Undercover british commandos dressed as locals caugt red handed.

[floydian slip]

Newspeak is working overtime to gloss this one over.

Iraqi prison stormed by British tanks and helicopters
British forces in tanks and helicopters stormed an Iraqi jail tonight to rescue two service personnel who were arrested after allegedly shooting dead a local policeman and wounding another, the governor of Basra said.
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What is more curious is that a report in The Times last month states that the SAS in Basra were being given £100,000 as "porter money", entrusted to the SAS to bribe weapons dealers and buy weapons to keep them out of "insurgent" hands. The report says there has been little accounting for this money, but that an investigation has begun into how the money has been spent recently.

See http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...3874_1,00.html
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Two British "soldiers" have been arrested in Basra. They were stopped at a checkppoint and began shooting at the Iraqi police, but were eventually arrested. The "soldiers" were dressed as locals and the car they were driving was found to be carrying weapons, ammunition and explosives!!!

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and another version...

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - The Army sent in troops to free two undercover soldiers in Basra in southern Iraq after discovering Iraqi police had handed them over to local militia, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

"From an early stage I had good reason to believe the lives of the two soldiers were at risk," Army Brigadier John Lorimer said in a statement to the media in London.

The British commanding officer in Basra said his concern for the arrested men increased after he received information they had been handed over to "militia elements".

A Warrior armoured vehicle breached the perimeter wall of the jail in a Basra police station on Monday. When it was discovered that the two men were not in the jail, troops rescued them from a nearby house, he said
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another version from reuters

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - British forces used tanks to smash down the walls of a prison in the southern city of Basra and freed two undercover British soldiers seized earlier by Iraqi forces, an Interior Ministry official said on Monday.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said half a dozen tanks had broken down the walls of the jail and troops had then stormed in to free the two British soldiers. The governor of Basra confirmed that the jail had been broken into.

The Interior Ministry official said dozens of Iraqi prisoners being held at the jail had escaped at the same time.

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Versions of Britons' release conflict
Armored vehicles crash through walls of Iraq jail, some say

By Abbas Fayadh, Associated Press | September 20, 2005

BASRA, Iraq -- British soldiers used 10 armored vehicles to break down the walls of the central jail in this southern city yesterday and freed two Britons, allegedly undercover commandos arrested on charges of shooting two Iraqi policemen, witnesses said. But the British government said the two men were released as a result of negotiations.

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The occupation forces are the real perpetrators of bomb attacks in Iraq?




Now who would dress like arabs and leave korans and flight manuals behind?

[JackSpratts]

The British government said the two men were released as a result of negotiations.

quite spirited negotiations apparently.

- js.

[legion]

what is the big deal? this is how any average hotel in spain looks like after the british holiday season

[theknife]

this incident underscores the largely unreported problem of iraqi security forces, ostensibly working wih the US but who are actually insurgents who have infiltrated the US-led training program:

The Iraqi government has launched an inquiry into events surrounding the arrest of the British soldiers on Monday, both thought to be members of the SAS elite special forces.

Iraq’s interior ministry ordered the police force in the southern city of Basra to release the soldiers - but that order was ignored.

The British Army confirmed the troops had been handed over by police to a Shia militia group.

Mr Rubaie told Newsnight: “Our Iraqi security forces in general, and these in particular and in many parts of Iraq, I have to admit that they have been penetrated by some of the insurgents, some of the terrorists as well, so I can’t deny this.”

He said Iraq now had “a very scrupulous, very meticulous vetting procedure” to “clean our security forces, as well as stop any penetration in future from the insurgents or the terrorists”.

He admitted he did not know to what extent the security forces were already infiltrated by insurgents.

there is a rumor floating around, which apparently the army will neither conform or deny, that this incident, in which two three-man US sniper teams were ambushed, were in fact set up and killed by the iraqi security forces they were working with.

all of this indicates US forces can not trust anyone amongst the grateful people they have liberated. yet another reason to pack it up, come home, and let the iraqis sort it out for themselves. the guardian editorial response puts it well:

America left Vietnam and Lebanon to their fate. They survived. We left Aden and other colonies. Some, such as Malaya and Cyprus, saw bloodshed and partition. We said rightly that this was their business. So too is Iraq for the Iraqis. We have made enough mess there already.