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British Soldiers Fighting . . .

CaptnKirk

CaptnKirk

Lifer
British Soldiers arrested for planting bombs

This is not going to look good in a Public Relations Dossier:

<WashPost>

BASRA, Iraq, Sept. 19 -- Heavy clashes erupted Monday between Iraqi police and British soldiers based in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, witnesses said.

The clashes are the latest in surging tensions in Basra, a Shiite-dominated city that had long been one of Iraq's calmest. Attacks have targeted Britons and Americans there.

Monday's clashes stemmed from the arrest by Iraqi police on Sunday of two British soldiers, whom Iraqi police accused of planting bombs. Iraqi officials described the two as undercover soldiers dressed in civilian clothes and said a shooting incident broke out when police stopped their civilian vehicle.

A Western military spokesman in Basra confirmed "an ongoing disturbance" in the city on Monday but said Iraqi and British forces were working together to quell it.

"There is public disorder going on," the official said. "We are aware that Iraqi authorities are holding U.K. service personnel, and we are liaising with Iraqi authorities on the matter."

Witnesses said the clashes developed amid British attempts to win the release of the two Britons. Fighting in the city continued into Monday evening, and witnesses saw a British armored vehicle in flames after it was allegedly set on fire by Iraqi police. Police convoys circulated in downtown Basra, urging residents to help stop the British from freeing the two soldiers.

Earlier, gunmen loyal to a radical Shiite Muslim cleric attacked the house of Basra's governor to press demands for the release of two prominent members of the cleric's militia who were arrested Sunday by British forces.

The house of Mohammed Musabah, a 43-year-old technocrat who runs Basra, came under attack early Monday from rocket-propelled grenades and mortar rounds. There were no reports of injuries.

Musabah, a former businessman who took office in Basra in March, blamed the attack on the militia of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose movement is a rival to the Shiite political party that now holds political power in Basra.

< . . and a whole lot more />

Who are the 'Insurgents' - again ?
 
wow

these two guys land in a shootout, two iraqi policemen dead, they are arrested
their buddies storm the prison, brake down the walls, get their men back and release some other prisoners as well

this is going so horribly wrong from the start
 
So, British undercover agents caught with explosives. Probably potential terrorists planning on stirring trouble. We'll see how much Blair's commitment to fighting terrorism is worth.
 
What the heck did those Limeys do? Yahoo has photos of burning British soldiers, burning tanks, Iraqi kids attacking tanks and troops with rocks and Molitovs. Now even the Iraqi toddlers are on the rampage.
 
WTF? i read this on CNN site.
so some British sodliers opened fire on a crowd. hitting a few (but nto killing) then was captured latter in the day. So the british army bust them out?

odd wonder what the real story is? or if that is the full story
 
This certainly is strange. OTOH, with all the reports on how various factions control significant portions of the Iraqi Police it wouldn't surprise me if one of these factions pull some bizzarre stunts in order to stir things up.
 
Originally posted by: waggy
WTF? i read this on CNN site.
so some British sodliers opened fire on a crowd. hitting a few (but nto killing) then was captured latter in the day. So the british army bust them out?

odd wonder what the real story is? or if that is the full story
Click to expand...
Here's a bit more:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1573681,00.html
Violence erupted in Basra this afternoon following the arrest of two British soldiers for allegedly killing one policeman and wounding another.

British troops fired on crowds throwing petrol bombs, burning furniture and tyres which set at least one tank on fire. Reuters witnesses said a British soldier was engulfed by flames as he scrambled out of the burning tank, being pelted with stones by the crowd. Two Iraqis were killed in the violence, an Interior Ministry official said. The fighting broke out after two British soldiers, allegedly dressed as Arabs, opened fire on a police patrol killing one officer and wounding another.
Click to expand...

Then, consider this:

Al Zarqawi phenomenon
http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_s...le_east_full_story.asp?service_id=9665


Perhaps Zarqawi's continued "presence" is a Negroponte special?
 
This story is a bit more complicated than "UK soldiers Gone Wild."

As heard on NPR . . .

Apparently, the "peaceful" south was largely a function of Shi'ites that didn't have anything to fight about and British soldiers treading lightly. Cognizant of a need for domestic security forces, the Brits cobbled together a police force that was largely composed of local militias. Unfortunately, most forces continued to be loyal to the militia leadership NOT the police. But in the absence of significant antagonism between militias (or agitation by the Brits), it didn't matter.

Fast forward . . . two "undercover" Brits were allegedly captured by the Iraqi police. British authorities beotch-slapped someone at the Interior ministry that promptly ordered the local police to release the UK intelligence operatives. The timing is a bit suspect here, but at some point the local police handed the UK spies over to one of the militias. But remember, the local militias and the police are basically the same thing.

The local UK commander had "info" about the possible risk to his men, so he ordered the attack on the police station. After attacking the station, they attained info about the current location of the UK operatives. The UK CO then ordered the attack on two residences and subsequently extracted the two UK operatives.

In essence, the Brits were running their own intelligence operation and didn't trust the locals to be involved/informed. After it went south, they acted with impunity to retrieve their men (granted, the fear of mortal harm might have been justified).
 
Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
This story is a bit more complicated than "UK soldiers Gone Wild."

As heard on NPR . . .

Apparently, the "peaceful" south was largely a function of Shi'ites that didn't have anything to fight about and British soldiers treading lightly. Cognizant of a need for domestic security forces, the Brits cobbled together a police force that was largely composed of local militias. Unfortunately, most forces continued to be loyal to the militia leadership NOT the police. But in the absence of significant antagonism between militias (or agitation by the Brits), it didn't matter.

Fast forward . . . two "undercover" Brits were allegedly captured by the Iraqi police. British authorities beotch-slapped someone at the Interior ministry that promptly ordered the local police to release the UK intelligence operatives. The timing is a bit suspect here, but at some point the local police handed the UK spies over to one of the militias. But remember, the local militias and the police are basically the same thing.

The local UK commander had "info" about the possible risk to his men, so he ordered the attack on the police station. After attacking the station, they attained info about the current location of the UK operatives. The UK CO then ordered the attack on two residences and subsequently extracted the two UK operatives.

In essence, the Brits were running their own intelligence operation and didn't trust the locals to be involved/informed. After it went south, they acted with impunity to retrieve their men (granted, the fear of mortal harm might have been justified).
Click to expand...
. . . Which is why I listen to NPR daily. :thumbsup:

 
Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc
This story is a bit more complicated than "UK soldiers Gone Wild."

As heard on NPR . . .

Apparently, the "peaceful" south was largely a function of Shi'ites that didn't have anything to fight about and British soldiers treading lightly. Cognizant of a need for domestic security forces, the Brits cobbled together a police force that was largely composed of local militias. Unfortunately, most forces continued to be loyal to the militia leadership NOT the police. But in the absence of significant antagonism between militias (or agitation by the Brits), it didn't matter.

Fast forward . . . two "undercover" Brits were allegedly captured by the Iraqi police. British authorities beotch-slapped someone at the Interior ministry that promptly ordered the local police to release the UK intelligence operatives. The timing is a bit suspect here, but at some point the local police handed the UK spies over to one of the militias. But remember, the local militias and the police are basically the same thing.

The local UK commander had "info" about the possible risk to his men, so he ordered the attack on the police station. After attacking the station, they attained info about the current location of the UK operatives. The UK CO then ordered the attack on two residences and subsequently extracted the two UK operatives.

In essence, the Brits were running their own intelligence operation and didn't trust the locals to be involved/informed. After it went south, they acted with impunity to retrieve their men (granted, the fear of mortal harm might have been justified).
Click to expand...


Sounds like a friggin movie script.


 
Originally posted by: conjur
Image

Ouch.
Click to expand...

While it seems a bit hypocritical, I've always sorta cheered for the Brits in the south. They weren't running around shooting everything that moved and they seemed genuinely aware that they were "guests". Unfortunately, they violated two of the primary tenets of being a good guest . . . "don't break anything" and "don't wait to be asked to leave."

It's ironic that just yesterday (or so), the Brits announced they would stay until they were asked to leave. I doubt the Interior Ministry will do it, but I have a strong suspicion that locals may have a different opinion.
 
There's more than one ham sandwithch that ain't Kosher here.

Who were the 'British Agents' and why was it so important to bust & run.
There's more substance to the silence - than in the press released words.
 
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