US 'delayed' British withdrawal from Basra

I wonder how this is going to go down with the British public?

British forces were prevented from pulling out of their last base in Basra City for five months because the Americans refused to move their consulate, according to senior military sources.....

A senior defence source involved in planning the pull-back to Basra airport said: "The decision to stay on was made in London; it was a political and not a logistical one."

Meanwhile, the administration has sent Debra Cagan to every backwater ex-Soviet Republic hunting for small troop commitments.