Bad days for Gordon

Luis Luque Álvarez, Juventud Rebelde

That’s right; there was a time when London vowed it would stand «shoulder to shoulder» with Washington in the particular case of this «war on terror» the U.S. is waging –what a coincidence!– over that sea of oil, but now Prime Minister Gordon Brown seems to believe it’s time to stand back from a markedly declining Bush. Indeed, he announced yesterday that the number of U.K. troops in southern Iraq will fall from the current level of 5,500 to 2,500 by next spring.

It will be in two stages, a first one to train the Iraqi troops –the same ones who have no qualms about deserting and provide the rebels with weapons–and reinforce surveillance along the Iraqi border, and a second one for the actual troop cut.

At first sight one might think the British occupation has managed to provide for such a level of security that it can afford withdrawing some troops –the contingent has actually shrunk from an initial 46,000 who came since day one of the invasion.

However, that’s a deceitful conclusion if we bear in mind that the British military have been the target of over 90% of all military actions in southern Iraq, according to Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Sanders. If London pulls more soldiers out of the powder keg, it’s only natural that there will be less of a free-for-all and more of a feeling that the sheep are grazing, the shepherds are whistling, and the little bees are placidly producing honey.

In September, aware perhaps that the foreign presence is of itself the trigger for unrest –Army chief Richard Dannat has already warned that the British had become «the problem»– the U.K. moved 500 troops that it still kept in the Palace at Basra to positions near the airport, far from «the madding crowd» of insurgents...

With this announcement, Brown is now trying to make people believe he pays attention to their complaints about a useless war. Only he’s seen better days at 10 Downing Street.

On a visit to Iraq barely a week before, the British leader had made the announcement about the drawback of at least 1,000 troops, hoping for a dramatic effect on the Tories, who were by then holding their annual conference... and 11 points behind in the opinion polls.

But all of a sudden, wham! The tables have turned. Brown’s voters have probably frowned upon his attempts to take advantage of somebody’s misfortune. On Saturday, to cap it all off, the premier ruled out calling an early election –a possibility increasingly considered of late that Brown never went to great lengths to refute– under pretext of «having more time to present my views to the country», mainly on health, housing, economy and education.

Neither the public nor the politicians appreciate his decision. To Conservative Party leader David Cameron, the Prime Minister «takes the British for fools», while those polled by [British market research firm] YouGov have already placed the Tories three points ahead of the ruling party (41 vs. 38%).

Obviously, things have turned out the wrong way for a Brown who managed to cope with the flood situation in England last summer, the two bombings in London and Glasgow, and the reappearance of the foot-and-mouth disease. In his efforts to recover, he tried yesterday to convey good news about Iraq and shake his fist at Iran again, exactly on the same day that a report by the renowned institution Oxford Research Group concluded that if the U.S and its allies really want to dismantle Al Qaeda’s network, they must radically change its policy toward Iraq and Afghanistan... and drop at once its plans to attack Tehran!

Gordon had better put his ear closer to the railroad track from now on.

(A Cubanews translation, courtesy of Walter Lippman)

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