COMMANDER SAYS TROOPS SHOULD BE PROUD OF IRAQ MISSION.BRITISH troops can be proud of having achieved a "successful conclusion" in Iraq as they prepare to withdraw, the UK's most senior commander in the country said. Major General Andy Salmon, head of coalition forces in Basra in southern Iraq, acknowledged there had been "ups and downs ups and downs pl.n. Alternating periods of good and bad fortune or spirits. ups and downs Noun, pl alternating periods of good and bad luck or high and low spirits " since the 2003 invasion and paid tribute to the 179 British personnel who lost their lives during the conflict. But he insisted UK forces were leaving Basra a much safer place. "I can put my hand on my heart and say we've finished this right. We stayed the course and we endured, and we partnered with everybody, and seized our opportunities and adapted along the way." British combat operations in Iraq will end on May 31 and nearly all of the UK's remaining 4,100 troops will be withdrawn by July 31. CAPTION(S): A NEW DAWN The sun rises as British Army The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. It came into being with unification of the governments and armed forces of England and Scotland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. soldiers stands on the banks of the Shatt Al Arab Shatt al Arab (shät äl ä`räb), tidal river, 120 mi (193 km) long, formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, flowing SE to the Persian Gulf, forming part of the Iraq-Iran border; the Karun is its chief tributary. waterway in Basra, Iraq, at dawn yesterday. |
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