ABSTRACT
British Major General Robin Brims faced a difficult decision, on March 24, 2004. In just four days, his first Armoured Division had traversed nearly 100 miles from the Kuwait border, secured the Rumaila oil fields, had begun to secure the port of Umm Qasr, cleared the Al Faw Peninsula at the southern tip of Iraq, and surrounded Iraq's second largest city, crushing any organized resistance in the process. The first stage of British operations in the Iraq War was conducted almost flawlessly, with very slight casualties. But now, at the gates of Basra, Brims faced several daunting tasks and competing pressures from the American military and his leadership in London. Every step he made was scrutinized by the British and international media. Basra presented difficult, if not insurmountable, strategic, operational, and tactical challenges. The United States and their British partners did not envision continued British responsibility for civil administration of Basra and the surrounding areas.
