The Iraqi government launched an inquiry into an incident in which an Iraqi prison was attacked by British forces in order to free two British special operation soldiers arrested in Basra. The clandestine soldiers dressed as locals were accused of shooting two Iraqi policemen who approached them. This is a relatively old news story, however it may be in some small part evidence that coalition forces are exacerbating civil disorder in Iraq - for reasons that are yet to be disclosed. Recall the Gulf of Tonkin and the USS Liberty. This is may be the "spikes of activity" approach at work.
The Iraqi government launched an inquiry into a 19 September 2005 incident in which an Iraqi prison was attacked by British forces in order to free two British special operation soldiers arrested in Basra.
Two U.K. soldiers assigned to the Special Air Service (SAS), the unit after which the American Delta Force is modeled, were arrested in Basra, Iraq.
When they were arrested by a Shia militia loyal to the Iraqi government they were dressed in traditional Arab clothing. The militia accused these special operators of shooting two Iraqi policemen, wouding one and killing the other.
"Richard Galpin said al-Jazeera news channel footage, purportedly of the equipment carried in the men's car, showed assault rifles, a light machine gun, an anti-tank weapon, radio gear and medical kit*." Other sources say the unmarked vehicle was carrying “'weapons, explosives and communications gear*****.'”
A liason envoy of U.K. military personnel, including a legal services officer, was sent to the prison where they were held to help support efforts to release the soldiers, but to no avail.
U.K. forces then conducted a rescue operation in which a Warrior armoured vehicle demolished one of the prison's walls, allowing other prisoners to escape as well. "An Iraqi television cameraman who lives across the street from the jail said about 150 Iraqi prisoners also fled as British troops stormed inside and rescued their comrades****." The Warrior vehicles were backed by helicopter gunships.
The British Ministry of Defence asserted that the release of the soldiers had been secured through diplomatic measures and that the damage to the prison was an accident.
"Although British troops and Iraqi security forces supposedly work together, in Basra the relationship has soured. Soldiers have been told not to stop if challenged while working under-cover, as insurgents often masquerade as police officers**."
"The incident climaxed a confrontation between the two nominal allies that had sparked hours of gun battles and rioting in Basra's streets***."
But Iraqi officials, who had dispatched a senior judge to question the pair, were insisting that the British military in Basra had confirmed that they were on an undercover mission. Mohammed al-Abadi, an official of the Basra authorities, said their cover had been blown after local police became suspicious and approached them. "A policeman approached them and then one of these guys fired at him. Then the police managed to capture them," he said. "They refused to say what their mission was. They said they were British soldiers and [suggested] to ask their commander about their mission."
Defence sources have told The Scotsman that the soldiers were part of an undercover special forces detachment set up this year to try to "bridge the intelligence void" in Basra. The detachment draws on special forces' experience in Northern Ireland and Aden, where British troops went "deep" undercover in local communities to try to break the code of silence against foreign forces.
The troops are under the jurisdiction of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment that was formed last year by the then defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, to gather so-called human intelligence during counter-terrorist missions. ****
The Special Reconnaisance Regiment (SRR) is stationed at Hereford, the home of British special operations. The Ministry of Defence said the SRR was created to provide "a wide range of specialist skills and activities related to covert surveillance."
A British military investigator, Cpt. Ken Masters, thought to be involved in investigating the incident, was found hanged in Basra on 21 October 2005.
In light of these facts, many sources have questioned whether or not these special operators were acting as provocateurs.
Writing for the Globalresearch web site, Michel Chossudovsky states, “Several media reports and eyewitness accounts suggested that the SAS operatives were disguised as Al Qaeda ‘terrorists’ and were planning to set off the bombs in Basra’s central square during a major religious event.”
He cites an interview broadcast by the Arab news channel Al Jazeera with Fattah al-Shaykh, a member of the Iraqi National Assembly, denouncing “British provocations” in Basra.
The SAS men were in “a booby-trapped car laden with ammunition” that “was meant to explode in the centre of the city of Basra,” before they were arrested, al-Shaykh claimed. The British Army’s attack on the prison facility was aimed at concealing the nature of the SAS officers’ operation, he continued.
In another report, Al Jazeera quoted Sheik Hassan al-Zarqani, a spokesman for the Mehdi army led by Moqtada al-Sadr, stating, “We believe these soldiers were planning an attack on a market or other civilian targets.”
The news agency continued, “If allegations that the soldiers’ car was loaded with explosives are proved, this will strengthen the theory suggesting that British and American intelligence are 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 US policy objectives.”*****
"Initial reports in Britain on the SAS officers’ arrest had claimed that the two were working undercover to root out Iranian-backed 'terrorists' who were using sophisticated bombs to kill British soldiers. The subsequent army assault on the Jamiyat prison was justified with the claim that the captured SAS officers had been handed over by prison staff to local militias and that the militias had heavily infiltrated Basra’s police. This official version of events was amended by army sources around the same time as Masters died to explicitly link the activities of the two SAS officers to the stormed prison facility. The Sunday Telegraph, October 16, published a report based on unnamed 'military sources' claiming that 'the real story' behind the SAS men’s undercover operation was that they had been spying on 'several members of the Iraqi police, who were believed to be responsible for torturing prisoners at the notorious Jamiyat prison in Basra*****.'"
Though it is well known that clandestine services engage in subversion operations to incite civil disorder in nations controlled by opponents, it is unclear why the coalition forces would want to conduct subversion against a government in a country in which they occupy.
Other sources say that the soldiers:
had been spying on a senior police commander who was torturing prisoners with an electric drill, The Sunday Telegraph has reported. This version of the story behind the soldiers' undercover operation emerged last week after the British Government promised to pay compensation for any injury or damage caused during the rescue operation.
It is believed that the SAS had been ordered to carry out surveillance operations against several members of the Iraqi police, who were believed to be responsible for torturing prisoners at the notorious Jamiyat prison in Basra.
Military sources said that the operation was ordered by senior officers after the body of an Iraqi, who had been arrested by the police for smuggling and gun-running, was found on the outskirts of the city in April. An examination of his body had revealed that an electric drill had been used to penetrate his skull, hands and legs.
Iraqi sources later gave information to the British Army that suggested the torture had been carried out by a senior police officer.
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British Government ministers are concerned and embarrassed by the allegations of torture because it was the British Army that helped to recreate the police force and re-opened Jamiyat jail.
Brigadier John Lorimer, the officer who launched the raid to rescue the two SAS men who were taken prisoner, described the jail as a "very nasty place".
The two SAS men were flown back to England and debriefed by senior officers******.
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4264614.stm
**http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/20/wirq20.xml
***http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091900572.html?nav=rss_worl
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****news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1964592005
*****http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:UadilIsv3lsJ:www.wsws.org/articles/2005/oct2005/basr-o21_pr
n.shtml+SAS+arrested+in+Iraq&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=19
******http://www.theage.com.au/news/iraq/captured-sas-soldiers-spied-on-drill-torturer/2005/10/16/11
29401144904.html