US and Iraq slam Army’s Basra deal

Senior Iraqi and US military figures have criticised the British Army's refusal to participate in an offensive in Basra because of a secret deal they had made with the Mahdi army. The Daily Telegraph quotes Colonel Imad of the Iraqi army as saying: "Without the support of the Americans we would not have accomplished the mission because the British Forces had done nothing there.

"I do not trust the British Forces. They did not want to lose any soldiers for the mission."

His comments are supported by a senior US advisor to his division, Lieutenant-Colonel Chuck Western, who said: "I was not happy. Everybody just assumed that because this deal was cut nobody was going in. Cutting a deal with the bad guys is generally not a good idea."

On Sunday the paper quoted a British officer in Baghdad, Col Richard Iron as saying the Army had made a deal with local militia, agreeing to release 120 prisoners and withdraw from Basra as long as violence ceased. The deal was a "mistake" he said, and had been reneged on.