British troops are back in Basra as mentors to the Iraqi forces after the operations over the last month, where the US army provided aid when we were stuck in the airport. That is their only role, and one can infer from the letter by the Head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, to the troops, that there is a level of disaffection at our role. Listening to David Miliband on the Andrew Marr show just now, who would believe that we did anything less than sterling work, and that their political interference had positive outcomes.
The head of the British Army has taken the unusual step of writing an open letter to his troops in which he defends Britain's low-key role during an offensive against Shia militias in Basra.
The message from General Sir Richard Dannatt, made available to The Independent on Sunday, is intended to reassure troops in the face of claims that the British presence at Basra airport is increasingly untenable, and that the Iraqi government supposedly snubbed senior UK commanders during the recent operation.
This government has presided over a steep fall in Britain's prestige and influence, a decline that they mask with references to international bodies as a foundation for maintaining moral prestige whilst favouring inaction. Who does Iran target for kidnappings?
Five British hostages who were kidnapped in Iraq almost a year ago are being held inside Iran by Revolutionary Guards, according to two separate sources in the Middle East and London.
The hostages were handed over to the Revolutionary Guards by their Iraqi kidnappers last November, the sources believe. One of the sources said they were being held in the western Iranian city of Hamadan.
If confirmed, the involvement of Revolutionary Guards would be seen as evidence that senior figures in the Iranian government had backed the decision to hold them in the country.
However, British officials said that while there had been rumours that the five were in Iran, they had seen no evidence to support the idea.
The hostages are said to be in good physical shape but spending much of their time in solitary confinement.
The kidnappings took place to free an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander, who was attempting to set up a pliant wing of the Sadr army under his leadership. Arrested by the Americas, this Iranian manoevre failed, but five British citizens remain imprisoned.