UK soldiers 'storm' Basra prison

[Mekorig]

British forces have rescued two UK servicemen who were arrested by Iraqi police in the southern city of Basra.

Official Iraqi sources say British tanks stormed the city's jail, but the Ministry of Defence says the men's release was negotiated.

Basra governor Mohammed al-Waili said it was a "barbaric act of aggression".

The arrests sparked clashes in which UK tanks came under attack. Two civilians were reportedly killed and three UK soldiers were injured.

MoD officials insist they have been talking to the Iraqi authorities to secure the release of the men - who were reported to be working undercover.


British servicemen who were seen being injured in the graphic photographs are being treated for minor injuries only
Defence Secretary
John Reid

But they do acknowledge a wall was demolished as UK forces tried to "collect" the men Iraqi police accused of firing on them.

However, sources in the Iraqi Interior Ministry say six tanks were used to smash down the wall in a daring rescue operation.

Witnesses told the Associated Press around 150 prisoners escaped during the operation but Iraqi officials later denied any prisoners had escaped.

Earlier, two British tanks, sent to the police station where the soldiers were being held, were set alight in clashes.

The two British soldiers being held in Iraq
British officials would not say if the two men were working undercover

Crowds of angry protesters hurled petrol bombs and stones injuring three servicemen and several civilians.

TV pictures showed soldiers in combat gear, clambering from one of the flaming tanks and making their escape.

In a statement, Defence Secretary John Reid said the soldiers who fled from the tanks were being treated for minor injuries.

Mr Reid added that he was not certain what had caused the disturbances.

"We remain committed to helping the Iraqi government for as long as they judge that a coalition presence is necessary to provide security," the statement said.

Law and order

Tensions have been running high in the city since the arrest of a senior figure in the Shia Mehdi Army by UK troops.

But Colonel Tim Collins, the former commander of British troops in Iraq, described the Basra unrest as like a "busy night in Belfast".

Col Collins said it did not represent a breakdown of law and order in Basra, which was still a safer city than Baghdad.

In other developments:

    * Nine Iraqi police and a civilian have died in suicide bombings between Baghdad and Karbala, where Shias are attending a major religious festival

    * The Iraqi government says a nephew of Saddam Hussein, Ayman Sabawi, has been sentenced to life in prison for funding Iraq's insurgency

    * An Iraqi reporter working for the New York Times, Fakher Haider, has been found dead in Basra

    * Iraq's Finance Minister, Ali Allawi, tells the UK's Independent newspaper that large-scale corruption in Iraq's ministries, particularly the defence ministry, has led to the theft of more than $1bn. 

SOURCE: BBC

Acording to Fatah al Sheij, a representativo to Muqtada Al Sadr, these two soldiers were detained whit civilians clothes, machine guns and explosives, and they were caught when they were to shoot to a congregation in a Al Sadr controled temple.

[bathory]

because we all know Al Sadr and his group are a great source

[Iilaa'mpuul'xem]

These 2 guys were dressed in Civvies and were released with the aid of troops in APV's (Armoured personnel vehicles) not Tanks, the UK don't have any tanks in Iraq and as yet there is no public statement on who or what they were doing.

My opinion would be they were undercover SAS personnel trying to get inside information, they were arrested for allegedly shooting dead a policeman and wounding another ? the MOD would have had concerns for the safety of the 2 troopers being held and therefore took action. The MOD probably had concerns that 2 troopers were held by the police and then somehow end up being held by the militia?

[__Kratos__]

Britain says soldiers rescued from Iraq militia

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Britain sent in troops to free two undercover soldiers in Basra in southern Iraq after discovering Iraqi police had handed them over to local militia, the British army said on Tuesday.

"From an early stage I had good reason to believe the lives of the two soldiers were at risk," British 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.

The two undercover soldiers were retrieved after a day of rioting in Basra that began, according to police and local officials, when they fired on an Iraqi police patrol. At least two Iraqis were killed in the violence.

The operation to free them will further strain ties between Iraqis and British troops, who had maintained relatively good relations with the Shi'ite population of Basra by pursuing a low-profile security policy, unlike their U.S. allies elsewhere.

It could also bolster the popularity of young Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose numerous followers in Basra fiercely oppose the presence of foreign troops in Iraq.

Angry Iraqi police inspecting damage left by the British raid on their station accused British troops of "terrorism."

"Four tanks invaded the area. A tank cannon struck a room where a policeman was praying," said policeman Abbas Hassan, standing next to mangled cars in the front of the police station and jail that he said were crushed by British military vehicles.

"This is terrorism. All we had was rifles."

NEGOTIATIONS

British Defense Secretary John Reid said the two soldiers were freed when negotiations appeared blocked.

"What happened yesterday was that two of our servicemen were arrested by Iraqi police and under the law as it stands they should have been handed back to the military authorities."

Reid said the Iraqi Interior Ministry and local judges had asked the police to follow that procedure.

"But in the course of the day we became increasingly worried that those people in there to negotiate with the police seemed to be having no success in getting our men out."

Reid said it was not clear whether the Iraqi police were under threat themselves or colluding with local militia.

Lorimer said troops had been sent to the vicinity of the police station where the two men had been detained to help ensure their safety.

"As shown on television, these troops were attacked with firebombs and rockets by a violent and determined crowd."

Furious crowds pelted British armoured vehicles with rocks and petrol bombs after the incident in which the British undercover soldiers were said to have fired on Iraqi police.

Tensions in Basra had already risen on Sunday when British forces arrested two leading members of the Mehdi army, a nationalist militia led by radical Shi'ite cleric Sadr.

Sadr, who has led two uprisings by his militia against U.S. troops over the past two years, enjoys a broad following in Basra, where Shi'ite factions are competing for power.

Britain's Ministry of Defense initially denied troops had breached the wall of the Basra jail and said the release of the two soldiers had been "negotiated."

It said media reports that 150 prisoners had been released ore had escaped during the assault on the jail were false.

But Hassan, the Iraqi policeman, said prisoners had got away. "Terrorists escaped. This is a government building. We arrest terrorists," he said.

^ The two soldiers.

Just some more info.

Edited September 20, 2005 by __Kratos__

[Iilaa'mpuul'xem]

Looks at least like the have recieved proper medical attention.. lol

[Mr Ed]

The guy on the right has a red line going around his neck.

[Mekorig]

Its a very confusing event. You have the UK army version, the Iraq militia version, the Al Sadr version. Its ripe for the conspiracy theorist.

[Baku]

^ The two soldiers.

852776[/snapback]

Yeah these two soldiers sure do like Iraqi's real good undercover work

[Iilaa'mpuul'xem]

You don't need to look like an Iraqi to work undercover, the could have been doing many things, the could have been playing any role, selling explosives, arms, training etc.

[wunarmdscissor]

apparently tthey were handed over by the police to a millitia if this is the case the UK army HAD to do somethingt , that is unnaceptable.

[british_patriot]

you think we are gonna leave teo SAS behind? I think not!

[Iilaa'mpuul'xem]

The fact that their photo's have been published would tell me they are not from the SAS, I would say they are from the newly formed "Special Recon Regiment".

[__Kratos__]

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Britain said on Wednesday it would not cut and run from Iraq and sought to calm fury in an increasingly volatile south over a rescue of two undercover British soldiers held by Iraqi police.

British forces used an armoured vehicle on Monday to burst into an Iraqi jail in the city of Basra in search of the soldiers. The British commander said he learned they had been handed to militia and ordered their rescue from a nearby house.

The British operation followed rioting that began, according to police and local officials, when the two soldiers fired on a police patrol. At least two Iraqis were killed in the violence.

"We do not have designs to stay (in Iraq) as an occupying imperial power. Nor are we going to cut and run because of terrorists," British Defense Secretary John Reid was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph newspaper.

Reid, echoing past comments by British Prime Minister Tony Blair who has been U.S. President George W. Bush's main ally on Iraq, said the transformation of the country into a democratic society would not be accomplished without great effort.

"Which is why we have to stay there and go through the dark periods ... there is light at the end of the tunnel," he said.

Britain, which has 8,500 troops in Iraq, said on Sunday it would send more if necessary. But a leaked memo signed by Reid in July envisioned bringing most home over the next year.

The Telegraph said Reid and British defense chiefs would meet Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari in London on Wednesday to discuss security issues.

APPEAL FOR CALM

Haider al-Ebadi, an adviser to Jaafari, told a news conference in Baghdad on Tuesday: "It is a very unfortunate development that the British forces should try to release their forces the way it happened."

But a later statement from Jaafari's office said there was no crisis in relations with Britain and added the interior ministry was investigating the incident in the south, largely populated by Iraq's Shi'ite Muslim majority.

"In the meantime we urge all sides to remain calm," the statement said.

Southern Iraq is home to several Shi'ite militias, including one loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr who fiercely opposes the presence of foreign troops and has led uprisings against the U.S. military. Many Iraqis say the heavily armed militias act with impunity and are not answerable to the central government.

Tensions in Basra had risen on Sunday when British forces arrested two leading members of Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.

The tough British response to the arrest of its undercover soldiers is likely to further strain ties between Iraqis and British troops, who had maintained relatively good relations with the Shi'ite population of Basra with a low-profile security policy, in contrast to tougher U.S. tactics.

British soldiers have faced less popular anger in Iraq than their U.S. allies, but Iraqis vented their fury in Basra.

"Four tanks invaded the area. A tank cannon struck a room where a policeman was praying," said policeman Abbas Hassan, standing next to mangled cars outside the police station and jail that he said were crushed by British military vehicles.

"This is terrorism. All we had was rifles."

SOLDIERS PUT ON DISPLAY

Iraqi state television footage showed the detained British soldiers unshaven and looking nervous as police looked over wigs, Arab head-dresses, anti-tank missiles and electronic equipment, all apparently used in their mission.

Images of the pair seemed sure to fuel suspicions among militias in Basra and elsewhere who believe foreign troops are on a secret mission to exploit Iraq.

Unrest in the Shi'ite south, home to Iraq's biggest oil reserves, would pile more pressure on the Shi'ite- and Kurdish-led Iraqi government, which is already fighting a Sunni Arab insurgency further north.

"It is inappropriate for any Iraqi to be insulted by a British or an American or any other occupier, we reject the occupying forces," said Basra resident Abbas Jassim.

"The British violated the government, police and the sons of this country, which we all reject."

British forces said the soldiers were in danger.

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

Elsewhere in Iraq, violence continued in areas controlled by U.S. forces. Bomb blasts in Iraq since Monday killed nine Americans, including a U.S. State Department security officer, U.S. defense officials said.

A bomb blast in the northern city of Mosul killed Stephen Eric Sullivan, the State Department assistant regional security officer, and three U.S. private security guards on Monday.

The other U.S. deaths were four soldiers killed in two separate bomb attacks in Ramadi on Monday, and a soldier who was killed by a bomb north of Baghdad on Tuesday.

Source

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The British commander said he learned they had been handed to militia

Yes, yes... Iraqi police did that one.

So when the British go get their boys back from the militia:

"The British violated the government, police and the sons of this country, which we all reject."

Interesting... how that all works out.

A grab from footage released on September 20, 2005 shows weapons which Iraqi police said were confiscated from two undercover British soldiers after their arrest in Basra, southern Iraq, September 19, 2005.

Police look at vehicles crushed by a tracked vehicle after a British raid on a jail in the southern Iraqi city of Basra September 20, 2005. An Iraqi Interior Ministry official said that British forces stormed the Major Crimes Unit Monday night using six tanks and freed two British undercover soldiers who had been arrested earlier in the day.

[__Kratos__]

The fact that their photo's have been published would tell me they are not from the SAS, I would say they are from the newly formed "Special Recon Regiment".

853638[/snapback]

Must have been a BIG mistake cause I went back to yahoo news to get the picture again, and it is edited as long as the video footage of their faces. Then I found this:

BRITISH troops stormed an Iraqi police compound in Basra because they feared that two captured SAS soldiers were in danger of being summarily executed by Shia militiamen.

SAS stormed prison to save soldiers from execution

The behaviour of the Iraqi police was worrying and not yet understood, he said.

Fears that hardline Islamic militia are tightening their grip on southern Iraq, with the connivance of Iraqi police, put Tony Blair under pressure to outline an exit strategy for the 8,500 British forces in Iraq.

Just found this as well:

Description of what happened

Another find:

satellite image of area layout and timeline of events

Edited September 21, 2005 by __Kratos__

[scoobysnack]

Another example of agent provocateurs in Iraq. Two UK soldiers were arrested after dressing up as Arabs, and shooting the new Iraqi policemen. This is of course to maintain the justification for military presense in Iraq. There is no plan to leave Iraq. Some of the insurgents carrying out terrorist attacks against Iraqi police are actually British/American covert ops committing terrorism and then blaming it on the insurgency. :twisted: The war on terrorism is a complete scam!

British vehicles crash into Basra jail

Tensions between British forces and Shi'ites in southern Iraq are at a dangerous and chaotic low after British armoured forces smashed down a jail wall and freed two British undercover soldiers who had been arrested by Iraqi police.

Iraqi authorities in the southern oil city of Basra claimed that British armoured vehicles demolished part of its main jail and snatched the two men - thought to be commandos in Arab clothing who allegedly fired on Iraqi police officers.

Britain's Defence Ministry, though, said the two men were released as a result of negotiations. But it stopped short of denying that the jail had been raided.

After nightfall, 10 British armoured vehicles returned to the jail, crashed through walls and freed the two captives, witnesses said. An Associated Press reporter saw the vehicles smash into the jail.

Mohammed al-Waili, the governor of Basra province, condemned the British for raiding the prison, an act he called "barbaric, savage and irresponsible".

Basra authorities reported arresting the two Britons, described as special forces commandos dressed in Arab clothing, for allegedly shooting two Iraqi policemen, one of whom died.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/World/Britis...6982003628.html

Iraqi police detain two British soldiers in Basra

2005-09-19 22:46:55

BAGHDAD, Sept. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraqi police detained two British soldiers in civilian clothes in the southern city Basra for firing on a police station on Monday, police said.

"Two persons wearing Arab uniforms opened fire at a police station in Basra. A police patrol followed the attackers and captured them to discover they were two British soldiers," an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

The two soldiers were using a civilian car packed with explosives, the source said.

He added that the two were being interrogated in the police headquarters of Basra.

The British forces informed the Iraqi authorities that the two soldiers were performing an official duty, the source said. British military authorities said they could not confirm the incident but investigations were underway.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-09/...ent_3514065.htm

British Attack Basra Jail to Free Two

Sep 19, 3:49 PM (ET)

By ABBAS FAYADH

BASRA, Iraq (AP) - British forces using tanks broke down the walls of the central jail in the southern city of Basra late Monday and freed two Britons, allegedly undercover commandos, who had been arrested on charges of shooting two Iraqi policemen.

Witnesses said about 150 Iraqi prisoners also fled the jail.

Violence flared earlier in the day as demonstrators hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at British tanks; at least four people were killed.

The fighting erupted after British armor encircled the jail where the two Britons were being held. During the melee one soldier could be seen scrambling for his life from a burning tank and the rock-throwing mob.

http://apnews1.iwon.com//article/20050919/...G=home&SEC=news

This wouldn't be the first example of government sponsored terrorism. War is always fought by way of deception.

Gladio-

"Felice Casson, an Italian judge who during his investigations into right-wing terrorism had first discovered the secret Gladio army and had forced Andreotti to take a stand, found that the secret army had linked up with right-wing terrorists in order to confront “emergency situations”. The terrorists, supplied by the secret army, carried out bomb attacks in public places, blamed them on the Italian left, and were thereafter protected from prosecution by the military secret service. "You had to attack civilians, the people, women, children, innocent people, unknown people far removed from any political game,” right-wing terrorist Vincezo Vinciguerra explained the so-called “strategy of tension” to Casson.

“The reason was quite simple. They were supposed to force these people, the Italian public, to turn to the state to ask for greater security. This is the political logic that lies behind all the massacres and the bombings which remain unpunished, because the state cannot convict itself or declare itself responsible for what happened."

In Italy, on 3 August 1990, then-prime minister Giulio Andreotti confirmed the existence of a secret army code-named “Gladio” - the Latin word for “sword” - within the state. His testimony before the Senate subcommittee

Ever since the discovery of the secret NATO armies in 1990, research into stay-behind armies has progressed only very slowly, due to very limited access to primary documents and the refusal of both NATO and the CIA to comment. On 5 November 1990, a NATO spokesman told an inquisitive press: "NATO has never contemplated guerrilla war or clandestine operations”.

The next day, NATO officials admitted that the previous day’s denial had been false, adding that the alliance would not comment on matters of military secrecy. (How convenient)

Read all about it:

http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/GAN412A.html

also

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/FLO502B.html

[__Kratos__]

To bad their already a thread on these two SAS soldiers.

also with your "claims" you should be in conspiracies NOT world news. Sections for a reason.

Edited September 21, 2005 by __Kratos__

[scoobysnack]

British Special Forces Caught Carrying Out Staged Terror In Iraq?

Media blackout shadows why black op soldiers were arrested

Paul Joseph Watson | September 20 2005

In another example of how the Iraqi quagmire is deliberately designed to degenerate into a chaotic abyss, British SAS were caught attempting to stage a terror attack and the media have dutifully shut up about the real questions surrounding the incident.

What is admitted is that two British soldiers in Arab garb and head dress drove a car towards a group of Iraq police and began firing. According to the Basra governor Mohammed al-Waili, one policeman was shot dead and another was injured. Pictured below are the wigs and clothing that the soldiers were wearing.

The Arab garb is obviously undeniable proof that the operation, whatever its ultimate intention, was staged so that any eyewitnesses would believe it had been carried out by Iraqis.

This has all the indications of a frame up.

This is made all the more interesting by the fact that early reports cited as originating from BBC World Service radio stated that the car used contained explosives.

Was this another staged car bombing intended to keep tensions high? As you will discover later, the plan to keep Iraq divided and in turmoil is an actual policy directive that spans back over two decades.

The BBC reports that the car did contain, "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."

And are fake bushy black wigs and turbans standard kit for the SAS?

What happened to the early reports of explosives? Why has the media relentlessly reported on the subsequent rescue effort and failed to address these key questions?

The soldiers were arrested and taken to a nearby jail where they were confronted and interrogated by an Iraqi judge.

The initial demand from the puppet authorities that the soldiers be released was rejected by the Basra government. At that point tanks were sent in to 'rescue' the terrorists and the 'liberated' Iraqis started to riot, firebombing and pelting stones at the vehicles injuring British troops as was depicted in this dramatic Reuters photo.

As the SAS were being rescued 150 prisoners escaped from the jail. Was this intentional or just a result of another botched black op?

From this point on media coverage was monopolized by accounts of the rescue and the giant marauding pink elephant in the living room, namely why the soldiers were arrested in the first place, was routinely ignored.

The only outlet to ask any serious questions was Australian TV news which according to one viewer gave, "credibility to the 'conspiracy theorists' who have long claimed many terrorist acts in Iraq are, in fact, being initiated and carried out by US, British and Israeli forces."

Iran's top military commander Brigadier General Mohammad-Baqer Zolqadr pointed the finger at the occupational government last week by publicly stating,

“The Americans blame weak and feeble groups in Iraq for insecurity in this country. We do not believe this and we have information that the insecurity has its roots in the activities of American and Israeli spies,” Zolqadr said.

“Insecurity in Iraq is a deeply-rooted phenomenon. The root of insecurity in Iraq lies in the occupation of this country by foreigners”.

“If Iraq is to become secure, there will be no room for the occupiers”.

That explanation has a lot of currency amongst ordinary Iraqis who have been direct witnesses to these bombings.

In the past we’ve asked questions about why so-called car bombings leave giant craters, in addition with eyewitness reports that helicopters were carrying out the attacks.

Throughout history we see the tactic of divide and conquer being used to enslave populations and swallow formerly sovereign countries by piecemeal. From the British stirring up aggression between different Indian tribes in order to foment division, to modern day Yugoslavia where the country was rejecting the IMF and world bank takeover before the Globalists broke it up and took the country piece by piece by arming and empowering extremists.

And so to Iraq, New York Times November 25th 2003, Leslie Gelb of the Council on Foreign Relations writes,

"To put most of its money and troops where they would do the most good quickly - with the Kurds and Shiites. The United States could extricate most of its forces from the so-called Sunni Triangle, north and west of Baghdad.... American officials could then wait for the troublesome and domineering Sunnis, without oil or oil revenues, to moderate their ambitions or suffer the consequences."

Gelb argues for allowing the rebellion to escalate in order to create a divided Iraq.

And in 1982, Oded Yinon, an official from the Israeli Foreign Affairs office, wrote: "To dissolve Iraq is even more important for us than dissolving Syria. In the short term, it's Iraqi power that constitutes the greatest threat to Israel. The Iran-Iraq war tore Iraq apart and provoked its downfall. All manner of inter-Arab conflict help us and accelerate our goal of breaking up Iraq into small, diverse pieces."

So if the plan is to keep the different sects at each others' throats then who benefits from the chaos created by the endless bombings? President Bush's slip of the tongue when he stated, "it'll take time to restore chaos and order -- order out of chaos, but we will" seems less farcical in this light.

Plans for 4,000 NATO troops to replace US troops in Afghanistan will likely be mirrored in Iraq and the country will be used as a launch pad for the coming invasions of Syria and Iran.

It is certain that any reports coming out of Iraq accusing occupational forces of being behind car bombings will be brutally censored.

The Pentagon admitted before the war that independent journalists would be military targets and since then we've seen more journalists killed in Iraq over two and a half years than the entire seven year stretch of US involvement in Vietnam.

In many cases, such as that of Mazen Dana, an acclaimed hero who was killed after filming secret US mass graves, journalists are hunted down and executed because they record something that the occupational government doesn't want to reach the wider world.

Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena's car was fired upon and an Italian secret service agent killed after Sgrena was told by the group that kidnapped her that a threat to kill her if Italian troops didn't pull out of Iraq wasn't made by them. This means that Rumsfeld's Ministry of Truth in Iraq is putting out false statements by fake Jihad groups to try and maintain the facade that the resistance is run by brutal terrorists under the direction of Al-Qaeda/Iran/Syria or whoever else they want to bomb next.

Every high profile kidnapping brings with it eyewitness reports of white men in suits and police carrying out the abductions.

Many will find it hard to believe that ordinary soldiers would have it in them to carry out such brutal atrocities. The people carrying out these acts are not ordinary soldiers, they are SAS thugs who have been told that they have to be 'more evil than the terrorists' to defeat the terrorists. This is how they morally justify to themselves engaging in this criminal behavior.

We will update this story as and when new developments take place

read the original for all the links included here:

http://www.infowars.com/articles/iraq/basr...aged_terror.htm

[__Kratos__]

scoobysnack, that is a load of crap. conspiracy theorists spewing more bullcrap. This stuff doesn't even belong in world news.

[scoobysnack]

what do you think happened?

They were dressed as your average Iraqi man with a black wig on, they had weapons in their car, and they shot an Iraqi police man. If they would have got away, the witnesses would have thought they saw Arabs shooting Iraqi police and they could have blamed it on Al Sadr or whoever they are currently blaming for the insurgency.

It's all part of the plan. My logic is undeniable.

[__Kratos__]

Two SAS soldiers doing undercover work... to investigate a corrupt police force. Police find out, go crazy and hand them over to the local group. They are armed for a reason... terrorists don't take holidays.

[__Kratos__]

Update:

Murder, violence and politics: how rogue police can live outside law

POLITICAL assassination, murder, smuggling and extortion: the activities of a 50-strong gang of Iraqi policemen in Basra whose members seized two British servicemen on Monday were brought to the attention of the Iraqi government six months ago, according to official sources in the city.

Yet the gang, with connections at ministerial level in Baghdad and allegedly funded by Iran, was allowed to carry on with impunity and remains at large and in uniform.

The al-Jameat police headquarters in southwestern Basra, scene of the clashes with British troops, came to the notice of coalition forces and local Iraqis earlier this year. It was the base for about 200 Iraqi policeman and included units of the Internal Affairs Directorate and Serious Crimes Unit, both heavily implicated in a series of abductions and killings in Basra.

This unit was allegedly connected to a terrorist cell responsible for recent attacks on British units in the city.

Sheikh Ahmed al-Fartusi, arrested by British troops on Sunday with Sayeed Sajad, another terrorist suspect, is believed to be a senior leader in the police mafia at al-Jameat and commander of a terrorist group receiving funding and weaponry from Iran.

It was the detention of al-Fartusi, a former Iraqi army officer, that sparked Monday's unrest. Sources said that after the two British special surveillance troops were arrested while observing al-Jameat, the policemen and their militant allies tried to barter them in return for al-Fartusi’s release.

Al-Fartusi’s terrorist cell is said to be a splinter group of the Mahdi Army, whose followers are loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand cleric at the centre of last year’s Shia insurgency. Now more of a populist, political figure, al-Sadr is not believed to have been aware, or in control, of al-Fartusi’s activities. Al-Fartusi, 32, had been sacked from a command position in the Mahdi Army. Iran, however, was aware of his operations. This year an influx of sophisticated shape-charge devices appeared in southern Iraq. New methods and materiel bore the hallmarks of the Iranian-funded Hezbollah movement.

Al-Fartusi had other powerful supporters. A day after his arrest, an Iraqi official delegation, including the Minister for Transport, asked the British to release him. They are unlikely to have been aware of al-Fartusi’s terrorist activities: to them he represented influence, prestige and a counterbalance to the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, a rival grouping to al-Sadr’s movement. The power struggle between these Shia parties is at the heart of the paralysis and corruption in the Ministry for the Interior and may explain why its demands for the release of the soldiers fell on deaf ears.

Other units among Basra’s 13,500 police refused to act against the al-Jameat gang. They received no backing to do so from the Ministry of the Interior and were concerned that a unilateral operation might have ignited inter-Shia fighting. The city’s police chief was unable to dismiss any officers without ministerial consent.

An uneasy calm has now descended on the city. Coalition officers are keen to point out that Monday’s action, which resulted in the virtual destruction of the al-Jameat headquarters, has been supported by many locals sick of police death-squads and corruption.

Undercover work to get near the group of rogue cops. Making sense yet? If they did shoot at a cop... could it have been perhaps... a bad cop?!

But, yes! Damn those soldiers for doing their job and trying to stop them.

[Mekorig]

Has Kratos says, please, the conspiracies in their respective forum.

In other thing, while the "undercover operation for cachting corrupt police mens" is very pausible (and logical), the "consiracy theory also have some base. I read that the guys have explosives and other things that while can be use for defense, also can be use to make "explosive incidents".

[__Kratos__]

*waits for the sky to fall* Mekorig agreed with me...

update:

Stupidest thing I've heard all day is this: Iraqis demand apology from Britain

BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) - Basra city leaders vowed on Thursday not to cooperate with British forces until they received an apology and compensation for a late-night raid by British troops that freed two detained soldiers.

The governor of Iraq's second largest city said a unanimous decision had been taken at a provincial council meeting late on Wednesday and it was now up to British forces to make a move to end the dispute that has fueled anger toward foreign troops.

"The governing council ... decided to stop all cooperation with the British until they meet three demands," Governor Mohammed al-Waili told Reuters.

"To apologize for what happened, to guarantee that it does not happen again, and third, to provide some compensation for all the damage they did during the operation," he said, referring to the crushing of jail walls by armored vehicles.

Waili said he expected the governing council to meet British military officials on Friday or Saturday. Stewart Innes, an official with Britain's consulate in Basra, confirmed negotiations were planned but did not say for when.

"We will enter negotiations with the (governing council) in order to reach a solution to our problems," he told reporters.

British troops, meanwhile, confined themselves to their barracks in and around Basra, lowering their profile in an effort to tamp down tensions caused by Monday's raid.

Basra residents said British forces were nowhere to be seen on the city's streets, whereas they would normally be involved in daily joint patrols with the Iraqi police and military.

A British serviceman reached by phone in Basra said troops were staying on base and keeping a deliberately low profile.

He said there were concerns about what would happen on Friday, the Muslim holy day, when preachers at mosques are expected to denounce Britain's actions, roiling public opinion.

"NO EXPLOSIVES"

The rescue of the two soldiers provoked anti-British protests in Basra on Wednesday. The two men were working undercover when they were approached by Iraqi police, and fired on the police before being arrested.

Britain says it had to rescue the men because they were handed over to a local militia by the Iraqi police after they were detained, but Iraq says they were always in police custody.

British commander Colonel Nick Henderson, who led the operation to free the men, said no raid would have been necessary if Iraqi security forces had just handed over the men.

"We looked inside buildings and we didn't find them and we discovered they were moved elsewhere," he told reporters in Basra. He also denied the pair were carrying explosives with them when they were detained, as Iraq police have suggested.

The incident revealed the fragility of the peace that exists in the city, which has been relatively calm since the U.S.-led invasion, and sparked tensions between London and Baghdad.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari and British Defense Secretary John Reid said after meeting in London on Wednesday, however, that diplomatic ties had not been harmed.

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Just... wow.

[Iilaa'mpuul'xem]

Scooby, It worries me that you probably believe that crap you posted. This is "world events and current affairs" not "Conspiracies"

[scoobysnack]

Scooby, It worries me that you probably believe that crap you posted. This is "world events and current affairs" not "Conspiracies"

So the the world events and current affairs section is only for information given to you from the government controlled media. You believe everything the government has to say especially during war time even though the government can legally lie to you through the use of classification and just keeping things secret? Sounds like the British government is in full spin cycle mode pushing it on the people through the use of the government influenced media.

"One cannot wage war under present conditions without the support of public opinion, which is tremendously molded by the press and other forms of propaganda."

--General Douglas MacArthur

all you have to do is look at the 93' wtc bombing where it "is" an ADMITTED FACT that the FBI hired a retired Egyptian officer,paid him A MILLION DOLLARS and had him hire recruits(in the guise of a terrorist location operation),SUPPLIED THEM with explosives and allowed them to detonates it--the Egyptian officer was appalled by the actions of the FBI as the original plan called for them to "SUBSTITUE" the explosives with an inert dummy substance so he began recording the conversations where the FBI DEMANDED he not intervene with the NOW LIVE operation--any one here NOT know this??

Government sponsored terrorism is a more likely scenario. Sad but entirely true. This is no conspiracy. This is the truth, and the truth needs to be known.

By David Ruppe

ABC NEWS

N E W Y O R K, May 1, 2001 In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba.

Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities.

The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro.

America's top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation."

Details of the plans are described in Body of Secrets (Doubleday), a new book by investigative reporter James Bamford about the history of America's largest spy agency, the National Security Agency. However, the plans were not connected to the agency, he notes.

The plans had the written approval of all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and were presented to President Kennedy's defense secretary, Robert McNamara, in March 1962. But they apparently were rejected by the civilian leadership and have gone undisclosed for nearly 40 years.

"These were Joint Chiefs of Staff documents. The reason these were held secret for so long is the Joint Chiefs never wanted to give these up because they were so embarrassing," Bamford told ABCNEWS.com.

"The whole point of a democracy is to have leaders responding to the public will, and here this is the complete reverse, the military trying to trick the American people into a war that they want but that nobody else wants."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1

Edited September 22, 2005 by scoobysnack