Official says overwatch mission on track

LONDON, April 28 (UPI) -- A British defense official says despite U.S. troops deploying to the south and criticism of Iraqi military capabilities, the objective in Iraq remains on track.

British Chief of the General Staff Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt says that the British overwatch role in the south of Iraq is broadly on track. Dannatt traveled to Basra, where British units are deployed at the Contingency Operating Base at Basra Airport, the British Ministry of Defense reported.

The comments come despite criticisms that the Iraqi Security Forces in Basra were unable to handle a fight against militiamen without support from U.S. and British troops and an announcement by British Defense Secretary Des Browne that the drawdown of British troops would be put on hold pending a security review.

"We always assumed that overwatch involved the possibility of having to re-intervene in security matters if deemed appropriate by both the Iraqis and the Multinational Force that our troops come under," Dannatt wrote in a statement. " … My conclusion from my visit is that the campaign remains on its broad track but as everyone in the Army who has either served in Iraq or been involved in supporting the operation knows, it has, and will continue, to take time."