http://www.freemarketnews.com/WorldNews.asp?nid=1382

(2) BRITAIN - 'SORRY FOR BOMBMAKERS’?

Monday, October 17, 2005 - FreeMarketNews.com

Britain has apologized to Iraq for attempting to send two soldiers into Basra disguised as natives with military equipment including - according to some sources - bombs or bomb-making equipment.

The Scotsman reported: "Britain will pay compensation for injuries and damage caused during the storming by the army of a police station in Basra in the operation to release two SAS soldiers held by local Iraqi militia." The article added, "In a joint statement, the British Consulate General, representing the army, and the Provincial Council of Basra expressed 'regret' for the incidents on 19 September. 'We also regret the casualties on both sides and the material damage to public facilities,' the statement said. 'The British government is prepared to pay valid claims for compensation for casualties and material damage.'"

The text of the statement was also carried by Iranian Arabic language television news channel Al-Alam on 15 October as follows, "The British government has officially apologized to Iraq over the recent Basra events. A statement issued by the British consulate in Basra has said that London apologizes to the Iraqi people and government, Basra residents, city and province councils and the police force over mistakes made by the British. This comes after a British [army] unit stormed Basra police station and used force to release two British soldiers arrested by Iraqi police for the charge of seeking to carry out sabotage acts and stirring sedition among the residents of the city."

www.informationclearinghouse posted a fairly dense and well-researched analysis of British actions around Basra suggesting tactics Britain had once used in Ireland could be finding application in Basra, as follows: “Reliable evidence also emerged in late 2002 that the British army had been using its double agents in terrorist organizations 'to carry out proxy assassinations for the British state’ — most notoriously in the case of Belfast solicitor and human rights activist Pat Finucane, who was murdered in 1989 by the Protestant Ulster Defence Association. It appears that the FRU passed on details about Finucane to a British soldier who had infiltrated the UDA; he in turn "supplied UDA murder teams with the information. ( http://www.sundayherald.com/29997). … Recent events in Basra have raised suspicions that the British army may have reactivated these same tactics in Iraq.”

Clearinghouse then cited articles “published by Michel Chossudovsky, Larry Chin and Mike Whitney at the Centre for Research on Globalization’s website on September 20, 2005 [that] have offered preliminary assessments of the claims of Iraqi authorities that two British soldiers in civilian clothes who were arrested by Iraqi police in Basra on September 19 — and in short order released by a British tank and helicopter assault on the prison where they were being held—had been engaged in planting bombs in the city (See Global Research (1); Global Research (2); Global Research (3)).”

And Clearinghouse adds, “A further article by Kurt Nimmo points to false-flag operations carried out by British special forces troops in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, and to Donald Rumsfeld’s formation of the P2OG, or Proactive Preemptive Operations Group, as directly relevant to Iraqi charges of possible false-flag terror operations by the occupying powers in Iraq ( Global Research (4)). These accusations by Iraqi officials echo insistent but unsubstantiated claims, going back at least to the spring of 2004, to the effect that many of the terror bombings carried out against civilian targets in Iraq have actually been perpetrated by U.S. and British forces rather than by Iraqi insurgents. … The American journalist Dahr Jamail wrote in April 20, 2004 that the recent spate of car bombings in Baghdad was widely rumoured to have been the work of the CIA. (countercurrents.org) … Two days later, on April 22, 2004, Agence France-Presse reported that five car-bombings in Basra—three near-simultaneous attacks outside police stations in Basra that killed sixty-eight people, including twenty children, and two follow-up bombings—were being blamed by supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on the British. While eight hundred supporters demonstrated outside Sadr’s offices, a Sadr spokesman claimed to have 'evidence that the British were involved in these attacks' ( http://www.inq7.net/wnw/2004/apr/23/wnw_3_1.htm)."

Britain's apology over this incident may tend to clarify – though not necessarily substantiate - other reports appearing in FMNN and elsewhere. These include allegations that the ring-leader of the London subway bombings was actually an asset of M16, Britain's top intelligence unit; and that Western powers in some manner were actually behind Muslim violence in Indonesia, including the horrific Bali bombings that left 200 dead - as alleged yesterday on Australian TV by the former president of Indonesia. (Version includes additional cites.)

staff&nbspreports - Free-Market News Network


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You'll note that the cited text doesn't quote HM Gvt. "apologi[s]ing" for anything other than trashing a police station.

The interesting thing about the so-called official satement is that it is totally at odds with what apparently actually happened ( a small negotiating team was being held in the station and the two soldiers (no official confirmation of regiment) were being held closeby and tortured by militia.

The article cites Kurt Nimmo whose original article whose innacurate account of Northern Ireland doesn't present him as a credible source.

Now, if these men had bomb-making equipment why has no-one seen fit to photograph it and show it or even just make an official statement to that effect?

Anyway, here's the full text:

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 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4332818.stm

The British consulate and a committee of Basra's council have issued a statement announcing compensation for the casualties and damage caused in Iraq when two British undercover soldiers were freed.

Below is the statement in full.

We regret the incidents that took place in Basra on 19 September 2005 at the Serious Crimes Unit. We also regret the casualties on both sides and the material damage to public facilities.

The British Government is prepared to pay valid claims for compensation for casualties and material damage in the well-established manner. We fully support the dignity of the institutions and people of the Governorate of Basra and the sovereignty of Iraq.

The British Government will deal with those connected to the events in accordance with CPA order 17. This incident and other shooting incidents are subject to stringent official review. We hope to avoid a repetition of such incidents.

Frank dialogue between British representatives and the representatives of the local Government elected by the people of Basra is key to co-operation in regard to the reconstruction of Basra and in making the necessary security arrangements for achieving the democratic process in Iraq.
________

No mention of bombs, false flags, SAS or anything like that.

The post is paper thin!

P.S. Since when has Simon Salad Cream been anything other than a dull DJ??? What has the BBC come to???

The bombs and their remote detonators were in the same series of pictures, taken by Iraqi police, that were shown by the media, who all glaringly omitted the shot from their stories. (My favourite Journalism prof in university warned that whenever the media speaks with one voice, "Start digging".)

However, the full series was published here: www.whatreallyhappened.com a full 24 hours before the Bliar Gov't released its transparent Cover Story.

You should be able to find it there.

 http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/wrhmt/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=1&search=basra&x=0&y=0

Couldn't find any pictures of explosives and remote detonators. The only pictures I have seen have shown UK Forces weapons and a laser targetting marker; no explosives.

Well, then you should write to Michael Rivero, the operator of the site, because they were posted there a full 24 hours before the Bliar Govt's Cover Story surfaced and hours before the rest of the MSM could get "on script".

I think we can safely assume the photographs of explosives never existed in the first place and the rumour of them is a coupling of believing the innacurate breaking Chinese news story and looking at the Basra police photographs with no understanding of what they contained.

With no-one being able to provide photographs and a detailed description of what the explosives were and how they were prepared, the assertion rings very hollow indeed.

why isn't this stupid blog link hidden???

I've an open mind on this, but like M I've been through the WhatReallyHappened site and can't find pictures of any explosives. Can you please provide a proper link?

Write Rivero

Well, then you should write to Michael Rivero, the operator of the site, because they were posted there a full 24 hours before the Bliar Govt's Cover Story surfaced and hours before the rest of the MSM could get "on script".

Link's On The Site
Homepage:  http://www.whatreallyhappened.com

You cited the source, it's down to you to back it up! Why should I waste my time speaking to someone who fills a site full of baseless dubious tosh about some photographs that probably don't exist.

On you go! We await confirmation of your assertions in the form of the photographs cited.

1. I take it from that last post that you can't find it either

2. You claimed the photo was there, you find it. Not my job to do the legwork to back up your claim.

Whatreallyhappened.com tends to focus on providing links to external news articles with brief commentary, which can make using it as a source for media files tricky.
I think this [  http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0510/S00052.htm ] was one of the articles it linked to, certainly the image about halfway down is the one that circulated together with the images of the captured men.

Cheers for the link, but unfortunately it can't be what the poster is referring to. It's the same photo I have seen everywhere else... no explosives.

...where are the explosives in the 'photo?

My money's on them being cunningly disguised as a trolley jack... but seriously, the funny thing is that even if they did have explosives and they could be proven to exist- which no-one has done so far- that in itself would have to be proven to be suspicious.

UK special forces often carry explosives for a whole number of reasons. It would have to be proven that the *type* and *preperation* of the explosive found is consistent with the allegations of "FLASE FLAG!!!"

Postulating that that two blokes with a load of MoD C4 were posing as insurgents would be patently absurd.

At the risk of boring even myself: The equipment shown in that picture is enough to convince anyone with the vaguest of clues, that whatever they were up to, it wasn't pretending to be insurgents.