Basra After the British

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When pressed, U.K. Defense Minister Des Browne was candid in acknowledging the troubles emerging in Basra as British forces prepare to hand control of the city to Iraqi authorities in mid December. "I didn't at any stage say what's presently the situation in Basra was an acceptable level of security," said Brown, who spoke with reporters in Baghdad about the southern city. "I am not suggesting there are not difficulties."

Browne maintained, however, that violence in Basra has dropped by 80% since British forces departed from the downtown area, where they faced a daily hail of mortar fire and rockets from Shi'ite militias. That violence has ended, Browne said, now that British forces have withdrawn to an airfield on the outskirts of the city. But there are reports from Basra of increasing gangland violence, which Browne said Iraqi forces would have to handle in the future.

Despite the intention to transfer control from Coalition forces to Iraqis, it's difficult to say who will really control southern Iraq as the British withdraw their troops from the increasingly volatile area. Browne insists that Iraqi security forces are making gains in their ability to assert control, and Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says his country's security forces will be ready to take over Basra province by the time British troops go. But rival Shi'ite militias and criminal gangs appear to be tightening their grip on Basra and the surrounding oil fields.

Meanwhile, the fate of a second turbulent town in southern Iraq grew more uncertain as a result of political developments in Poland, whose troops oversee the Coalition outpost in Diwaniya. The town, about 110 miles south of Baghdad, has erupted in violence several times in recent months as Shi'ite militias battle each other or target the Polish contingent. Poland's prime minister designate Donald Tusk told the daily Polska this week that his government plans to withdraw the roughly 900 Polish troops in the area some time in 2008.