Iraq probe into soldier incident

[wtmusic]

"The Iraqi government has launched an inquiry into the events that led the British Army to storm a police station in Basra in search of two UK soldiers.

Both men were members of the SAS elite special forces, sources told the BBC's Richard Galpin in Baghdad.

The soldiers were arrested by police and then handed over to a militia group, the British Army says."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4264614.stm

Falseflaggate just gets deeper...

[leftchick]

1. BBC: Iraq probe into soldier incident (undercover Brits)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4264614.stm

<snip>

Iraq's interior ministry ordered the police force in Basra to release the soldiers but that order was ignored.

Instead they ended up in the hands of Shia militia, prompting the flattening of a wall at the police station and the later dramatic rescue, the Ministry of Defence said.

Basra governor Mohammed al-Waili said the men - possibly working undercover - were arrested for allegedly shooting dead a policeman and wounding another.


British Army vehicles under attack during bid to recover arrested servicemen

Richard Galpin said al-Jazeera news channel footage, purportedly of the equipment carried in the men's car, showed assault rifles, a light machine gun, an anti-tank weapon, radio gear and medical kit.

This is thought to be standard kit for the SAS operating in such a theatre of operations, he said.

[cwydro]

2. the place is just chaos

when will they decide it IS a civil war...?

[Poll_Blind]

3. If true, they likely didn't want to release them because they'd killed...

...their fellow officers. Can you imagine how tough it's got to be to be an Iraqi policeman? If I'd seen these guys pump rounds through my comrade's bodies I'd give the finger to releasing them too...

PB

[leftchick]

4. An Interesting Juan Cole Assesment of Events in Basra....

http://www.juancole.com/

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

British Storm Basra Jail with Tanks

Sabrina Tavernisse of the New York Times gives the only account of alarming events in Basra I have yet seen that makes sense.

The Guardian seems to me to have left out some key information.

Anyway, here's my timeline for what happened.

more.....

[bemildred]

5. That is interesting.

I am skeptical about parts of it, and there seems to be
a good deal of disagreement about the timeline. I expect it
will only get murkier as time goes on, unfortunately.

Prof. Cole stays away from black ops as always, and simply
assumes that the locals were up to something and the two SAS
fellows intervened. It's worth noting that he is disregarding
the testimony from the police about what occurred when these
two fellows were arrested. One can take the point of view -
which is quite consistent with past reports - that there is
no central authority with any ability to enforce its will in
the South, and so we have all these competing groups duking it
out for control, one of which is the British Army.

There is clearly a good deal of lying going on all around.

[leftchick]

6. the "dual sovereignty" bit gets me ...

sheesh! Who knew there would be a revolution? :sarcasm:

I agree they all are lying. Perhaps Juan feels the need to stay away from the obvious in regard to the black-ops boys. Why, I am not sure. It is plain as day to see what "undercover" means in Iraq and Boykin admitted they were running death squads months ago. He was fucking proud of it!

[IndianaGreen]

7. Let the Shia join the insurgency

that's one way for Iraq to regain its sovereignty. The current puppet Iraqi regime lives behind the confines of the Green Zone, just as our Afghan puppet Karzai lives confined to his palace in Kabul.

[bemildred]

8. I think why Prof. Cole would stay away from the black-ops is obvious.

No point in making yourself a target. We can get away with it,
we are nobody, but he has credibility, is a public figure, and
he can expect to be attacked vigorously if he brings certain
subjects up.

WRT the black ops, I was thinking about it last night, and keeping
the Shi'ia and the Sunni resistance separated seems to me to be the
only credible goal for such actions as we see. The other POV, that
we need chaos as an excuse to continue the occupation does not seem
to hold up to me. We can continue the occupation just fine whether
order is restored or not.

[bemildred]

9. I think "zero sovereignty" is closer to the true situation.

It's the law of the gun and devil take the hindmost.

[wtmusic]

11. If Iraq is stable

a substantial majority of the Iraqi population wants us gone, not to mention servicemembers who are on their fourth TOD and want to come home. There is little justification for remaining there.

How would these actions serve to keep the Shia and Sunni resistance separated?

[0007]

14. I don't the US will abandon the fourteen military installations

that are being build in Iraq.

[wtmusic]

16. Exactly my point

but they need a public excuse for both Iraqis and Americans.

[bemildred]

17. If Iraq is stable you can keep a smaller garrison there and the

"Vietnamization" strategy works. You get to stay there
because the stooge government signs a SOF agreement. If you
can show that the stooge government will not sign such an
agreement and that the occupation knows that, then there is
an argument for keeping the stooge government scared.

Convincing the Shi'ia that the Sunni resistance and/or the
islamic jihadis are killing them in the hundreds in bombings
would seem like an excellent way to keep them (the Shi'ia)
alienated from the purported bomber/killers.

[wtmusic]

10. noticed that one too

How can there ever be "dual sovereignty"? You have sovereignty, and then you have revolution, where sovereignty changes from day to day.

[bemildred]

18. There can be only one. nt

[0007]

12. Sounds like the Brits are pretty good spinners.

[Roy]

13. This WH likes to send messages....

Maybe the message here is that when your allies kill your fellow officers, don't take any prisoners cuz they will just bust'em out.

No prisoners.... then one side gets to tell the stories.

[sablefish]

15. False flag operation

China news said that their car was full of explosives.

[daleo]

19. The article sounded like a pack of lies

Just like when the Brazilian was shot by the police in London - the first reports stunk then too.

[sablefish]

20. Here's a link explaining what happened

http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2005/200905stagedterror.htm

[sablefish]

21. Here's another link for op ed news.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_mike_whi_050920_who_s_blowing_up_ira.htm