Making headway in Basra: the United Kingdom's Prime Minister likes the progress he sees in Iraq, as the British and Americans continue to cede control of the country to the native population.

• Author: Brown, Gordon
• Position: The World Today - Excerpt

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OUR OBJECTIVE is the creation of an independent, prosperous, democratic Iraq which is five of terrorist violence, secure within its borders, and a stable presence in the region--something that firmly is in Britain's interests, and in the interests of the world as a whole. To achieve this, we have sought with the U.S. and our other allies to support the Iraqi government as it takes on greater responsibility for its security and for safeguarding its new democracy--challenging those, whether terrorists, insurgents, or militia, who threaten its citizens and undermine the rule of law. We also have sought to foster democratic and accountable government and support national reconciliation, giving all of Iraq's communities a genuine say in the future of their country--and we have worked to help the Iraqis build their economy and give them an economic stake in the future.

In the last year, this has led us to pursue the strategy of "overwatch"--moving from combat to the training and mentoring of Iraqi forces and police, encouraging the development of local government, and working with the Iraqis on Basra's economic development. In recent months, conditions in Basra have shown a marked improvement. Incidents of indirect fire against British troops in the Basra air station have fallen from 200 a month at their peak in the summer of 2007 to an average of less than five a month since April of this year. As the All-Party House of Commons Defense Committee points out in its report, the security situation in Basra has been "transformed."

Moreover, as U.S. Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker confirmed to me, thanks to operations by Iraqi and coalition security forces--strongly welcomed by ordinary Iraqis--violent incidents right across the country are at their lowest level since 2004. Sunni groups have joined the Iraqi and U.S. forces in driving Al Qaeda from areas where it had been able to terrorize the population, and Iraqi troops, with British and American support, have had success against the illegal Shi'a militias--giving the government of Iraq more control of the nation.

Of course, this progress--often fragile--cannot be taken for granted. Millions of Iraqis remain refugees--either inside Iraq or in other countries--and the two car bombs detonated at the gates of an Iraqi army recruitment center on July 15 remind us that there are groups still determined to inflict violence. Yet, the most important development is that...