Basra: Two Special Ops Brits in Wigs
Justin Raimondo, brutally clipped
ether zone: ...It doesn't matter much in the end whether or not the Brits were engaged in some funny business in Basra: what matters is that they appear to have done so. That may be enough to plunge a heretofore relatively quiet region of Iraq into civil war and chaos.
A British contingent that was widely believed to have been on its way home will be indefinitely delayed: the rumored withdrawal canceled, because, you see, to leave now would just make things worse. Or so the story goes...
There is a lot of nonsense floating around about the circumstances surrounding this incident, not the least of which is the canard that the Iraqi police have been "infiltrated" by "insurgents" and that's why the two Brit spies were supposedly in danger and had to be "rescued." The reality is that the Mahdi Army, SCIRI, and all the other Muslim party-backed militias are part of the elected government of Iraq: their representatives sit in the National Assembly, where they have a majority when they vote as a bloc. They aren't "insurgents" - they're supposed to be our allies! As they stand up, George W. Bush tells us, America will stand down. So how are they suddenly "insurgents"?
The spectacle of Britain's defense minister, John Reid, calling on the Iraqi authorities demanding "answers" reflects a breathtaking arrogance. It is the Brits who have to come up with some answers, and quickly, before the situation on the ground degenerates any further. Already, the local government authorities in Basra, including the governor, have unanimously voted to cease all cooperation with the British occupiers.
No amount of spinning and outright lying - the British government initially denied there was even a confrontation, and claimed that the two were released as a result of "negotiations" - is going to let them wriggle out of this one. London has a full-scale rebellion on its hands, and if the Iraqis aren't sufficiently appeased, the revolt could soon spread northward, to the American sector, in which case it would become Washington's problem, too. Read in full
ether zone: ...It doesn't matter much in the end whether or not the Brits were engaged in some funny business in Basra: what matters is that they appear to have done so. That may be enough to plunge a heretofore relatively quiet region of Iraq into civil war and chaos.
A British contingent that was widely believed to have been on its way home will be indefinitely delayed: the rumored withdrawal canceled, because, you see, to leave now would just make things worse. Or so the story goes...
There is a lot of nonsense floating around about the circumstances surrounding this incident, not the least of which is the canard that the Iraqi police have been "infiltrated" by "insurgents" and that's why the two Brit spies were supposedly in danger and had to be "rescued." The reality is that the Mahdi Army, SCIRI, and all the other Muslim party-backed militias are part of the elected government of Iraq: their representatives sit in the National Assembly, where they have a majority when they vote as a bloc. They aren't "insurgents" - they're supposed to be our allies! As they stand up, George W. Bush tells us, America will stand down. So how are they suddenly "insurgents"?
The spectacle of Britain's defense minister, John Reid, calling on the Iraqi authorities demanding "answers" reflects a breathtaking arrogance. It is the Brits who have to come up with some answers, and quickly, before the situation on the ground degenerates any further. Already, the local government authorities in Basra, including the governor, have unanimously voted to cease all cooperation with the British occupiers.
No amount of spinning and outright lying - the British government initially denied there was even a confrontation, and claimed that the two were released as a result of "negotiations" - is going to let them wriggle out of this one. London has a full-scale rebellion on its hands, and if the Iraqis aren't sufficiently appeased, the revolt could soon spread northward, to the American sector, in which case it would become Washington's problem, too. Read in full
posted by exoplanet at 2:13 PM
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