The Daily Telegraph, meanwhile, comments on the events in Basra and makes this, critical, point:

“The vast majority of Iraqis have nothing but fear and loathing for Saddam, but they need to see evidence that his power is crumbling. The allied war aims do not only involve the fall of the dictator, but also the destruction of the entire structure of his tyranny. Just as Germany, even after Hitler, could not return to democracy without undergoing a process of denazification, so Iraq needs “de-Ba’athification”. That task has already begun.”