Free Iraq

No, no, Imad, do NOT show the video.

You will only be encouraging Iraqis to hate the brave Brits, may the Queen save their souls.

Do you think that freedom of speech allows you to incite bigotry, hatred and racism?

Get civilized for God's (our God) sake, er, I meant for Bush and Blair's sake, will you?

Geeze !! We liberated you, didn't we?

What do you want? Blood??

 

Imad, old chap
You should have heeded the title of your previous posting:
"If they acknowledge the threat, it could inspire others".
Acknowledged!!
 

Juan Cole, Sunday, February 12, 2006: Bombings, Assassinations Continue As Political Process Stalls -
Video footage of British soldiers kicking and beating Iraqi teenagers has surfaced. I saw it on Aljazeerah. It was taken by a British corporal who appears to have thought the whole thing a hoot. The teenagers had been demonstrating outside the British barracks, apparently. The soldiers landed 41 blows in a minute of tape, and also beat up on a corpse. Although the British government maintains that the incident is unrepresentative, one can only imagine that tens of thousands of Iraqis have been beaten by foreign troops (US, UK and others) during the past nearly 3 years. There are 15,000 in custody at any one time, and there have been lots of home invasions and repressions of demonstrations and of militia activity. Since the clannish Iraqis almost all have 24 first cousins who would die to defend their honor, the number of persons deeply affected by the beatings is in the millions. Imperialism requires brutality, but brutality weakens imperialism over the long run.
 

Its pretty clear that the man who took that video was mentally ill. Whether he was that way before he got to Iraq is an open question. Same goes for his "mates" doing the beatings.

Maybe a member of their unit was shot by the Iraqi "super sniper" that keeps being mentioned here? Maybe that sniper, in turn, had his house destroyed by one of the "precision bombs" the occupiers keep using and decided to go hunting. Maybe the bombing of the house was ordered because ... Well, you get the idea.

All I can say, is that I hope nobody was killed in THIS particular act of stupidity in the endless cycle of revenge that has become Iraq. So ... what's the Iraqi response going to do this time? More beheadings? A car bomb or two?
 

CIA chief sacked for opposing torture
 

Siniyah: an Iraqi town that is now a prison: The issue of the pipeline is a salient one for residents of Siniyah. The town has been sealed off not because of attacks within the town, but due to the belief it is being used as a staging ground for attacks outside... The coalition forces are attempting to halt attacks directed mainly at the Beiji refinery and at convoys serving the coalition.

The chosen targets have brought general support for Iraqi resistance within Siniyah. Mohammed says the attacks are taking place because “this petrol will go to Turkey and is stolen by occupation forces, or when Turkey buys this petrol the money is taken by the occupation forces.”

“Siniyah has become a real battlefield now, and the occupation forces have destroyed many of our homes,” said Sumiya, a 33-year-old housewife. “There is no security inside Siniyah and it is worse than any place in Iraq now. The occupation forces and Iraqi National Guard are raiding Siniyah houses everyday and arresting many people. There is a curfew from 5pm to 5am; in Baghdad it is only midnight to 5am.”
 

Police chiefs urged secrecy over shoot-to-kill tactics: "If [the suspect] is behaving strangely the [officers] have to launch a pre-emptive strike."
 

VIDEO CLIP, Soldier Attacks Civilian in Palestine
 

Bob Chapman, Train Wreck of the Week - February 11 2006: Deprived of their reason for war with Iran the development of nuclear weapons, George and the neocons have now switched their sites on Syria. In a new book, ‘Saddam’s Secrets,’ written by the former second in command of Saddam Hussein’s Air Force, wants us to believe Iraq moved its weapons of mass destruction to Syria. This public admission is to be the catalyst to invade Syria. For some time the CIA and the Israeli Mossad have contended that this is true and the means George and the neocons have known it for some time as well, if the story is true. Our perennial problem is that the administration lies so much we don’t know what is fact and what is lies. On the short term, the administration has been deprived of its excuse to invade Iran, so they’ll invade Syria under the pretext they have WMD. Due to agreements Iran is obliged to come to Syria’s aid. This allows the US, UK and Israel to attack Iran.

The analysts, newsletter writers and foreign media are so convinced of invasion they are setting timetables. We are told these plans were made a few years ago. Prognosticators, who all believe they have inside information, are split as to whether we’ll see surgical nuclear strikes, to convince Syria and Iran they had better surrender to America’s brand of Democracy, or nuclear obliteration. All the pundits pick March as the month of attack. The attackers believe they not only will be joined by Turkey, but they will as well have the backing of European governments. We are still skeptical regarding how Europe will react, especially the Netherlands and France, which have large Muslim populations. Then again, perhaps NATO and Europe only need some pretext to join in on the carnage. Perhaps they’ll just liquidate the domestic Muslim unrest. That’s very possible because killing millions is of no consequence to these people. Then again, the timeline may have been set to force Iranian capitulation. As you can see, there is a great deal that we professionals don’t know. Then there are Russia and China. We believe Russia will carry the day for Iran. The production of nuclear material will be done in Russia and who knows what there intent is. Russia still wants that Iranian business, not a smoldering country. In the end the Russians, Chinese, Iranians and Syrians could come out the winners without having war.
 

Kurt Nimmo, More Evidence Nuking Iran is on Schedule: ... Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice, et al, are ecstatic over Ahmadinejad’s highly suspect anti-Semitic (or rather, anti-Ashkenazi, since the majority of Jews in Israel are white Europeans and not Semites) declarations, leading more than a few people to believe he is a Mossad agent or has an as of yet unknown reason for egging on the Israelis and Americans. Either way, Ahmadinejad is courting disaster.

As former CIA intelligence analyst Philip Giraldi told the American Conservative last July, the United States plans to nuke the be-jesus out of Iran. “The Pentagon, acting under instructions from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office, has tasked the United States Strategic Command (STRATCOM) with drawing up a contingency plan to be employed in response to another 9/11-type terrorist attack on the United States. The plan includes a large-scale air assault on Iran employing both conventional and tactical nuclear weapons.” All of this despite the fact Iran is a non-nuclear country, a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and working with the IAEA, although the latter reported Iran to the UN Security Council last week. So itchy is the Pentagon to use nukes against non-nuke countries, they wrote the “policy” in their “Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations” (pdf doc).
 

Paul Craig Roberts on the Iranian Oil Bourse
 

Dahr Jamail, Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Video has been released which shows a group of British soldiers brutally beating and kicking defenseless Iraqi teenagers inside a military compound, and Iraqis recently released from prisons like Abu Ghraib are reporting ongoing torture at the hands of U.S. forces. This, however, should come as no surprise since Secretary of “Defense” Donald Rumsfeld issued a memo over two years ago specifying which types of “harsh interrogation techniques” he wanted used in Iraq.
 

$592 Million US Embassy in Baghdad under Construction: Once completed, the compound will likely be the biggest, most fortified diplomatic compound in the world.
(Sounds like: 1. A very long stay in Iraq; 2. The 'Welcome Mat' has gone missing. Suggestion: Buy the children some more sweeties.)
 

They do this all the time in the US, the (police).
The ones with weapons must outnumber the weaponless by at least 5 to 1.
 

Blair Vows Probe of Alleged Abuse in Iraq: The newspaper claims the video was filmed in southern Iraq by a corporal two years ago.

"We condemn all acts of abuse and brutality," said Flight Lt. Chris Thomas . . .
(Excluding, of course, the unavoidable but necessary killing & maiming that accompanies war/invasion/occupation.)
 

House Committee Kills Torture Inquiries: A key House of Representatives committee Wednesday put a quick stop to three resolutions to investigate the US government’s tactical use and support of torture in the "war on terror."

(On the grounds that:
1. It would reveal our tactics to the 'enemy'
2. Too hot to handle
3. Not politically expedient
4. Don't give a damn
Pick one. You too can be a winner.)
 

US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites
 

Britain's Breaking Abu Ghraib Scandal
 

Iraq is still a war zone, is it not? A war zone is an area in which military combat takes place and hence, as every war in history has proved, there will be little room for TLC or toy soldiers with kid gloves.
I think you have to be realistic about what you expect life to be like in a war zone, and you have to be realistic of what you expect from any army in enemy or negative territory. If you want to see fairytales then read Sleeping Beauty or Pinnochio and forget looking at the realities of life
 

hello i feel sorry for the british soldiers out there afterall they are motsly young lads to and they are being asked to police a foreign country when they know they should be at home and when they know that soldiers are not policemen.

also no-one knows for sure what these iraqis were up to. if they were trying to rape someone or kill someone or burgle someone's home or rob someone then they surely deserve to be treated rough. to be honest i have seen people outside pubs in england being beaten worse than that. i think is blown out o preportion
 

A small number of Iraqi teenagers being beaten offends, but the sights, sounds and confirmed reports of two nations of Nordic people and their property being violated, abducted, destroyed, ruined and threatened in reaction to a few cartoons is clearly understandable to many of the posters here. Why is this so?
 

Thanks to the FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, Arabs and non-Arabs alike are being shown the realities of life in a war-torn country.
Yes, we all know about this (and other scandals in Iraq) because of.....FREEDOM OF THE PRESS - the lack of authority that the British government and other authorities have over the British press is there for all to see.

No doubt there will be many Brits deeply, deeply offended and upset by these images for a number of different reasons - many will be horrified because they want to protect the British Army (their sons, husbandsm brothers, daughters, sisters and wives and friends).

Maybe they think the Press have betrayed the British army. Many think is unpatriotic and has put lives at risk. No doubt at all, many British lives have been put at risk.

Are they out rioting in defence? No.

We can't have it both ways folks - you either want the press to be free or you don't. Whether it offends thousands of others should be put aside, in my opinion! Once you begin to pander to those that may be offended, you are living as a prisoner and deny others the freedom to think and say without fear.
 

Rupert, the press is still free, thankfully. Lets keep it that way and not let religious zealots stop progress and freedom with threats of beheadings.

For everyone's info; The Weekly Standard has reproduced Jylland-Posten's Mohammed cartoons, accompanied by this Editor's Note from William Kristol:

TO ACCOMPANY the editorial in the new issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, we have reproduced the page with the Mohammed cartoons from the September 30 Jyllands-Posten. Readers should be able to see what this controversy is about. More important, in light of recent instances of capitulation to the threats of radical Islamists, and in response to eloquent pleas by individuals like Walid-al-Kubaisi in Norway to publish the cartoons in order to protect freedom of expression, we wanted to do our small part to stand against intimidation by extremists.

--William Kristol
 

UK Troops in Iraq Recorded Images of Torture 'Just for Fun': British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday in a statement from South Africa that the government takes such incidents seriously and that it will conduct a thorough investigation. "Most British troops in Iraq behave properly and are doing a great job for Britain and the whole world."
 

Rupert very well put. Freedom of the press works in all directions and if it was truly anti-Muslim, the vid would never have been released. Its just life, we all have to take the bitter with the sweet
 

don't judge those soldiers unless you know what those iraqis have been up to. if they were causing mayhem amongst the locals and causing unrest or trying to hurt someone else (iraqi or not) then they had to be dealt with. i am sure the soldiers did not treat them like that for no reason. what if they were trying to rape or kill someone?
 

I. K. Brunel -
Yes, Iraq is still a war zone. The United States and ('Great') Britain chose, on the basis of blatant lies, to invade & occupy Iraq. Iraqis are victimised by colonial arrogance, indifference, aggression and just plain old-fashioned barbarism. You seem to accept the inevitability of all this. So, yes, your selected fairy tales would be a natural palliative.


Anonymous (5:59 AM) -
Correct: Home is EXACTLY where the British soldiers should be. I hope you are lobbying to that precise end.


Anonymous (6:56 AM) -
How many Iraqi teenagers being beaten in their own country by uninvited invaders/occupiers would suffice to elicit your condemnation and/or compassion?


Rupert -
How about protecting British lives (and, incidentally, Iraqi lives) by getting the Brits & the Yanks OUT of Iraq? As for FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, I'm inclined to believe that Arabs (and non-Arabs alike) living in the occupied lands already know about "realities of life in a war-torn country." It's those of us on the outside who largely remain ignorant and/or indifferent. Do you suppose we ever will care about the horrors our leaders decide to inflict upon others?
 

Those evil Brits! Why didn't they just cut their heads off, burn them to shreds, slit their throats and broadcast it all on webcam?
Sorry to offend sensitivities.
 

If you attempt to cause injury or death by throwing rocks then you have to face the consequences!
 

Anonymous (12:03 PM) -
You've not offended my 'sensitivities'. I'm just wondering, though, whether you've been following along with what actually has befallen Iraqis in the course of this unwarranted occupation. Have you perhaps missed all the slaughter and mayhem?
 

Michael Neumann, Respectful Cultures & Disrespectful Cartoons; East Meets West: [ . . . ]
The comics dispute should show the West that it has to make a choice. It can abandon the culture of piety, and go back to defending real civil liberties. It can go back to judging real crimes by real standards of evidence. It can turn its attention to real, vulgar, observable, concrete human needs -- like decent food, clothing, and shelter -- rather than chase the wild elusive butterfly of respect. Or it can keep up with its piety -- but then it cannot complain when others do the same.

Finally, though many commentators have juxtaposed Islamic and Christian fundamentalism, it might be more instructive to juxtapose Islamic fundamentalism and political correctness.

Both arose from the ashes of an effective secular left: the left that was suppressed all over the Middle East in the 1950s and 1960s, and the kiddie left that imploded as the Vietnam war drew to a close. Both gave up on effecting a real change in the material conditions of their societies and gave themselves over to carping, otherwise known as a critique of prevalent life-styles and 'hypocritical' policies. Both quickly discovered that governments or ruling elites found these life-style goals and displays of sincerity much more pleasing than attempts at radical change: better to inculcate respect and piety than to worry about trying to eliminate poverty and other social atrocities. So both found that their ideologies became semi-official, adopted by governments for their convenience and gently rebuked if things 'went too far'. Now we have smug professional Islamists who preach respect, and smug baby boomers who bask in their Sixties war stories as they remember the days when they invented the idea that respect was progressive.

Islamist culture and the culture of respect now reign with complacent authority, incredibly sensitive to everything that doesn't matter, and incredibly insensitive to what does. With all the supposed concern for 'the oppressed', no one sticks their neck out for these people. There are still leftists, as there are still fundamentalists, who genuinely care about real injustice; they are an isolated lot. The ideology of respect has decreed that piety trumps justice. Changing that priority will not be easy. (Emphasis added.)
 

LILA RAJIVA, British Troops Beat Up Barefoot Iraqi Teens; The Axis of Child Abusers: [ . . . ]
So now Britain too is a paid--up member of the Axis of Child Abusers.

Paid--up member two: The US.

In July 2004, Germany’s TV news magazine, Report Mainz, cited accounts by the International Committee of the Red Cross that there were over 100 children in US custody and that soldiers had abused children. An eye--witness, Sergeant Provance, even described how interrogators molested a 15-- year old girl and physically abused a 16--year old boy. (2)

More sensationally, in a taped lecture at the ACLU during the same summer, veteran investigative reporter, Seymour Hersh claimed that he had heard tapes of children screaming as they were being sodomized in front of their parents.(3)
Hersh was late on the story. Buried in a Denver Post article a few months earlier was a brief but chilling reference to the rape of a young Iraqi boy by an American soldier. (4)

Paid--up member one:

Israel, whose soldiers routinely mow down Palestinian children in their homes and schools. Just recently, nine--year--old Aya Astal was shot in the neck and had her stomach blown open when she wandered too close to Israel’s “security fence.” (5)

But a whole troupe of little ghosts go before her: Fifth grader, Ghadir Mukheimer, a ten--year--old schoolgirl whom Israeli occupation troops shot in the chest and killed in October, 2004 while she was sitting at her desk inside a United Nations school in a Gaza refugee camp. (6)

And thirteen--year--old Iman al--Hams skipping to school, left to die in a pool of blood when ambulances were denied access. Her body was riddled with 20 bullets -- 5 to her head -- most pumped into her body after death by Israeli soldiers.(7)

And four--month--old Iman Hajjour, killed at Khan Younis refugee camp in southern Gaza Strip by Israeli shelling that also left her mother and sister seriously injured. (8)
Officials have deliberately withheld the name of the regiment to which the perps in the British video belong. But maybe the public should demand it. Here’s why.

In May 2004, when photos surfaced in the Daily Mirror (UK) of members of the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment beating up and urinating on a hooded Iraqi detainee, General Sir Michael Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, rushed to claim that they only showed an isolated incident caused by the "ill discipline of a few soldiers." But as The Independent pointed out immediately, by May 2004, the QLR (as well as the Royal Fusiliers and Black Watch) was already involved in six cases of death or severe abuse that the Royal Military Police had not yet completed investigated and that dated back more than a year. In May 2004, it was also eight months since the killing of 26--year--old Baha Mousa, a hotel receptionist beaten to death in September 2003 by members of the same QLR. (9)

The QLR was at the time also facing a charge of having murdered an Iraqi detainee.

But in May 2004, the editor of the Mirror, Piers Morgan, was actually forced to resign over the abuse photos published in his paper. A government investigation -- never actually documented publicly -- found that they were hoaxed. The Mirror’s owners, Trinity Mirror, and several prominent US corporations which held shares in Trinity, had opposed the Mirror’s anti--war stance long before the publication of the photos and it was their pressure that led to Morgan’s sacking on May 14.

Whatever the merits of the hoax allegation -- and mind you, it could plausibly have been a piece of government disinformation intended to muddy the whole business -- what it effectively accomplished was to take the spotlight off the QLR and other British troops in Basra and distance them from the Abu Ghraib torture scandal which was at the time just breaking in the world press. The new video shows just how important it was for the spot--light to be shifted somewhere else.

Should it turn out that the QLR was also involved in child--abuse in Iraq, some one just might want to go back and check out the real story behind those “hoaxed” pictures.

There just might be more to it than what the government supposedly found.

And Piers Morgan just might be due an apology.
 

Beatings fuel fire as Iraq abuse probe starts
 

Our actions in Iraq have fueled the most extreme anti-Western views throughout the Islamic world, and the entire Middle East is less stable than it was when the Bush bunch took office.

Meanwhile, we build for our children and grandchildren a legacy of international hatred, plus a huge debt burden as the Bush administration spends and spends as though there is no tomorrow.

We've squandered our good name and our moral authority in the world as we've watched Rumsfeld and Cheney and other spokesmen for our nation argue to justify torture in the interest of our safety.
 

("They hate us for our freedoms.")
TWO women were killed and four children injured by a suspected US coalition rocket fired from Afghanistan landed on their tents in a Pakistani tribal area, officials said today.
 

IRAQ: Government calls for investigation into alleged UK abuses: According to the local branch of the Ministry of Human Rights in Basra, similar accusations against British forces have been reported over the past two years.

"In 2005, nearly 50 cases were reported to our Basra office accusing British forces of abusing youngsters in the south of Iraq," said Manhel al-Bara'a, a senior official in Basra's human rights department.
 

Yo, Rupert
Your comment "We can't have it both ways folks - you either want the press to be free or you don't. Whether it offends thousands of others should be put aside, in my opinion!"

Take a load of this sh_ _ .

An American toilet manufacturer is currently designing a new model that will "flush the bulkiest of Korans," sources said yesterday.

How about Flushing down your statement, eh??
 

Evelynn

I'm just wondering whether you've been following along with what actually has befallen British troops in the course of this unwarranted occupation. Have you perhaps missed all the slaughter and mayhem?

Bear in mind that this was 2004 when the troops were daily subjected to mortar and grenade attacks and riots. The troops would have to respond accordingly to such brutality.

Ok the residents don't want the troops there - the troops also don't want to be there - but both are trying to defend themselves and set the rules to protect themselves. One is not going to bow before the other.

So the conflict continues. Do you seriously expect British troops to treat them gently and with consideration? I think not!!!!!!!!
 

Anonymous, the main point is that after the famous WMD’s were not found the British American main excuse has been how cruel Saddam’s rule was. They said that Saddam tortured, beat and killed Iraqis. Well seem that the western occupation forces do exactly the same. Abu Grahib, Basra, torture, beating, random killings on the roads, “safe house” bombings, chemical weapons in Fallujah etc. the list of scandals and serious war crimes is endless, not by Saddam, by the western forces..

The British Parliament has all the power to call the troops back (on not to send them abroad in the first case) when now
a) the majority of Britons want the troops home
b) the troops do not want to be there
c) the majority of Iraqis want the foreigners out and approve attacks against occupation forces.

Why are the British troops actually in Iraq when majority of the nation was against it? Because Iraqis did something bad to Britain or because “Jesus” Bush asked them to join the crusade?

The British propaganda has been all the time that Basra has been peaceful and how good the relations were there. Now suddenly after this embarrassing video we are told that the fish and chips boys were under constant mortar fire and violent demonstrations. Well, it makes one wonder what is actually happening there. Anyway if it is needed three armed big soldiers to beat a skinny little unarmed teenager, who was demonstrating for the lack of work, there is no reason to invent excuses. Iraq is no soccer stadium where drunken Britons can do what ever they want.
 

Anonymous -
Understood: slaughter & mayhem all around. Nobody is immune. Not for one moment do I relish (or wish for) the terrible things that befall the British troops - or the American - or anyone else. However, I bear in mind one indisputable fact: It is Iraq that is invaded. It is Iraqis whose lives unnecessarily have been and are being destroyed. Each and every member of the invading forces made a choice to be in Iraq. The Iraqis did not invite the invaders. Justice is on the side of the Iraqis. Justice remains my standard.
 

Anonymous (more) -
In answer to your (rhetorical) question: "Do you seriously expect British troops to treat them gently and with consideration?" - NO. The track record of the invaders totally eliminates such possibility.

Dahr Jamail: Eyewitness to U.S. War Crimes in Iraq
 

if you find yourself sent to iraq for a tour of duty then you must do anything in order to come back home again. there are no prizes for coming home as a brave and honourable corpse. there is nothing wrong with these pictures its just the world we live in. soldiers have to defend themselves regardless of whose territory they are on or what it takes. lets just agree that war is brutal regardless of where it is or who is the defender or offender.

remember there are no prizes for soldiers returning as an honourable brave corpse who put iraqi interests first. they have to put their own interests first, human nature!
 

Anonymous -
I totally understand and empathize with the human impulse toward individual survival. Not for one second would I wish to put myself in the place of the young men and women who have been sent to Iraq. At the same time, I totally condemn the evil politicians and corporate henchmen using these young men and women for their own ends. I call it modern slavery.

For those individuals who have, at HUGE personal cost, taken the decision to defy the slave masters, I have the greatest admiration. They are moral saints.
 

Well anonymous naturally everybody wants to survive. In that Basra incident by beating teenagers in a group of THREE, the soldiers put them selves and their replacements in a more dangerous situation by creating new enemies. Just after the war the Shias were happy to have the fish and chips boys there, but not anymore for a long time. What happened? Too much “self defence” or what? Certainly these young boys in the video did not fire mortars against the British base. Neither beating them did not stop the attacks. Using brains is allowed also for soldiers.

There is nothing honourable to came home as a corps from a colonial war. Much more honourable it would be for a professional soldier to say, I do not participate in illegal wars, and quit. Then there would be no “moral” dilemma. Even a military court would have serious problems in trying to make this Iraq war legal. It was clearly against the international treaties Britain has as a county accepted.

There is a big moral difference for a soldier in defending his own country on own territory against an attacking enemy, than being a member of an occupying force in an artificially created war in a strange cultural surrounding far from home.

Iraq did not certainly threaten Britain’s national security and its peoples’ lives in a form of military attack. It threatened some Britain’s business interests, but so do many countries. Britain’s Army is intended to defend Britain not to promote BP’s businesses interests. Or is it? Business nature…
 

I am really puzzled by people bending over backwards in using restrained language when they discuss the British soldiers beating of the Iraqi teenagers in Basra.

Many sources confirm that the video also shows the soldiers kicking an Iraqi corpse and pulling his head up for the camera.

Here is an example:
Front page: Army fears backlash over video showing soldiers beating Iraqis
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 13/02/2006)

“One soldier twice kicks a dead Iraqi in the head - an act of humiliation that could enrage Muslims. The video is accompanied by unpleasant commentary from the soldier filming the events.”

[One would have thought such act would have enraged any decent human being please note the word unpleasant try wicked and outrageous!]

No one in the independent glorious Media decides to probe this part of the news! The video clearly shows one of the youth passing out.

How did this youth die?
Was he one of the teenagers arrested?
Hence, the headline news should say video shows British soldiers beating Iraqi teenager to death!

I feel sick when I hear your presenters and your correspondent in Iraq saying 'apparently and allegedly' What more proof do you want?

I am also sickened by all the talk about the danger to our British troops and how It is only a few bad apples! the rest are doing a great job!

1) Could you please expand on the 'doing a great job' bit? the support for the resistance has risen to 85% in Basra (Brooking Institue report), I suppose that is good.

Iraqis drink polluted water, public health service is non existent, very poor civic services, Basra is one of the most polluted cities of the world. Would you regard these our achievments? It took some doing I suppose!

2) The video was shot in broad daylight in full view of all the commanders and many soldiers are seen passing by as if it is business as usual!

3) If there was no monetary/pornographic value attached to this video would it have come to light? would we have ever found out?

4) No one seems to ask the question: why was the matter not dealt with two years ago? Why did the victims have to wait for two years for their grievances to come to light? Something here smells very rotten to me.

5) Would your presenters have shown the same restraint if these youth were British?

6) The excuse making in the British press is nauseating and the headlines talking about 'our boys in the front line doing a difficult job'...

Hang on, that is not the spin you have been feed us before this incident! The truth is the Iraqis do not want us! they have not been not cooperating with us for months.
 

The Basra Video Should Lay to Rest A Scurrilous Lie. The smug superiority of the British over their peacekeeping efforts in Iraq is an insult to those of us who live there.

By Dr. Jasem al-Aqrab, head of the Organization for the Iraqi Islamic Party in Basra.