The Battle of Basra, where British troops “rescued” two out-of-uniform British soldiers who’d gotten into a contretemps with Iraqi police, gets more fascinating by the moment. A news item put out by China’s Xinhua News Agency’s contains the following fascinating paragraph:
“‘Two persons wearing Arab uniforms opened fire at a police station in Basra. A police patrol followed the attackers and captured them to discover they were two British soldiers,’ an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua. The two soldiers were using a civilian car packed with explosives, the source said.”
By “Arab uniforms” they no doubt mean traditional Arab dress, long flow-y Lawrence of Arabia drag, but as for the explosives ….
I’m not sure how much truth there is in this report, but the source doesn’t necessarily rule it out. After all, what were those two Brit Special Forces types doing out of uniform — and seemingly gone native? They were apparently riding around Basra, with whatever it was they had in their car: explosives, surveillance devices, or maybe just candy to hand out to children….
The more we learn about this war, the more sinister the picture that emerges. Check out my recent column on this subject, but here I’m talking about an aspect of the Basra incident that deserves particular attention. What sort of mission were those two British soldiers, from an elite unit, embarked on before they were spotted and arrested? If Iraqi “sovereignty” doesn’t deserve the ironic quote marks, then an explantion, preferably one that sounds like an apology, will be forthcoming.
However, if I were an Iraqi government official, let alone a relative of those killed, I wouldn’t hold my breath.