Posted on 09/20/2005 6:57:45 PM PDT by injin
Iraq's National Security Adviser Muwafaq al-Rubaie has admitted the country's security forces have been infiltrated by insurgents. snip 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. snip The British Army confirmed the troops had been handed over by police to a Shia militia group.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
what sort of vetting process do they employ?
If you show up, you have a job.
Someone needs to make fat boy Sadr disappear. No corpse, no explanation. Just make him vanish. That will help avenge the death of Steven Vincent among many others, and deny the psychos their martyr.
Agreed.
the SAS should be truly unleashed , no rules of engagement .
Here is a paragraph from an editorial in the Daily Telegraph (logon required), which has generally supported the Iraq war:
Edging with the troops into Basra in April 2003, it seemed to me likely that the planners' dreams were about to come true. People cheered and waved and chanted the names of Bush and Blair, and the soldiers were mobbed by fascinated children.
But there were plenty who were not applauding. They were too busy looting hospitals and government buildings of anything they could load on to a donkey cart or carry on their backs.
The troops stood and watched them. They have, by and large, turned a blind eye to lawlessness ever since. That seemed the prudent thing to do at the time. Tackling the militias head on would have snared us in a vicious running battle and run the risk of high casualties. It was clear that our presence would be tolerated as long as we left the Badr Brigades and the Mahdi Army to do their own thing relatively unmolested. That arrangement came unstuck with the arrest of two Madhi Army leaders this week, the event that triggered the drama.
The key sentence:
Tackling the militias head on would have snared us in a vicious running battle and run the risk of high casualties.
In other words, we would have had to do something difficult and nasty, like those brutish Americans, and work up a sweat (how un-European).
The Brits have made their bed, but in the end I suspect we and the Iraqis will have to lay in it.
Labour doesn't have the will to control the militias in Belfast for Chrissake, do you think they'll do something in Basra?
...actually, you don't even have to show up! Oh, and it takes Ministry of Interior approval to fire anyone.
Regards,
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