FROM THE SAFETY OF THE ARMCHAIR GENERAL'S CHAIR part II

John Pilger blames Basra on the British

John Pilger, News Statesman, Monday 3rd October 2005

::

He had more than three facts at his finger tips but was still able to come to exactly the wrong conclusion, adding such totally useless statements as

Although reported initially by the Times and the Mail, all mention of the explosives allegedly found in the SAS men's unmarked Cressida vanished from the news. Instead, the story was the danger the men faced if they were handed over to the militia run by the "radical" cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "Radical" is a gratuitous embedded term; al-Sadr has actually co-operated with the British. What did he have to say about the "rescue"? Quite a lot, none of which was reported in this country. His spokesman Sheikh Hassan al-Zarqani said the SAS men, disguised as al-Sadr's followers, were planning an attack on Basra ahead of an important religious festival.

"When the police tried to stop them," he said, "[they] opened fire on the police and passers-by. After a car chase, they were arrested. What our police found in the car was very disturbing - weapons, explosives and a remote-control detonator. These are the weapons of terrorists.

The story more likely goes like this: the Two Scousers were caught with supplies to refresh another SAS team, which they were going to meet. No one has shown there were bombs in the kit, although there was a large amount of weapons, amunition and some comms. equipment. Even if there was a cache of explosives, its existence in the car does not necessarily mean it was going to be used to blow Iraqis up. It might have been there to blow Iranians up. It might be standard kit for SAS men to carry to blow holes in buildings if they find the need to do so.

It is now established there is a team of 25-30 British special forces operating in the Basrah area, and on the Iran-Iraq border, to deal with the influx of bombs that are being manufactured in Iran. The bombs used against British Forces vehicles have been forensically shown to be Iranian. It is said one of the jobs of the special forces teams is to drop listening devices on the border to attempt to catch those bringing th bombs over.

No one can be sure who is who in Iraqi Police uniform. The Two Scousers [SEE Scouser in Urbandictionary.com] were part of a team who were well aware that Shite militas operate in Police uniforms when they want to kidnap people, or that Iraqi Policemen in uniform sometimes act on behalf of militas rather than the Iraqi government.

Pilger might have asked why the British military would want to set off bombs for any reason. He would want to examine the speeches of Al Sadr or those of other militia leaders.

There is a well-documented history of dirty war by the British Army, especially well-documented in Northern Ireland, Mau Mau Kenya, Borneo, but this does not mean the British are now engaged in a dirty war in the Basrah area. In reality all armies engage in dirty wars because wars are dirty and those fighting them want to win. The British are renowned for their psychological warfare expertise. But it does not mean they are currently broadcasting lies, in Arabic to stir up trouble or achieve gaols they cannot achieve by more conventional means.

If Pilger is willing to propogate bilge such as this:

The Anglo-American goal of "federalism" for Iraq is part of an imperial strategy of provoking divisions in a country where the communities have long overlapped, even intermarried. The Osama-like promotion of al-Zarqawi is integral to this. Like the Scarlet Pimpernel, he is everywhere but nowhere. When the Americans crushed the city of Fallujah last year, the justification for their atrocious behaviour was "getting those guys loyal to al-Zarqawi". But the city's civil and religious authorities denied he was ever there or had anything to do with the resistance.

"He is simply an invention," said the imam of al-Kazimeya Mosque in Baghdad. "Al-Zarqawi was killed in the beginning of the war in the Kurdish north. His family even held a ceremony after his death." Whether or not this is true, al-Zarqawi's "foreign invasion" serves as Bush's and Blair's last veil for their "war on terror" and botched attempt to control the world's second-biggest source of oil.

then we are pretty safe we can almost completely ignore the bog standard, anti-western agit-prop line he is trying to peddle. We know the Ba'thist are the major cause of the insurgency, but that all the insurgent groups, Ba'ath or Islamist, nationalist, tribal, are cooperating to some degree for maximum effect.




  ¶ Thursday, September 29, 2005