Brits in Basra v Northern Ireland

I have been working on a simulation of urban counter insurgency. I noted in difference in troop numbers between the British occupation of Basra and West Belfast in Ireland.

General Shirreff noted in the Chilcott Inquiry that a single battalion command was responsible for Basra, a city of 1.3 million people. He could put no more thatn 13 half platoons, less than 200 soldiers. In the summer of 1972, the British Army had 28,000 soldiers most of them infantry or in the infantry role in Northern Ireland. During operation Motorman which was to seize back control of the no-go areas in West Belfast from the IRA, the army put 10,000 soldiers into the city. This was day and night.

Britain won in Northern Ireland and lost in Basra....