<strong>Written By:</strong> jensonj
<strong>Date:</strong> 2005-09-24 11:40:22
<a href="/article/104022386-judge-renews-warrant-for-british-soldiers">Article Link</a>

The two British soldiers were arrested by Iraqi authorities on Monday after allegedly shooting two Iraqi policemen who tried to detain them. One of the policemen reportedly was killed. The two British soldiers, operating undercover, were subsequently taken into custody.

A British armored patrol then surrounded the jail where the two were held, setting off a riot in Basra, Iraq's second largest city and the southern hub of the country's oil industry. Angry residents attacked the British armor with firebombs and pelted soldiers with stones as they jumped from the burning vehicles.

Later Monday, British armored vehicles crashed through the prison walls in an operation to rescue the two soldiers. They were subsequently found in a nearby house in the custody of militiamen, Britain said.

Basra authorities said the operation violated Iraqi sovereignty, and the governor ordered all government employees to stop cooperating with the British, who have 8,500 troops in the Shiite Muslim-dominated region.

Judge Raghib al-Mudhafar, chief of the Basra Anti-Terrorism Court, said Saturday that he reissued homicide arrest warrants for the two soldiers on Thursday.


But the British government said its troops are not legally bound by the warrants.

"There is no legal basis for the issue of this arrest warrant. Rather, we have a legal obligation to investigate the allegations ourselves. That is being done as we speak," a spokesman at the British defense ministry said in London on Saturday.

"We will continue to work with the Iraqis on the inquiry which the Iraqi government has begun" into the clash, he said in an interview. He spoke on condition of anonymity, as spokesmen at British ministries often do, in keeping with a government regulation.

In Basra early Saturday morning, several rockets were fired at the British and American consulates in the city, but both fell in a nearby field, hurting no one, said police Capt. Mushtaq Khazim. Also, three rockets were fired at the Shat al-Arab hotel, the headquarters of the British army in Basra, he said. One rocket hit the building, without causing casualties. The two others hit nearby private homes, wounding an Iraqi civilian, Khazim said.

He said it was not clear who had fired the rockets.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a suicide car bomber driving at high speed exploded his vehicle near an Iraqi army checkpoint in downtown Baghdad, killing three soldiers and an Iraqi civilian, police said.

Late Friday, a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier whose convoy was patrolling in southeastern Baghdad, the military said Saturday.

The attack raised to at least 1,913 the number of U.S. military members who have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003.

<a href="http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/93-09242005-545861.html?referrer=email">http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/93-09242005-545861.html?referrer=email</a>




[Proofreader's note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on September 25, 2005]

   

There is a lot to be said for self rule.

---
Perception is two thirds of what we perceive reality to be.

Difficult decisions are a privilege of rank.

   

The biggest joke is that Iraq, one of the oldest centres of civilization on the Planet, is not capable of sorting its self out. They some how need our version of democracy to have a working country....lol...

   

Iraq has a problem on it's hands. There are a couple of countries that feel they are in control. The problem is, those countries carry big guns. Iraq has none.

   

Perhaps they are JTF2 Canadian soldiers:<br />
<br />
<br />
Check out this from the Independent:<br />
<br />
An Iraqi judge yesterday issued arrest warrants for two British soldiers, presumed to be SAS men, whose detention by Iraqi police and subsequent rescue by British forces in Basra last week has thrown an unprecedented spotlight on Britain's role in Iraq.<br />
<br />
Early yesterday a flurry of rockets was fired at buildings occupied by British troops, but police said the only injuries were suffered by an Iraqi family in a house hit by one missile. Tensions aroused by last week's clashes remain high, with Basra's governor refusing to co-operate with British forces until the local authorities receive an apology and compensation for the damage caused when troops stormed the al-Jamiat police station on Monday.<br />
<br />
The arrest warrants issued by Judge Raghib al-Mudhafar, chief of the Basra anti-terrorism court, have "no legal basis", according to British spokesmen, because of the agreement giving British forces legal immunity. "We have a legal obligation to investigate the allega- tions ourselves," said a Ministry of Defence official. "That is being done as we speak. We will continue to work with the Iraqis on the inquiry which the Iraqi government has begun."<br />
<br />
<b>But Judge Mudhafar says he is not convinced the two men are British - possibly because one of them was said to have been carrying a Canadian-made weapon - and they may not be entitled to immunity. This has added yet another layer of mystery to what is already an extremely murky affair.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article314977.ece">http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article314977.ece</a>

   

Canadian brand weapon?

   

Does anyone out there know if Australia or New Zealand use Canadian
weaponry? Could it be possible that JTF2 are operating in Iraq?

   

Candian manufacturers of armament listed by :<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nisat.org/Production/CountryProduction/Omega2001Split/Canada.html">http://www.nisat.org/Production/CountryProduction/Omega2001Split/Canada.html</a><br />
<br />
Armament Technology - <a href="http://www.armament.com/">http://www.armament.com/</a> - Sights, Thermal Imaging, Rifles<br />
<br />
Barrett Rifles - <a href="http://www.barrettrifles.com/rifles.htm">http://www.barrettrifles.com/rifles.htm</a> - Standard M82A1 .50cal sniper rifle (not a Canadian manufacturer, just supplier)<br />
<br />
Diemaco (1984) Inc (Colt Canada Corporation)- <a href="http://www.colt.com/mil/home.asp">http://www.colt.com/mil/home.asp</a> - Small arms, Standard issue C7A8 (M-16), Light/heavy machine guns.<br />
<br />
Dlask Arms Corp - <a href="http://www.dlask.com/">http://www.dlask.com/</a> - Small arms, DAR-701. (they make a fine takedown version of a Winchester 30/30!)<br />
<br />
Para Ordnance MFG Inc - <a href="http://www.paraord.com/product/categories.html">http://www.paraord.com/product/categories.html</a> - Small arms, handguns.<br />
<br />
Police Company Ordnance Ltd - No website?? - Grenade Launchers.<br />
<br />
SNC Industrial Technologies Inc - <a href="http://www.snctec.com/main.html">http://www.snctec.com/main.html</a> - A long list -> <a href="http://www.army-technology.com/contractors/">http://www.army-technology.com/contractors/</a><br />
<br />
Wolf Bullets - <a href="http://www.wolfbullets.com/">http://www.wolfbullets.com/</a> - Guess.<br />
<br />
As to the Anon's question above, an exercise for the student: Go here <a href="http://www.mod.uk/links/armed_forces.htm">http://www.mod.uk/links/armed_forces.htm</a> and see what those armies use for standard arms, and see if there are any Canadian Manufacturers of those arms.<br />
<p>---<br>"If you must kill a man, it costs you nothing to be polite about it." Winston Churchill<br />

   

wow, thanks, Doctor.

   

Anytime. Happy to help. I just didn't feel like browsing the NATO websites to find what members use as standard arms.

Just hazarding a guess; if these guys really were SAS, and had been caught with a Canadian manufactured weapon, they would have been carrying DAR-701's, a good special forces weapon. But, if they wanted to appear as Iraqi resistance, they would have been carrying Russian Kalishnikoff's (AK-47's) or Chinese knockoffs of the AK-47. It would be sloppy of 'covert' special forces to be seen with the wrong weapon.



---
"If you must kill a man, it costs you nothing to be polite about it." Winston Churchill

   

I never knew Canada produced so many weapons to be used exclusivly by Canadians. One has to wonder how these manufacturers are able to insure that ONLY Canadians would ever be the one's to use them. Some are even sugests they make their weapons for militaries all over the world. I guess that's only if Canadians enlist in those militaries and are the only ones to use them. That is solid proof. It had to have been Canadians or the weapons would have been made by winchester. *The judge is using a ploy to overcome the Brit's claim of immunity.

   

They certainly wouldn't have been carrying standard issue.

   

I read on another board that the SAS uses the Diemaco C8 instead of the M4,
due to it's superiority.