Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq

US President George W Bush paid a surprise visit to Iraq yesterday as Britain withdrew the last of its forces from Basra city in the south after four and a half inconclusive years.
Iraqi soldiers hoisted the nation's flag over the Basra palace compound yesterday after British troops withdrew from their last garrison in the city, a move that will hand control to an Iraqi force riddled with Shia militiamen.
A British statement said the operation began at 10 pm Sunday "with all British troops arriving at the airport by midday" Monday.
"There were no clashes or attacks on British forces during the operation. The formal handing-over of the Palaces will happen in the near future," British spokesman Maj. Matthew Bird said.
US President George W Bush made a surprise visit to Iraq yesterday for "war-council" meetings with his top military advisers and Iraqi leaders to decide on a future strategy for the nation.
Bush, on his first visit to Iraq since June 2006, was accompanied by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and met up with his Defence
Secretary Robert Gates and top military commanders at the desert airbase of Al-Asad in the restive Anbar province west of Baghdad.
"This is the last big gathering of the president's military advisors and the Iraqi leadership before the president decides on the way forward," said Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman travelling with Gates.
"This is very much a decisional meeting. This meeting will put him much closer to a decision if he hasn't made one yet," he said.
The departure of most of the remaining 500-member British force from the palace left the nation's second largest city without any multinational presence for the first time since the US-led invasion of 2003.
"We told those (militias) who were fighting the British troops that the Iraqi forces are now in the palaces," Lt Gen Mohan al-Fireji, the Iraqi commander in the area. He said the last of the British force left about 4:30 am.
British vehicles rumbled out of the gates of the sprawling compound after dark Sunday headed for the Basra international airport, about 12 miles away. It is Britain's last remaining base in southern Iraq.
US officials have raised concerns about the prospect of British troops leaving the city, which has seen rival armed militia groups, some linked to Iran, battling for control.
The city controls a key land supply line from Kuwait to Baghdad and farther north, and is also near important oil fields.
In London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown disputed claims that the redeployment marks a British "defeat" and said the move to the airport had been planned and organised.
"Let me make this very clear. This is a pre-planned, and this is an organised move from Basra Palace to Basra Air Station," he told BBC Radio 4.
The Basra palace had come under near daily rocket and mortar fire from Shia militias until the British released about 30 gunmen a few months ago and spread the word that they would soon leave.
Over the past years, Britain's ability to control events in Basra waned as the militias rose in power.
People on the streets of Basra cheered the departure of the British.
"We reject any strangers and they are colonialists," resident Rudha Muter told Associated Press Television News. "We are pleased that the Iraqi army are now taking over the situation. We as an Iraqi people reject occupation. We reject colonialism. We want our freedom."
Another resident, Khazaal al-Nisiri, said he was confident the Iraqi army would be able to provide enough security without the British presence.
"We have recently seen intensive deployment for Iraqi security troops this indicates that the Iraqi troops are in full control of the situation," he told AP Television. "So the British troops pullout won't cause a vacuum in the area our security troops are carrying out their duty well.”