British forces failed in Basra, says US official By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent Last Updated: 2:56pm BST 07/08/2007 A senior US intelligence official in Baghdad has said British forces lost control of Basra by pulling out troops too quickly. British commanders are preparing to hand over Basra Palace to the Iraqi army later this month The result has been a security vacuum which has allowed the city's religious, tribal and criminal factions battle it out for control of the streets. "The British have basically been defeated in the south," the intelligence official told the Washington Post. In a report...