The UK delayed their withdrawal from Basra because of American political pressure.

“In April we could have come out and done the transition completely and that would have been the right thing to do but politics prevented that,” Bashall, 44, told the paper.

“The Americans asked us to stay for longer,” he said, adding the decision to stay in the city was a result of “political strategy being played out at highest level.”

What Cheney wants, Cheney gets.