...then sped away in a car loaded with high-explosives. Of course, they were dressed as Arab militiamen, er, insurgents.
BasraI’ve been intensely interested in the recent happenings in Basra. Maybe you heard about it. Two SBS Royal Marines, dressed in civilian clothes, wearing Arab-looking beards, were stopped by an Iraqi policeman, alerted by locals who were alarmed about the suspicious car. No one seems to know much more, because these Marines were well-heeled, and smoked the Iraqi. More police arrived, and some more shots were apparently exchanged, and the Marines were arrested. The Iraqi police state their car was loaded with weapons and explosives. The Brits organized a rescue mission, crashed into the Iraqi jail with a “tank” (probably a Scimitar AFV) and broke them out. Various reports credit the Iraqis, police and civilians, with burning two of these AFVs. There were even photos of one of the vehicles in flames, with a crewman, engulfed in flames, escaping through the turret hatch. That was on Monday the 19th, and it took the Brits until Sunday the 25th to come up with the cover story that these two were part of a covert effort to surveill and intercept illegal arms shipments from Iran.
Uh huh.
That would certainly explain why there was ample reportage of automatic weapons and explosives in their vehicle, but no mention of communication equipment, right?
The story has changed over the days. Now the Brits claim these men were SAS operatives, and some fool mentioned a “classified” successor to “14 Intel” which was originally a SAS program to ambush IRA fighters on both sides of the Irish border. That story has now been “revised”.
SNIP...
So, we’re left with two British soldiers, operating in disguise, in a civilian car, with automatic weapons and explosives, but apparently no radios to report on those alleged weapons supplies coming out of Iran. They’re driving around Basra, making civilians nervous, and gun down an Iraqi policeman who stops them.
CONTINUED...