.
Judge in Basra has issued an arrest warrant.
Just listened to breaking news story on BBC World radio.
No link on the Internet yet … a few hours later ::
«« click on pic to enlarge
Judge al-Mudhafa renewed arrest warrants for two British soldiers who were rescued from jail early this week by troops using armor to crash through the prison walls.
AP Photo/Nabil al-Jurani
BASRA, Iraq (Reuters) Sept. 24, 2005 — Judge Raghib Hassan has issued arrest warrants for two British soldiers accused of killing a policeman in Basra. The two UK soldiers, believed to be SAS undercover agents, are accused of wounding a second Iraqi policeman, carrying unlicensed weapons and holding false identification, Kassim al-Sabti, head of the lawyers’ syndicate in Basra, told Reuters.
British Defense Secretary John Reid said the Ministry of Defense had not received any arrest warrant for British soldiers in Iraq, adding that in any case the warrants would have no legal basis. “Under Iraqi law it is quite clear that British forces remain subject to British jurisdiction,” he said in a statement.
More to follow below the fold »»
● Stand-off Basra :: Iraqi vs UK Forces – Riots After UK Soldiers Arrested
● TIMELINE :: Basra Police Station – Jail Break – MoD Lies IRAN Crusade
Iraqi police had briefly detained the two UK soldiers in Basra, before British troops freed them. Their current whereabouts is not known. In a bid to set them free, British forces were initially repelled as a crowd of angry Iraqis petrol-bombed an armored vehicle.
British armored vehicles later broke down the walls of the police station, and the men were rescued. Basra authorities said British troops killed two Iraqi police during the raid.
Basra’s governing council has suspended all cooperation with the British until they apologize, guarantee that similar actions do not recur and provide compensation for damage inflicted.
Two investigations into the events leading up to the rescue are under way by Iraqi authorities and the British military.
Iraqi police said U.S. troops killed a family of four in Kerbala, south of Baghdad, reflecting military nerves on edge across the country. Police said the family’s passenger car apparently got too close to a U.S. convoy, which opened fire, killing a father and mother, their 13-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter.
RALLY IN SUPPORT OF A NEW CONSTITUTION
Basra is the largest city in majority-Shi’ite southern Iraq, and thousands of citizens rallied today in support of a proposed new Iraqi constitution which many Shi’ites hope will boost their status in the fragmented country.
The rally followed calls last week by Iraq’s most senior Shi’ite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, to vote in favor of the charter, which will be put to a referendum on October 15.
Shi’ites were suppressed under Saddam Hussein, who banned major religious ceremonies at the holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala and crushed a Shi’ite revolt in 1991. Such ceremonies have drawn crowds of a million or more since he was ousted.
The Basra Incident and a New Threat
The British fear was that the two soldiers would be held as hostages for al-Fartusi. Hence the rapid operation to free them.
But another more shadowy threat has been reported recently.
This is said to come from a fighter named Abu Mustafa al-Sheibani. The Americans and British claim he is backed by Iran, which wants to exert its influence in southern Iraq. Little is known about him beyond a report in Time Magazine based on intelligence briefings in Baghdad.
Al-Sheibani is suspected of being responsible for roadside bombs which killed three British soldiers in July and possibly more recent attacks which have seen three other soldiers killed this month. The bombs used by his group are said to be similar to those of Hezbollah, the Lebanese group supported by Iran.
Infra Red Activated IEDs in Basra
It is not clear if al-Sheibani’s small force (put at fewer than 300) is a one-off threat which can be contained or the start of a more general movement.
[…]
See my earlier note on new fabrication to accuse Iran for incidents in Southern Iraq. Infra Red Activated IEDs in Basra
Teheran, July 15 (DPA) Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari’s visit to Iran will be an opportunity for both countries “to come to terms with the past”, an Iraqi official said Friday.
“Jafari will arrive in Teheran on Saturday for a three to four day visit which will be a unique opportunity to come to terms with the past and settle problems of the last 1,200 years,” Mohsen Hakim, a spokesman of the Iraqi Shiite party SCIRI, told ISNA news agency.
Iran promised Iraq one $1 bn financial aid for reconstruction in the war-torn country after al-Dalimi apologised to Iran for war crimes committed under the Saddam regime.
Origin of Deceit & Lies to stay in Iraq and launch an attack on Iran ::
Iran exports terror – Hezbollah in Lebanon and Moqtada Al-Sadr in Iraq.
Palestinian territory – Israel to ban Hamas from democratic elections in Gaza and West Bank.
.
Peace?
President Bush receives a briefing on national policy issues from VP Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B. Myers, U.S. Air Force, at the Pentagon.AP Photo/Department of Defense, Tech. Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald, U.S. Air Force
Rather than being a tragic reminder of past Cold War conflicts, confined to a remote and barbarous country, Angola’s present condition is an example of the handiwork of men like Secretary of Defence Rumsfeld, who strenuously lobbied for the removal of Congressional barriers on arming anti-government forces in the mid-1970s, Dick Cheney, a tireless supporter of UNITA, and George Bush senior, who both as president and head of the CIA prosecuted the war.
In claiming that the Angolan war was the result of super-power rivalry, the U.S. press is echoing the words of Henry Kissinger.
Conflicting Missions – Henry Kissinger
Secret Cuban Documents on History of Africa Involvement
A. Membe at Peace Talks in The Hague
▼ ▼ ▼
.
By William Bowles
Sept. 19 — Fascinating. No really, the `evolution’ of state disinformation has probably never been better displayed than in the case of the two (more than likely) SAS soldiers who were `liberated’ after being arrested by the Iraqi police on 19 September by a phalanx of tanks and helicopter gunships that stormed the police station where the two undercover soldiers were being held after they allegedly failed to stop at an Iraqi police roadblock and subsequently opened fire on the Iraqi police, killing one and wounding another.
The car they were travelling in was loaded with weapons including allegedly, assault rifles, a light machine gun, an anti-tank weapon, radio gear and a medical kit (‘standard’ SAS issue according to the BBC). According to at least two reports, the car they were traveling in (A Toyota Cressida) was “booby-trapped”
Subsequent accounts vary according to the source but according to the initial story broadcast on the BBC (19/9/05), the two men wore traditional Arab dress but then this changed to “civilian dress” (BBC TV News).
[…]
By now, in a classic disinformation campaign, so many stories were being circulated that sorting out the truth from fiction was virtually impossible unless one is prepared to dig and dig deep.
What is clear is that the two SAS “undercover operatives” had been caught red-handed by the British government’s alleged allies, the Iraqi police, dressed as Arabs, replete with wigs and armed to the teeth and in a car which according to one report, was packed with explosives (the car by the way, has been taken away by the British occupation forces).
Iraqi policemen search a car at a checkpoint in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. Local authorities in southern Iraq said they were halting cooperation with British forces, whose soldiers stormed a Basra jail to release two of their men, until the pair was handed back to face Iraqi justice. AFP/Essam Al-Sudani[…]
So now, the two undercover SAS men were, it is imputed, searching for `insurgents’ as part of a counter-insurgency operation, which if true, what were they doing dressed as Iraqis?
Were they on some kind of provocative operation? According to one report, this is exactly what they were up to. Fattah al-Shaykh, a member of the Iraqi National Assembly told this account to al-Jazeera
If you really want to look for truth, then we should resort to the Iraqi justice away from the British provocations against the sons of Basra, particularly what happened today when the sons of Basra caught two non-Iraqis, who seem to be Britons and were in a car of the Cressida type. It was a booby-trapped car laden with ammunition and was meant to explode in the centre of the city of Basra in the popular market. However, the sons of the city of Basra arrested them. They [the two non-Iraqis] then fired at the people there and killed some of them. The two arrested persons are now at the Intelligence Department in Basra, and they were held by the National Guard force, but the British occupation forces are still surrounding this department in an attempt to absolve them of the crime.
And in yet another report from Syrian TV we read
[Al-Munajjid] In fact, Nidal, this incident gave answers to questions and suspicions that were lacking evidence about the participation of the occupation in some armed operations in Iraq. Many analysts and observers here had suspicions that the occupation was involved in some armed operations against civilians and places of worship and in the killing of scientists. But those were only suspicions that lacked proof. The proof came today through the arrest of the two British soldiers while they were planting explosives in one of the Basra streets. This proves, according to observers, that the occupation is not far from many operations that seek to sow sedition and maintain disorder, as this would give the occupation the justification to stay in Iraq for a longer period.
When viewed in the context of all the stories that have been circulating about the mythical `al-Zarqawi’ and the alleged role of al-Queda, the events in Basra are the first real evidence that we have of the role of occupation forces in destabilising Iraq through the use of agents provocateurs masquerading as `insurgents’.
And, as I have long alleged here, it is now almost certain that `al-Zarqawi’ is probably long dead.
[…]
The story that complicates this case further, has not been picked up by William Knowles, is the floating of false information about the Infra Red Devices or Bombs produced by Iran for Hezbollah in Lebanon and now used by Iraqi insurgents.
▼ ▼ ▼
The two SAS agents may indeed have been agent provocateurs.
An alternate explanation is that they were pretending to be Iraqi insurgents in order to infiltrate the insurgency. This, too, is a plausible explanation. Don’t American police, for example, “go undercover” and pretend to be drug dealers, etc., in order to catch real criminals?
What you will never know is the truth. The true mission of these two SAS is going to be kept a secret, forever. That’s the way they operate.
One thing is beyond doubt: the SAS were operating on orders from on high–that means 10 Downing Street, aka Blair’s government. And because of the Official Secrets Act, you will never, ever know what that mission really was.
As for the question of whether or not they ought to be handed over to the “proper authorities”–well, what proper authorities? The only true governmental authority in Basra is the British Army, and if you doubt that, then ask yourself why it is that a British Warrior armoured vehicle smashed through the wall of a prison in an attempt to free the two SAS. Basra is ruled by gangs, and the British Army just happens to be the biggest, toughest boys in the neighbourhood.
here
Saturday September 24, 09:29 PM
An Iraqi judge has issued an arrest warrant for two SAS soldiers who were rescued by UK forces.The judge said they were wanted in connection with the deaths of several Iraqis during a confrontation with the British Army.He warned the two men could face a life sentence if found guilty of deliberately killing an Iraqi civilian during a disturbance.
.
“What our police found in their car was very disturbing – weapons, explosives, and a remote control detonator. These are the weapons of terrorists. We believe these soldiers were planning an attack on a market or other civilian targets,” Sheik Hassan al-Zarqani, spokesman for the Mehdi Army said.
What needs to be given more attention in the wake of recent clashes that broke out in Basra following the arrest of two British soldier last week is whether those commandos were planning an attack or not, whether their car did have explosives or not? The answer to this question is crucial for the future of Iraq and Bush’s so-called “war on terror”.
If allegations that the soldiers’ car was loaded with explosives were proved, this will strengthen the theory suggesting that the British and American Intelligence is involved in the persistent and violent acts of “terror” spreading across Iraq, which means that the current “counterinsurgency” efforts involve the premeditated killing of innocent civilians to achieve the U.S. policy objectives. Isn’t this the very definition of terrorism?
Numerous news reports, including BBC and the Washington Post asserted that bomb-making material was indeed found in the captured vehicle.
“The Iraqi security officials on Monday variously accused two Britons they detained of shooting at Iraqi forces or trying to plant explosives,” The Post’s Ellen Knickmeyer stated.
▼ ▼ ▼