“This accelerated transfer of UK assets has effectively delayed operations in the hot provinces of the north by shifting major elements to Basrah ahead of schedule.”
This is incorrect. There was no ‘accelerated transfer’. Actually it had been delayed a little from initial announcements.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1780432,00.html
May 2006 - Iraqi’s could control security by the end of the year.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6173234.stm
November 2006 - Margaret Beckett confident that British troops would be able to pull back to the airport and hand over control of basra ‘sometime in the spring of 2007’.
All stories from UK sources with adgendas and from UK perspective.
My tracking of this is from Iraqi MoD perspective. They did not expect the UK to reduce this fast and were not ready for this. They thought they had another 6-12 months.
Mar22: He [Dep MoD] said Iraqi commanders in southern Iraq were “surprised by the British announcing they would pull out 1,600 soldiers from Basra,” and responded by moving forward by several months a timetable to bring a new brigade of about 5,000 Iraqi soldiers into the southern city.
Jun25: “I’m not sure. But I’ll tell you, just from the Iraqi army perspective, as I’ve said, they’re working on an 11th Division now, they’ve stood up an 11 Division—11th Iraqi Army Division Headquarters, which should be able to take battlespace some time this fall. We think that in early 2008 a 12th Division will be created in the Kirkuk area and a 13th Division will be stationed somewhere between Basra and al-Nasiriyah.” http://www.defenselink.mil//transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=4000
pg3
http://www.defenselink.mil/home/blog/docs/Dubik_transcript.pdf
pg38: 12th Div HQ with HQ, MP and Sigs assuming area of 4th Div and sub Bdes was ordered in 2006 but, 14th Div HQ forming in leiu of 12th this year.
http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/pdfs/Signed-Version-070912.pdf
UK/MoD may have planned on this but, they did not make it clear to GoI/MoD until spring/summer this year. There have been so many stories in press about UK reduction plans that turned out to be BS, that I am not surprised that the GoI ignores the UK press and waited for official notice...