militias who have fought each other, preyed on the public and confronted British forces. According to British officials this is not a problem in Muthanna.

Major General Cooper acknowledged that there was "some problem" with the police in Basra, the headquarters of Coalition forces in the south and Iraq's second biggest city.

He continued: " There are some corrupt and dishonest police in Basra, but there are also many honest ones. We have carried out analysis of every single police station in Basra, and it is a problem we are looking that we shall be addressing."

Asked just how relevant Muthanna was in the overall scheme of withdrawal, he responded: " We shouldn't overplay it, but we should not underplay it either." British troops leaving certain areas does not necessarily mean them going home while the situation remains volatile elsewhere.

The troops coming out of Muthanna are being rebased elsewhere in the south.

Tony Blair has given a timeframe of 18 months for significant levels of troop withdrawals from Iraq.

But looming ever larger around the corner is Afghanistan, which, with the extra deployment of troops announced this week, will have a force of almost 6,000 compared to 7,200 now in Iraq.

The combat troops expect to fight the Taleban in their next assignment.

"There is no doubt about it, all you have got to do is look at what is going on in Afghanistan", said one officer.

"A lot of us will end up there and, I suspect, Afghanistan will be an easier war to swallow for the British public than Iraq." There are overt signs of how priorities are changing.

The RAF Tri Star jets which used to take troops directly to Basra have now been switched to Kabul, with the Iraq route now a multi-leg journey involving chartered planes and dwindling availability of Hercules transport aircraft.

- INDEPENDENT