I don't have a dog in this fight, but I do wish people would stop throwing off on the British soldier. I spent some time in Europe during the Late Unpleasantness and know the British did well under difficult circumstances e.g., being so short of grunts in Normandy that a division was disbanded to get infantry replacements. They were up against good soldiers even after the slaughter and decimation on the Russian Front. In Korea the Comonwealth Division did well, especially the Canadian Princess Pats and a regiment, whose name I forget, at a river crossing early on. I'm willing to consider this a command decision on the ground.
As to comparing them with the US National Guard, I've lost my disdain as a regular about the quote militia end quote. A large proportion of the US committment includes NGUS units.

Herschel Atkinson, Elberton, GA

So what's the cover story, Gordon? What was the sacrifice all about? "You win some, you lose some", is just not going to cut it.

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Nagano

Sir, Here in the UK, we have a relatively independent media, NOT a jingoistic cheerleader incestuously linked to the corporate military-industrial complex. Despite Blair, we are not the 51ST state yet, and we do not want our media to become like "FIX" News. We are not children, that we need a puerile nanny state media, freedom in an understated way.

SC, London, United Kingdom

This is a shame where is the pride its all ways people looking for a win elections like Mr.Brown.This is what britain did to us back in vietnam and now we see it again.They leave when they see things going wrong I hope we finish the job.I think we need nothing less for are americans solider is for a win.May god bless them and the britsand allies that have served.

Brendon, Delawere, USA

i think britain and america have forgotten what it is about to be a soldier and losing sight of what this war is all about. when you join the army what is it for to go on training excercises and not actually see any sort of combat and not to make a difference to the world? the war in iraq in afghanistan are not about power its about freeing a people that have had many attrocities commited against them that they lived there lives in fear, would you want to live like that?
at least it is a starting point that they can get there countries back together and move on. exactly the same as the americans assisted the british in ww2 which liberated many european countries like poland etc.

maybe one day it wil go down in the history books as a war that did serve a purpose and freed millions of people. just like we are free in the UK and USA to make our own choices and not have it forced upon us.

paul leach, gloucester, united kingdom

i do not agree with the withdrawel of British Troops from Basra, but i understand it as most soldiers and ex soldiers will. We were in a postion of uncompromising difficulty in being able to carry out the job we needed to. This was all due to politics. We went to war with Iraq thru politics, and as usual politics will end it. I grieve for those who have died in that god forsaken country, US and UK and all other nation troops, but if our politial masters had the balls to carry out what they fleetingly promise and give the troops what they need you would not have this shambolic, embarrasing drawdown. I am in the US at the moment and to see the high regard that is accorded its servicemen is humbling, but not only its own but British servicemen as well. When you regard and comment on a British soldier, remember they never made this decision and being a veteran of both Iraq x2 Afg, Bosnia and Africa over a 23 year career, they never would. Our political masters yet again shame us

Mark, Manchester,

Thanks God no more of our boys will die in this useless and immoral war which America fooled us into. We should never again follow US into disasterous wars on whims and lies.

Z Hussain, Rochdale, UK

J. Kenny,

Many thanks for you helpful views, but next to those American Cemetary's you might notice the same amount of graves in the Cemetaries of British, Polish & French forces which also died in the name of freedom. Im not spouting out anti-american views here, just to get things in proseptive. It wasn't just American forces who died!

Oh, yeah and the WW's would have reached the same conclution even if the US didn't interviene, it would only have taken longer.

Rich Smith, Bristol, England

leaving behind the responsibility to the Iraqi people is the first step to their independency to the british forces.The iraq administration should show their strenght of unity ,to pursue their dream of openness and cooperation to other factions of their society.The british forces has limited access to that purpose.Their presence is not the answer to peace and security,but the iraquis themselves to blame.The Iraquis should be more resourceful in finding the solutions to their new founded freedom from many years of brutality and repressions.

Allan Bautista, Edmonton,Alberta, CANADA

I feel sorry for british and american soldiers, who were sended to this incinerator. Covered by pompous phrases about freedom and democracy, this war is serving oil interests of american ruling clique and has no victory at a future. But soldiers are soldiers everywhere and must fight regardless of whether they want it or not. So, glory for heroes, who rescues their friends under a fire and shame on politicians, who unleashed this war.

Adrey, Borisoglebsck, Russia

its the iraqi peoples oil, empire is a thing of the past! even if israel and halliburton doesnt like it! let israel fight its own wars! why should the young of britain have too?

kevin, toronto, canada

J Kenny, you are getting confused. If it were a case of helping to protect America and American people then we would be sending more troops in to help not retreating.

BUT, this is not a case of saving anyones sorry butts, to comapre Iraq to WWII is not very bright. America is not under attack from Iraq, America has not been invaded and America is not at risk of invasion. This time it was America who invaded another country for reasons of oil and global economic dominance and everyone else has had enough.

Wise up.

Gary Murphy, Brisbane, QLD

If the Iraqi government think they can police their own country let them do it. Britain will always be there to help out if the Iraqis need us.

Dean, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Pulling troops out of Iraq is no doubt part of the run up to a general election, if Mr Brown were to win, the same troops would be off to Afgasnistan the next day.

Clive Burghard, LANCING, ENGLAND

What angers me is that the men who have served their country and lost limbs as a result often get less than a divorcee.
There is something terribly wrong somewhere.

As far as Iraq is concerned it is they who are doing the bombing in their own country. That indicates where the problem is. However, we induced it. Ultimately they are the only ones who can sort it out.

Terry, Hereford, UK

I have to say you Brits are just as guilty as we Americans in getting this awful war started, I just wish we had some leaders "instead of misleaders" here in the states who knew how to end this bloody war!

Doug, Akron, USA

To T.Botti: did anybody ask the U.S. to be a global power? The U.S. decided to be a colonialist global power, the problem is yours, not ours.

Paolo, Milano, Italy

There should never have been an invasion and military occupation of Iraq in the first place. For the first time in over 100 years, for better or for worse, the Iraqi people have to sort out their own form of Government - without interference from the West.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

To Leo + T.Botti were there british soldiers in Vietnam and Somalia ? some job you did there, no wonder your guys done so well on the track last week in Japan,

Bill McCaffrey, Manchester, England

I served along side British troops and I must say I am not surprised. I worked with many units in Afghanistan in 2002 and I found the quality of training and morale to be quite low. It is no surprise that the British are now hig-tailing out of Basra. The average soldier from the UK is on par with our own National Guard quite frankly.

Chris Kitchen, Nairobi KE/ Phoenix AZ USA,

The Iraqi war was right or wrong like any war and could be won if the British army had be supported. The Brits are the best soldiers of the world, they don't miss skill, but capacity, because the depend on US by military support. You don't win war with ideology but with a good army and intelligence. I hope UK will begin to play a great part in UE, because at the moment is only a monetary union without defence.

andrea, cagliari, italy

Funny how there have been a few comment from Americans above saying things like "how they have saved our sorry butts" and how "we would all be probably be speaking german if it wasnt for them" and how we should "try to imagine what it is like to be a global powere sorting out global issues..."....all are very constructive comments.
As an ex infantry man i have a great interst in military history and yes i have seen the war graves in normandy...here is a shock for the americans.
The British forces that landed did not suffer as many casualties as the americans.
The British forces offered advice to the americans that was ignored and cost the lives of thousands of American troops.
The British forces did their research along with the Canadians at Dieppe and learned from their mistakes.
...and if american forces carry on at the rate they have been they will have killed more of our guys in Iraq through freindly fire than we lost at the Normandy landings!!!!

andy, newcastle, co-durham

Only the very simply minded think that Europe owes the US involvement in this war for what happened in WW2.

ChARLIE, PROVIDENCE, RI USA

The war in Irag was launched on a totally false premis. The United Nations had not concluded their exploration of the arms held by Sadam, but Bush wanted to get his hands on the oil to profit himself and his friends in the oil business, who no doubt would have richly rewarded him, and Blair was looking to his own future and wished to establish himself as a world quality statesman. The world was given a pack of lies, of which both men were fully aware, as the justification of their actions.

peter charlesworth, Pershore, UK

I don't understand the comments as to why the Americans are to blame. No one has yet been able to explain adequately to me as to why Britain is not responsible for its elected government's decision to be part of the coalition of the willing in Iraq.

Canada refused to join the war in Iraq because there did not seem to be adequate evidence to suggest that Iraq had WMD in the first place.

If anyone in Britain can answer that above question for me, I sure would appreciate it.

Rob, Halifax, Canada

Have you people in Europe ever stppped to count the number of number of Americans who died in past wars to save your sorry butts, You would all probably be speaking German now if the us had not sent our troops to help. Just cuious do any of your people ever go visit an American Cemetary and say than you, lots of graves in those cemetaries ?

J. Kenny, Merritt Island , Florida

Pete Del is right in saying this was a contrived war, but wrong in claiming it was for USA benefit only. We need to remember that the USA has launched two recent wars against Iraq. At the end of the first one, in the 1990's, which was sanctioned by the UN to evict Saddam from Kuwait, Saddam retaliated, at the close of the war, by launching missiles against Israel. It was his way of saying that the friends of Israel in the USA were responsible for the war against him.

The missiles had conventional warheads, but it was theoretically possible that Saddam had "weapons of mass destruction" in store for a future assault. It was to prevent the possibility of such an assault against Israel that the USA subsequently invaded Iraq and master-minded the execution of Saddam.

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

Maybe they're rehearsing for The Pirates of Penzance.

Arik Silverman, Milwaukee, WI

IT was obvious they were gonna be pulling out of iraq when the news about there being no more troops to deploy in britains army became public.

Won't be long now untill all the british have gone from iraq completly

hans gruber, Paignton,

I think this is a total cop-out, I live at the Basra Airport. The British involvement in the province was mediocre at its prime. After the original invasion the British presence has merely been symbolic. The soldiers are not to blame, there aren't enough of them and they are extremely under equipped. The "Hands off" policy that the Britsh leadership was patted on the back for early during thier tenure has now come back to bite them in the backside. Trust me I live and work here in Basra. The British have kept things calm by doing nothing at all.

Until recently we were attacked daily by indirect fire (rockets and mortars). The British forces would rarely if ever fire back. Just lay down and hope it ends soon. Why be here if you plan on doing nothing. They say they are going to hand this area over to the Iraqis........ That will not last long and will only bring on an ocean of blood. The US is now going to have pick up were the British dropped the ball in the second largest city.

Leo, Basra, Iraq

British Generals Cross and Jackson know just what to do--with American resources. Deploy 160,000 plus troops of your own, then you can make all the decisions. Until then, try to imagine once more how it is to be a global power with global responsibilities. It might dawn on certain persons in London that the U.S. cannot just focus on Iraq to the detriment of all else.

T. Botti, Cleveland, USA/Ohio

There is complex reason for the Britiain Goverment doing this.
Anyway, I applaud the British government for doing so!

zanzhi, Chengdu, China

A photo of a distressed soldier in Afghanistan to headline the story of Basra???? Who's side are you on?

Adrian, London,

It's impossible to occupy a city the size of Basra with 5, 000 troops. We should never have gone in, never have believed that it was possible, its a humiliating retreat but at least the government are beginning to see the light of day. As for doing deals with Sadr, why not? What other choice do we have.

Mark, Newcastle,

It's time that some country stand up to and take on the foolish policies of the Bush administration. I applaud the British government for doing so!

Doreen, Jacksonville, Florida, USA

What is the big point of the photos? Obviously to sway the hearts and minds of the folks back home against the war. But any war undertaken by any government will result in lots of pain and suffering far worse than Private Graham's.

Had America witnessed the full brutality of World War II through photographers lenses perhaps they would have pressured FDR demanding their boys return home ASAP. Few people can argue the benefits of that scenario.

At issue is not what happens on the battlefield but the purpose and goal of the undertaking in the first place. Fortunately for the ayatollahs the war is taking it's toll in the Western media and now they are poised for full frontal takeover of the region through all their proxies from Hamas & Hizbollah to Muqtada al Sadr in Basra. The Russians & Chinese are delighted to furnish them with multi billion dollar nuclear reactors, sophisticated fighter jets,. lethal anti-aircraft batteries and ballistic missiles to accomplish their goals.

Malcolm, Darian,

I have no rights to say whether this is right or wrong since I am not good at politics.The British troops,however,to some extent,seems to be escaping from some responsibilities that should have been taken by them.But on the other hand,I wouldn't like to see any more British soldiers wounded in the war.So I am in favor of the government's decision.In view of Iraqi's safety,I hold the opinion that America government should make the major effort.They are to blame for the cruel war.The situation wouldn't have been so complicated if Americans weren't that childish.

Cherie, Anhui, China

FANTASTIC NEWS. Lets hope they come home soon. This was a contrived war for USA benefit only.

Pete Del, Wirral, M.Side