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Ex-Army gen. urges U.K. to offer troop surge

LONDON — A retired U.S. Army general urged Britain on Wednesday to reconsider plans to withdraw troops from southern Iraq, saying they are needed to deal with spiraling violence between militia factions there.

Jack Keane said Britain should re-examine its current tactics and consider offering Iraqi leaders the option of a U.S.-style troop surge in the oil-rich southern city of Basra.

Britain withdrew from downtown Basra in September, moving its 4,000 troops to an air base on the city outskirts to focus on training Iraqi soldiers and police.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he hopes to cut troop numbers to 2,500 within months, and British military officials confirmed that a review of force strength is under way. The war remains unpopular in Britain, where opposition lawmakers are demanding that Brown’s government hold an immediate inquiry into the conflict and that his Labour Party apologize for backing the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

But Keane said the U.K. should instead consider sending forces back to urban areas to help the Iraqi army and police quell an upsurge in violence.

This week, at least 40 people died and 200 were wounded in fighting between the extremists and Iraqi security forces in Basra, 340 miles southeast of Baghdad, Iraqi officials said. Sadiq al-Rikabi, an adviser to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Wednesday that gunmen in Basra who fail to turn over their weapons to police stations by Friday will be targeted for arrest.

“The security situation is worsening. It is a myth to say that this is just a political problem,” Keane told British Broadcasting Corp. radio. “We must maintain security and stability in Basra and the surrounding provinces, which we do not have today.”

Britain’s Defense Ministry said the current British troops are due to complete their tour of duty and be replaced in May, meaning a decision on withdrawals must be made within weeks.

Keane, who was U.S. vice chief of staff when the Iraq war began in 2003, said one option should be to have British forces return to a combat role alongside Iraqi troops.

“The model that has worked throughout Iraq is coalition forces in partnership with the Iraqi forces ... hunting down the leaders of the organizations we are going after,” Keane said.

He said the strategy of providing a surge in coalition troops in specific areas to tackle violence had proved a success in Baghdad, Anbar and elsewhere. “I thinks it’s certainly an option and it should be on the table” for Basra, Keane told the BBC.

Keane, who has previously been critical of British tactics in southern Iraq, said the security picture in Basra is in a state of flux.

“The main issue is the growing Iranian influence in the south and we must compete with it,” he said.