Hope it's true but I'd wait to hear it from a few other sources...according to Fox, Basra fell 5 days ago...whoops.
Skynews and FOX are like the DEBKA of televison.
Stavka, this may be agit-prop on the part of the Brits. The reported uprising ws not witnesed by the journalist and had his info from an intel officer who added in the standard agit-prop line--just as people were questioning what was happening in Basra. It may also be the intel's humanitarian cover to excuse British shelling of Basra. Something they have to do but can't justifiy to the humanitarian types any other way--the Brits can't bee seen to be any different than the Serbs you know :)
http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-1085087,00.html
Reporter Richard Gaisford, who is with troops just west of Basra, said British intelligence officers there told him about the civil uprising.
He said the officers said intelligence from the city suggested that local people had indicated they would welcome the Allied forces but were in fear of Saddam loyalists.
"Now it seems they have had the courage to stand up to Saddam Hussein and his regime and they will be supported by British forces," Gaisford said.