ARTICLE: As British leave, Basra deteriorates, By Karen DeYoung and Thomas E. Ricks, Washington Post, Aug 7, 2007

Britain did a nice job in the south. It was the easier territory, after the north, but they clearly did a better job than we did because they just get this stuff better, thanks to loads of experience (Northern Ireland, just wrapping up now, being the key one), But the larger truth remains: only so much of that sort of European experience and stamina to go around. Right now NATO's pretty much tapped by Afghanistan alone, with a modest but worthy effort underway in Lebanon and another modest but extremely worthy one planned for Sudan. But in the end, these will largely be primes without any pumps if rising body shops like India and China aren't pulled into the mix and I see that primarily happening as a function of U.S. strategic engagement (begun with India, non-existent with China). Yes, a Britain can make a Sierra Leone go well pretty much on its own (Collier's point), but remember my point in BFA: you shrink the Gap in waves, mirroring the agglomeration effect of clustered emerging markets. Thanks to Jeff Jennings for sending this.