Iraqi police open fire on British soldiers in unmarked car; 1 killed The Associated Press November 17, 2006 BAGHDAD, Iraq: The Iraqi Army said police shot and killed a British soldier riding in an unmarked car and wounded a second on Friday near the Kuwait border. The British military denied the report. Iraqi Maj. Gen. Ali al-Moussawi said police opened fire after the vehicle did not stop at a roadblock. The shooting occurred shortly after 10 a.m. near the border city of Safwan, he said. But Capt. Tane Dunlop, a British military spokesman, said the incident involved Iraqi police and a men working for a private security company. He said a Briton working for a security company was wounded and that British forces were investigating. Comment: Hmmm....mysterious British agents driving around Baghdad in unmarked cars... haven't we heard of something like this before? What do British authorities have to say?

Forces deny Brit soldier death The Sun November 17, 2006 BRITISH officials are investigating a shooting in Iraq today amid claims that a Brit soldier was killed by local police. The Iraqi Army said police shot and killed a British soldier riding in an unmarked car and wounded a second near the Kuwait border. The claim was denied by the Ministry of Defence. A spokesman said: "We have not lost any personnel or had anyone injured." The Foreign Office is looking into the incident. A spokesman said: "We are investigating reports of an incident in southern Iraq." It is believed that a Briton working for a private security company may have been injured when Iraqi police opened fired shortly after 10am near the border city of Safwan. Iraqi Major General Ali al-Moussawi said police opened fire after the vehicle did not stop at a roadblock. British military spokesman Captain Tane Dunlop said the incident involved Iraqi police and a man working for a private security company. He said a Briton working for a security company was wounded and that British forces were investigating. Yesterday, a convoy of private security contractors was attacked near Safwan and four Americans and an Austrian civilian were captured. Comment: Denial? What a surprise! Perhaps a little trip down memory lane is in order to clear things up here...

Flashback: British Government's Agents Provocateur Exposed Joe Quinn Signs of the Times 20/09/2005 There is a saying of sorts that "if you are going to do something, do it well", and given the serious consequences, nowhere is that more true than when you plan to engage in criminal activity. Today in Basra, Southern Iraq, two members of the British SAS (Special Ops) were caught, 'in flagrante' as it were, dressed in full "Arab garb", driving a car full of explosives and shooting and killing two official Iraqi policemen. This fact, finally reported by the mainstream press, goes to the very heart of and proves accurate much of what we have been saying on the Signs of the Times page for several years. The following are facts, indisputable by all but the most self-deluded: Number 1: The US and British invasion of Iraq was NOT for the purpose of bringing "freedom and democracy" to the Iraqi people, but rather for the purpose of securing Iraq's oil resources for the US and British governments and expanding their control over the greater Middle East. Number 2: Both the Bush and Blair governments deliberately fabricated evidence (lied) about the threat the Saddam posed to the west and his links to the mythical 'al-Qaeda' in order to justify their invasion. Number 3: Dressed as Arabs, British (and CIA and Israeli) 'special forces' have been carrying out fake "insurgent" attacks, including 'car suicide bombings' against Iraqi policemen and Iraqi civilians (both Sunni and Shia) for the past two years. Evidence would suggest that these tactics are designed to provide continued justification for a US and British military presence in Iraq and to ultimately embroil the country in a civil war that will lead to the breakup of Iraq into more manageable statelets, much to the joy of the Israeli right and their long-held desire for the establishment of biblical 'greater Israel' Coming not long after the botched London bombings carried out by British MI5 where an eyewitness reported that the floor of one of the trains had been blown inwards (how can a bomb in a backpack or on a "suicide bomber" INSIDE the train ever produce such an effect), more than anything else today's event in Basra highlights the desperation that is driving the policy-makers in the British government. British intelligence would do well to think twice about carrying out any more 'false flag' operations until they can achieve the 'professionalism' of the Israeli Mossad - they always make it look convincing and rarely suffer the ignominy of being caught in the act and having the faces of their erstwhile "terrorists" plastered across the pages of the mainstream media. The REAL face of "Islamic Terror" - Two SAS agents caught carrying out a false flag terror attack in Basra, Iraq September 20th 2005. Official: British troops freed in jailbreak CNN 2005/09/20 BAGHDAD, Iraq -- A British armored vehicle escorted by a tank crashed into a detention center Monday in Basra and rescued two undercover troops held by police, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official told CNN. British Defense Ministry Secretary John Reid confirmed two British military personnel were "released," but he gave no details on how they were freed. In a statement released in London, Reid did not say why the two had been taken into custody. But the Iraqi official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, said their arrests stemmed from an incident earlier in the day. The official said two unknown gunmen in full Arabic dress began firing on civilians in central Basra, wounding several, including a traffic police officer. There were no fatalities, the official said. The two gunmen fled the scene but were captured and taken in for questioning, admitting they were British marines carrying out a "special security task," the official said. British troops launched the rescue about three hours after Iraqi authorities informed British commanders the men were being held at the police department's major crime unit, the official said. Iraqi police said members of Iraq's Mehdi Army militia engaged the British forces around the facility, burning one personnel carrier and an armored vehicle. Video showed dozens of Iraqis surrounding British armored vehicles and tossing gasoline bombs, rocks and other debris at them. With one vehicle engulfed in flames, a soldier opened the hatch and bailed out as rocks were thrown at him. Another photograph showed a British soldier on fire on top of a tank. "Many of those present were clearly prepared well in advance to cause trouble, and we believe that the majority of Iraq people would deplore this violence," Reid said. [...] From the Washington Post Iraqi security officials on Monday variously accused the two Britons they detained of shooting at Iraqi forces or trying to plant explosives. Photographs of the two men in custody showed them in civilian clothes. When British officials apparently sought to secure their release, riots erupted. Iraqi police cars circulated downtown, calling through loudspeakers for the public to help stop British forces from releasing the two. Heavy gunfire broke out and fighting raged for hours, as crowds swarmed British forces and set at least one armored vehicle on fire. Witnesses said they saw Basra police exchanging fire with British forces. Sadr's Mahdi Army militia joined in the fighting late in the day, witnesses said. A British military spokesman, Darren Moss, denied that British troops were fighting Basra police. From China View (orginally pooled from the BBC) Iraqi police detained two British soldiers in civilian clothes in the southern city Basra for firing on a police station on Monday, police said. "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. He added that the two were being interrogated in the police headquarters of Basra. The British forces informed the Iraqi authorities that the two soldiers were performing an official duty, the source said. British military authorities said they could not confirm the incident but investigations were underway. Interestingly, on the same day as this botched covert operation, the CIA and Mossad's number two bogeyman, al-Zawahri, pipes up and reminds the world that 'al-Qaeda' was responsible for the London bombings. How very decent of him.

Riddle of Iraq's militias Al-Jazeerah 17/11/2006 A long list of crimes against Iraqi civilians has been blamed on sectarian militias, which have become known as "death squads" and which some people say have strong ties to the police and government. The prime minister has been unwilling to disband them, as he needs their leaders' votes to secure the majority within his parliamentary coalition. Some Iraqis link the continued existence of those militias to the fight for the premiership this year by Nouri al-Maliki, who won against Adil Abdul al-Mahdi, the nominee of the Iran-backed Sciri (Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq). Shia parties joined together and formed an alliance, called the Unified Iraqi List, which was the biggest winner in the parliamentary elections in January. This meant that these parties formed the biggest bloc in parliament, occupying 140 of the 275 seats. Political deals claim The alliance had to nominate a candidate for the premiership. Al-Maliki's al-Dawa party did not have enough votes within the alliance to back its nominee, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the former Iraqi prime minister, while Sciri ended up in the majority. Members of parliament from the movement of Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shia leader, provided the support al-Dawa party needed. Dhafir al-Ani, an Iraqi MP from the mainly Sunni Arab Iraqi Accordance Front, said: "Al-Maliki does not want to take action against al-Sadr militias [known as the al-Mahdi Army] because he owes them his post. "When al-Jaafari lost his Shia coalition support and Sciri wanted their nominee Abd al-Mahdi to take over, a deal was struck between the al-Dawa party and al-Sadr MPs to back the new al-Dawa nominee, Nouri al-Maliki, in return." Whether or not a deal was done, al-Sadr's movement has enjoyed more power and representation under the new government. It had been regarded as anarchic by Shia parties in the previous administration for refusing to take part in the political process that followed the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Abd al-Hadi al-Darraji, a spokesman for al-Sadr, said his movement's aim is to establish agreement between factions in Iraq, not argument. He said: "If we offered support to Mr al-Maliki, then we did so because we believed it would be for the benefit of Iraqi people. "I believe the problem is not with what have now become known as the militias, but the problem lies in the presence of the occupation forces in Iraq." Al-Darraji blamed al-Ani for pointing blame at the al-Mahdi Army but not mentioning non-Shia armed groups, such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic Army. "Whenever there is a religous occasion and Shia visitors go to visit their shrines they get killed if they pass Sunni areas," he said. "For example, whenever Shia vistors visit al-Kadhim, they get killed in the Sunni neighbourhood of al-Adamiya, which they cannot avoid to get to al-Kadhim." Al-Ani responded to al-Darraji comments and said: "More than 140,000 US soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi police and army soldiers are after the Sunni and nationalist armed groups, who is standing against the death squads? "We have seen how the government reacted to the siege on al-Sadr city, it explains everything." Killings and kidnappings On October 25, US and Iraqi forces mounted a ground and air assault against Abu Deraa, a militia leader blamed for a rash of sectarian killings and kidnappings of Iraqi Sunni. Abu Deraa is a commander in the al-Mahdi Army based in al-Sadr's stronghold, al-Sadr city in east Baghdad. Al-Maliki condemned the raid at the time, saying: "I said we agree on arresting wanted criminals and we do not care whether they are Sunni or Shia, but that was not an arrest operation. Do you send in planes to arrest one person?" US and Iraqi forces tightened their siege of al-Sadr city after news that a US soldier of Iraqi origin had been kidnapped, allegedly by al-Sadr militias. A week later, al-Maliki ordered the siege lifted. The prime minister's office said in a statement that this was "to ease the traffic" in and out of al-Sadr city. Clear decline Al-Ani, whose Iraqi Accordance Front holds 44 seats in parliament, the biggest Sunni Arab bloc, said: "It clearly shows how closely he works with al-Sadr's people. "But what I would really like to emphasise here are two facts: Firstly, if we scan news before and after the siege of al-Sadr city we will see a clear decline in the number of unidentified bodies thrown in the streets of Baghdad. "Secondly, the world must know that the number of people killed by the death squads is far more than the number of those killed by the occupation forces. "The US army in Iraq itself has been embarrassed that the security level in Iraq has fallen to this shameful level because of the militias' acts." US forces have recently raided several al-Sadr strongholds in Baghdad, including one this week on al-Shula district in the west of the capital. Al-Sadr's movement says that there are "rogue" commanders who are misusing their affiliation with al-Mahdi Army to carry out their own agendas. Sheikh Jaber al-Khafaji, the preacher who speaks for al-Sadr at the al-Kufa mosque, said in a Friday prayer last month: "This disobedience to the leadership has divided us and earned us multiple enemies. The directives of Muqtada al-Sadr in his speech during Eid prayers should not go unnoticed. "If you do not obey, you will regret it. Indeed, I declare that you will be cursed. Sayid [a religious title meaning that the bearer is a descendant of Prophet Muhammad) Muqtada al-Sadr is a blessing from God upon you and is your protector." The UN estimated in July that 100 people are killed every day in Iraq. Ali al-Shamari, the health minister, was quoted last week as saying that about 150,000 Iraqis had been killed since the US-led invasion, and up to 500,000 wounded. This week, Iraq Body Count estimated, based on press reports, that between 46,943 and 52,053 civilians had been killed since the invasion. That figure did not include Iraqi security forces or anti-US fighters. Comment: Given the large number of murders being carried out by the "death squads", it is very clear that they act with impunity and are therefore sanctioned in some way by that part of the Iraqi government (which is no longer functional) that holds the real power. Given that the US is essentially a force of occupation and has taken possession of Iraq and established the Iraqi government with people it can control, it is logical and reasonable to assert that the death squads in Iraq are sanctioned and controlled by some section of the US government or one of its agencies in Iraq. See this Signs of the Times article for the inside story.

Iraq government in crisis as staff abducted, tortured AFP 17/11/2006 Kidnappers tortured many of the dozens of hostages seized from a government building and killed some of them, a minister said, warning that Iraq no longer had an effective government.

Top Sunni Muslim group calls on Sunnis to quit Iraqi government November 17, 2006 08:21 EST BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's precarious political situation is deteriorating. The influential Association of Muslim Scholars is urging Sunni politicians to quit Iraq's government and Parliament. he call comes a day after the Shiite interior minister issued an arrest warrant for the association's leader on charges of inciting terrorism and violence among the Iraqi people. A spokesman for the association says the central government has proved that it is not a national government. The head of the association is the top leader of the country's Sunni minority. He's regarded as an extreme hard-liner, but issuing a warrant for his arrest is certain to inflame already raging sectarian violence in Iraq.

Iraqis have not yet learned Uruknet 15/11/2006 Where are you O Whores of the Green Zone who write so prolifically of your love for the US Soldier? Where are you Bastards of Baghdad who sell your mothers to the invading armies? Where are you men of religion hiding under your turbans prostituting your Islam in the mosques of Qum and Mecca? Where are you O Whores of the Green Zone who write so prolifically of your love for the US Soldier? Where are you Bastards of Baghdad who sell your mothers to the invading armies? Where are you men of religion hiding under your turbans prostituting your Islam in the mosques of Qum and Mecca? FORT CAMPBELL, KENTUCKY: One of four U.S. soldiers accused of raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl last spring showed little remorse and even smiled during a confession to charges he conspired to kill her and her family. Even before the hearing Wednesday to announce a plea agreement, Spc. James P. Barker, 23, slapped hands with other soldiers and grinned as he smoked a cigarette in the rain. A bailiff scolded him. And when he described for the judge the assault in his own words, he gave vivid details of the rape with a deadpan delivery. "That's pretty much all I have to say," Barker muttered with a shrug after describing raping the screaming girl. Barker agreed to plead guilty to the charges to avoid the death penalty, his civilian attorney David Sheldon said. The agreement requires him to testify against three other soldiers and a former Army private also accused in the March 12 attack in Mahmoudiya, 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Baghdad. At one point, the military judge presiding over the case, Lt. Col. Richard Anderson, asked Barker why he had decided with other soldiers to commit the rape and murders. "I hated Iraqis, your honor," Barker answered. "They can smile at you, then shoot you in your face without even thinking about it." Anderson accepted the plea agreement, which calls for Barker to serve life in prison. The judge will decide Thursday in a hearing whether Barker should be allowed to seek parole. Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 24, and Pfc. Jesse V. Spielman, 22, members of the 101st Airborne Division with Barker, also are charged in the case. Cortez deferred entering a plea during his arraignment Wednesday morning. Spielman will be arraigned in December. The fourth soldier, Pfc. Bryan L. Howard, 19, also deferred entering a plea at his arraignment in October. A fifth person, former Army private Steve Green, 21, pleaded not guilty last week to civilian charges including murder and sexual assault. The soldiers were stationed in a violent area known as the "Triangle of Death" because of frequent attacks on soldiers patrolling the roads. Soldiers in Barker's unit, the 502nd Infantry Regiment, were often asked to spend weeks manning remote checkpoints, where several from the unit died. Sheldon told reporters during a news conference following the hearing that Barker took responsibility for his actions, but he also said the U.S. Army was to blame for the way the war in Iraq was being fought. "The United States Army did not staff, did not put enough soldiers on the checkpoints," Sheldon said. "It's very important that the public knows that this type of thing can happen again if the Army doesn't take measures to put enough troops on the front line in the war against terrorism, the war in Iraq." Barker, who whispered frequently during the hearing to his military attorney Cpt. James Culp, told the judge that Green approached him with the plan to attack the family while they were drinking whiskey purchased from Iraqi Army soldiers. Barker described changing clothes, then climbing through backyards as the five left the checkpoint. He also described in vivid detail raping Abeer Qassim al-Janabi with Cortez and Green before Green killed the girl, her younger sister and parents. The defendants also are accused of burning the girl's body to conceal the crime, which is considered among the worst in a series of alleged attacks on civilians and other abuses that tarnished the U.S. military mission in Iraq Barker did not name Spielman and Howard as participants in the rape and murders though he said they were at the house when the assault occurred and had come knowing what the others intended to do. Howard and Cortez, who with Spielman could face the death penalty if convicted, watched with straight faces from the audience as Barker described the assault. They were accompanied by their defense attorneys and declined to comment. Cortez and Spielman are both being held in confinement while Howard is restricted to post. Barker said he, Green and Cortez raped the girl, and Green killed the girl, her parents and her sister. He said Spielman was in the room, but was holding a door closed during the rape. Green was discharged from the Army for a "personality disorder" before the allegations became known, and prosecutors have yet to say if they will pursue the death penalty against him. Where are you who celebrated the death sentence of Saddam? Why are you silent now? Have you no daughters? Have you no wives? Have you no karama? Have you sold it all for a few dollars? Have you not been punished enough, has Iraq not been decimated enough? Have you not learned? Have you not learned that Washington and London will not embrace you? But dispose of you after your charge is fulfilled? There is more to come. Much more.

US army 'seized Iraqi homes' Al-Jazeerah 17/11/2006 A leading Iraqi lawyer has accused the US army of throwing 211 families, including his, out of their homes. Rabah al-Alwan, 36, head of the Union of Lawyers in al-Anbar governorate in western Iraq, said that the US army has occupied his family's house and those of with dozens of other families in al-Ramadi, the capital of al-Anbar governorate. Al-Alwan has accused the US army of seizing the whole neighbourhood of al-Soufiya in the centre of al-Ramadi and using the houses for military purposes. The press desk of the US army command in Iraq did not respond to repeated requests to comment on the claim made by al-Alwan. Al-Alwan said: "Ten months ago, the US army seized my house and dozens of houses in the neighbourhood where I live. Residents were not allowed take any of their savings, jewellery, furniture or clothes." Military zone Al-Alwan said the US army had installed snipers on the roofs of the houses to prevent anyone approaching the area they have taken over. He said: "They killed a lot of people, such as Ayad Mutar and Muhamad Ayad, for approaching their houses to try to get some of their families' clothes and belongings." Al-Anbar is considered to be a trouble spot and a fierce revolt against the US army and the US-backed Iraqi government, has been continuing since the invasion in 2003. "A delegation representing the evicted families contacted the US army to find out how long they intend to stay in their properties," al-Alwan said. "In the beginning they [US army] promised to compensate the families, and later on they promised to leave, but here I am talking ten months after the seizure and nothing happened." Authority Asked whether the families tried to seek the help of the Iraqi government, he said: "The Iraqi government has no authority over al-Anbar governorate, it is nearly 100 per cent under the control of the resistance and the armed groups." Al-Alwan said the US seizure of al-Soufiya district has made the neighbourhood a target for attacks by those groups. "Constant attacks have left the seized houses with major damage resulting from exchanges of gunfire and grenades. We hold the US army responsible for all the damage that happened to the seized houses," he said. The occupation has pushed some members of the 211 affected families to join the anti-US armed groups, al-Alwan said. "The world has seen the rising number of US soldiers killed in Iraq and most of them were killed in al-Anbar, definitely the carelessness of the US army units has fuelled the anti-US sentiment in the conservative society of al-Anbar." About 105 US soldiers were killed in Iraq last month, most of them in al-Ramadi. It was the deadliest month for US forces since January last year.

Dutch military in Iraq abuse row BBC News 17/11/2006 Military interrogators from the Netherlands abused dozens of Iraqi prisoners following the 2003 invasion, according to a Dutch press report. Detainees were allegedly subjected to bright lights, soaked with water and exposed to high-pitched sounds, De Volkskrant newspaper said. The newspaper quoted a defence ministry spokesman as saying things took place "not according to instruction". The claims were made days before the country's parliamentary elections. The ruling centre-right coalition currently has a slight lead in the polls. Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said that if the allegations were true they were "shocking". Opposition politicians have demanded a recall of parliament to question the defence minister on the allegations. "There is a smell of a cover-up coming off this," Labour leader Wouter Bos was quoted as saying by Dutch radio. The Netherlands had around 1,400 troops in the southern Muthana province but most were withdrawn last year. 'No prosecutions' De Volkskrant said the abuses were carried out in Samawah south-east of Baghdad in November 2003 by members of the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service. Dutch troops arrived home from Iraq last year Prisoners were forced to wear darkened goggles, which were periodically removed to allow them to be exposed to bright light, the report said. They were kept awake for long periods by being drenched with water and forced to listen to high-pitched sounds, it added. The report said the incidents were reported to the military police, but there were no prosecutions and the matter was not made public. Defence Ministry spokesman Joop Veen said, quoted by the newspaper: "Things did happen which are not part of the instructions." But he said he did not know whether Defence Minister Henk Kamp had been informed. "It happened a long time ago and you cannot remember everything," he said.

Al-Qaida 'planted information to encourage US invasion' Friday November 17, 2006 The Guardian A senior al-Qaida operative deliberately planted information to encourage the US to invade Iraq, a double agent who infiltrated the network and spied for western intelligence agencies claimed last night. The claim was made by Omar Nasiri, a pseudonym for a Moroccan who says he spent seven years working for European security and intelligence agencies, including MI5. He said Ibn Sheikh al-Libi, who ran training camps in Afghanistan, told his US interrogators that al-Qaida had been training Iraqis. Libi was captured in November 2001 and taken to Egypt where he was allegedly tortured. Asked on BBC2's Newsnight whether Libi or other jihadists would have told the truth if they were tortured, Nasiri replies: "Never". Asked whether he thought Libi had deliberately planted information to get the US to fight Iraq, Nasiri said: "Exactly". Nasiri said Libi "needed the conflict in Iraq because months before I heard him telling us when a question was asked in the mosque after the prayer in the evening, where is the best country to fight the jihad?" Libi said Iraq was chosen because it was the "weakest" Muslim country. It is known that under interrogation, Libi misled Washington. His claims were seized on by George Bush, vice-president, Dick Cheney, and Colin Powell, secretary of state, in his address to the security council in February, 2003, which argued the case for a pre-emptive war against Iraq. Though he did not name Libi, Mr Powell said "a senior terrorist operative" who "was responsible for one of al-Qaida's training camps in Afghanistan" had told US agencies that Saddam Hussein had offered to train al-Qaida in the use of "chemical or biological weapons". What is new, if Nasiri is to be believed, is that the leading al-Qaida operative wanted to overthrow Saddam and use Iraq as a jihadist base. Nasiri also says that part of al-Qaida training was to withstand interrogation and provide false information. Nasiri said last night he was later sent to London by his French handlers to infiltrate Finsbury Park mosque and spy on its imam, Abu Hamza, as well as another radical cleric, Abu Qatada. He said MI5 and French intelligence were watching the two clerics in London from as far back as 1997. He said he told them that Abu Hamza was carrying out combat training and how he listened into conversations relaying messages between Abu Qatada and the training camps in Pakistan and Afghanistan. "At the time we didn't think that the growing threat from al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden was sufficient to put more resources on it," Bob Milton, a Metropolitan police special branch officer, told Newsnight. "We were monitoring what he was doing, certainly working with the US and European colleagues to do that. But at that time we were still unsure what the threat would be," he said. Abu Hamza was charged in 2003 and convicted this year for incitement to murder and race hate crimes. Comment: So now the all powerful yet mythical "al-Qaeda" is responsible for fooling the Bush regime into invading Iraq! Wonders will never cease, and neither will the ridiculous lies of the Bush government. It is interesting however that the other conclusion we draw from this article is that both "al-Qaeda" and the Bush Regime appear to have the same goals. Strange. One would almost think they are more or less the same entity.