Learning the Basra lesson

With a heavy heart, it may be time to acknowledge that the challenge in Helmand seems too hard for the British to carry alone. The UK might have great soldier there led by a fine commander, Brigadier Gordon Messenger, and as someone who worked out there I have huge respect for those deployed in the Helmand PRT, they are my friends, and former employees. But the UK does not seem to have the resources, will power, ministerial expertise, and bureaucratic arrangements for running an effective counter-insurgency.

Britain should see the US surge as a strategic opportunity to place the UK military and civilian presence under the US command. Britain should then exert influence from the inside.

Unfortunately, it looks like Britain is gearing up to repeat the mistakes it made in Basra, where it rejected a subordinate role and awaited US policy developments, rather than proactively seeking to influence them.