Basra’s impact on U.S. forces in Iraq

The surge of American forces is set to end soon. The top US commander in Iraq is due to deliver his latest Iraq status report in two weeks and President Bush says he’ll withhold any decisions about withdrawal until then. This analyst says he too has seen improvements in Iraq after the surge and he isn’t overly concerned yet about Basra, thinks it will not affect potential drawdowns. Still he says that means the Iraqis will have to step up more in terms of providing security and safety, which isn’t out of possibilities considering the number of Iraqis in the police and army, up to half a million. The Iraqi Security Forces have yet to prove themselves says this analyst but he thinks Basra could be their chance. That said, he believes it will be a long time before the US pulls out of Iraq completely and he thinks it’s tough to give a specific target or date of when the US can say the war is over.