Posted on 09/19/2005 1:23:25 PM PDT by jmc1969
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.
FR - The Basra of the Internet!
Terrorists dressed as Iraqi police murdered a NYT journalist last week in Basra, lets have 100% faith in people wearing Iraqi police uniforms !
How do you know there were terrorists and not authentic police mad at the journalist?
Unforunately I agree with you.
This is certainly not good news. Good news out of Basra hasn't really been abundant for the last couple of years.
Just by chance, I spent some time earlier today reading some of the late Vincent (sp?)'s accounts out of Basra, and the picture he paints is not a particularly enticing one. And, remember, this journalist was one of us...sort of.
Let's just say that I would not trust any member of the Basra Police force, nor any members of the city's judicial system.
The solution? I have no idea, but I certainly don't fault the Brits for getting out a few of their men. Even though, to my mind, they didn't quite fit the "cuddly" description that Swarthyguy gave them. Whther they really fit the description of "thugs", they certainly looked the part :-)
What are your thoughts?
Cheers.
But can't deny what Rumster said.
Combatants not in uniform......
Were these guys in uniform?
Because they murdered him by shooting him multiple times with an automatic weapon, for the crime of marrying a woman.
Either you just said that its OK for people to shoot people for no reason, in which case the two British guys have done no wrong in your eyes, or you just said that the local police can't be trusted and the two British shouldn't have been left with them. Or maybe even both.
You've twisted and turned throughout this thread so much that you've actually managed to negate your original premise. I don't think i've ever seen anyone defeat their own argument before. Good effort.
This story doesn't make any sense. Why didn't the Brits just call up the guy with keys, explain the situation, and get them sprung? That's what happens when the locals are within your military district.
Are you related to Adolf Hitler by any chance?
He had exactly the same view of British commandos during WWII.
I think I read your critique correctly then...
And, as I have indicated before I am trending more and more towards full agreement with you.
Basra now is a mess. Partly thanks to British policies. But, could it ever have turned into a "garden of eden"? I was so dumb that I believed it. I don't anymore, and when the Brits drop their cuddly approach for a while to get their boys out, I applaud them.
Perhaps, I have lost sight of the strategic long term victory, and is happy to see a small "feel-good" tactical domination.
The only and slight silverlining I can see on the horizon is to see a comback from the Allawi faction and the secularists. But, whether that is on the cards at all, and whether that anyhow would make a difference, I am fairly clueless about.
Perhaps, that's why I have largely stopped sharing my two cents on here anymore.
I fear that they are probably worth less than two old Iraqi dinars.
Cheers.
Oh sheesh!
death to sheesh!
Well, Dog, I feel that part of the problem is that the Brits, whom I tend to admire immensly, have gone to far in appeasing the unwholesome sections of Basraen society.
If having the people of Basra save face, is what created the current situation on the ground, perhaps a bit of "face loss" would have worked better?
But, as I said to Swarthyguy, I am fairly clueless about the whole thing... You, who probably are more on top of the situation, what's your take?
Cheers.
What I'm saying is that when armed soldiers dressed in civvies get caught in a warzone, according to our own rules, they are enemy combatants not subject to the normal laws that govern uniformed soldiers.
That these guys are British should give them a pass?
What do you think Iraqis will think of the rule of law?
Do you think this improves the image of the British in Basra? Do you believe that Iraqis will support the British in their breaking into a jail and freeing these guys?
How many others are running around Iraq in civvies?
Talk about playing into Iran's hands.
If you were from Basra, would you be more favorably inclined towards the British after they attacked this jail?
You forget to mention your little stint as a squatter in the Finsbury Park Mosque :-)
"But can't deny what Rumster said.
Combatants not in uniform......
Were these guys in uniform?"
I don't care what Rumsfeld said bcse it's utterly irrelevant to the objection I had to your post, which was your referring to sf and so guys as thugs. You think the removal of a uniform turns a highly trained soldier into a thug. I disagree. It may turn him into a spy under the terms of the Geneva convention, but not a thug. Now, maybe you just threw that word out there without consideration, but I suspect otherwise.
Who rattled your cage?
Just because my last name is Schiklgruber.....
But I think Otto Skorzeny was one hell of a kommando.
Yep. That was a local working for the NYT. Also, last month NYT report Steven Vincent was kidnapped and killed. He was reportedly working on a book about Basra which included claims that the security forces were dirty and infiltrated.
Pretty ignorant remarks given the present type of conflict.
'Commandoes' are Marines. These are not 'Commandoes'.
Squaddies are not permitted to wear beards.
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