BAGHDAD, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- A senior military commander says Britain's performance in Iraq has been successful and justifies its cost in lives and money.
British army Lt. Gen. John Cooper, deputy commanding general of Multinational Force Iraq, told Monday's Times of London that efforts by British troops in the southern city of Basra have left behind "a city that is in far better nick than it was when we arrived in 2003."
"It's more stable and the people have faith in, and a vision for, the future," Cooper said. "Our losses will be vindicated in the same way our losses in Northern Ireland were."
The British military came in for strong criticism for withdrawing from Basra in September 2007 while extremist Shiite militia forces were still in control of its streets. Six months later, thousands of U.S.-backed Iraqi troops drove the extremists out in an operation personally led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
"In 2006 there was increasing violence and there was a fear that (Iraq) was going to slip into civil war, although this proved unfounded. But it was a tough time," Cooper told The Times.
