Informed Comment
The BBC reports, "Major Matthew Bacon was killed in an attack in Basra, in southern Iraq, on 11 September 2005 when a roadside bomb struck the armoured vehicle he was travelling."
So the British are facing increased casualties and concerted attacks in early September. Convinced that the attacks are coming from Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, they finally move against that group on Sunday.
[...]
On Monday there were further protests by Sadrists about the detainment of Shaikh Ahmad Fartusi and other Sadrist leaders. The Washington Post reported, "Earlier Monday, gunmen loyal to Sadr attacked the house of Basra's governor to press demands for the release of two prominent members of the cleric's militia whom British forces arrested Sunday."
Two British undercover men seem to have seen something suspicious and intervened. But somehow they got involved in a firefight with Iraqi government police. The two Britons were slightly wounded and were captured by Iraqi police (which seems to be penetrated by the Badr Corps, the Sadrists and other Shiite paramilitaries.)
Then a Sadrist crowd tried to storm the jail where the two British special forces operatives were being held by the provincial government. The Shiite crowds appear to have intended to hold them as hostages to be traded for Fartusi et al.
It was at that point that the British tanks rolled against the jail. In freeing the two Britons, they inadvertently let 150 other prisoners escape, presumably some of them involved in the guerrilla movement. Two Iraqis were killed in related violence. Then crowds attacked British military vehicles, setting 2 afire with Molotov cocktails.
The entire episode reeks of "dual sovereignty," in which there are two distinct sources of government authority. Social historian Charles Tilly says that dual sovereignty signals a revolutionary situation. Note that in Basra, a city of about 1.3 million, largely Shiite, the Muqtada al-Sadr group is not very big. Most Sadrists belong to the rival al-Fadila party, led by Muhammad Yaqubi. But small groups can cause a lot of trouble.
Remember when Bush said the new Iraqi government would be in charge? Obviously there is a difference of opinion about who is in charge in Basra. Now lets see what people with an ax to grind takes bits and pieces to spin up a perspective that serves their political ends.
Globalresearch.ca is a Canadian based apparently independent internet-based politically motivated news agency that frequently takes positions on the left side of the political spectrum. Either by lack of homework, or by design, they report only part of the story, this one is broadcast on Al Jazeera's Satellite TV news.
Text of report by Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV on 19 September (emphasis added)
A report of Al Jazeera TV, which preceeded the raid on the prison, suggests that the British undercover soldiers were driving a booby trapped car loaded with ammunition. The Al Jazeera report (see below) also suggests that the riots directed against British military presence were motivated because the British undercover soldiers were planning to explode the booby trapped car in the centre of Basra:[Anchorman Al-Habib al-Ghuraybi] We have with us on the telephone from Baghdad Fattah al-Shaykh, member of the Iraqi National Assembly. What are the details of and the facts surrounding this incident?
[Al-Shaykh] In the name of God, the merciful, the compassionate. There have been continuous provocative acts since the day before yesterday by the British forces against the peaceful sons of Basra. There have been indiscriminate arrests, the most recent of which was the arrest of Shaykh Ahmad al-Farqusi and two Basra citizens on the pretext that they had carried out terrorist operations to kill US soldiers. This is a baseless claim. This was confirmed to us by [name indistinct] the second secretary at the British Embassy in Baghdad, when we met with him a short while ago. He said that there is evidence on this. We say: You should come up with this evidence or forget about this issue. If you really want to look for truth, then we should resort to the Iraqi justice away from the British provocations against the sons of Basra, particularly what happened today when the sons of Basra caught two non-Iraqis, who seem to be Britons and were in a car of the Cressida type. It was a booby-trapped car laden with ammunition and was meant to explode in the centre of the city of Basra in the popular market. However, the sons of the city of Basra arrested them. They [the two non-Iraqis] then fired at the people there and killed some of them. The two arrested persons are now at the Intelligence Department in Basra, and they were held by the National Guard force, but the British occupation forces are still surrounding this department in an attempt to absolve them of the crime.
[Al-Ghuraybi] Thank you Fattah al-Shaykh, member of the National Assembly and deputy for Basra.
It's not clear who Fattah al-Shaykh, member of the National Assembly represents politically. But it seems likely it is someone who wishes to diminish the credibility of the British in Basra. Shiite fundamentalists have a firm grip on southern Iraq near Basra. Moving the British out simply solidifies their power as the sole institution of government in the area, at the expense of the National Assembly.
Now lets see what Muqtada al-Sadr has to say about the arrest of his allies in Basra.
Informed Comment
Statement of the Office of Muqtada al-Sadr
"Two soldiers from the British occupation forces opened fire on passers-by in the vicinity of a religious center where the people of Basra use to go, after which police patrols have a white car and arrested two persons riding it. It was found that they are British, and British occupation forces intervened to try to set them free. The people of Basra demonstrated to prevent this from occurring, and occupation forces reacted by opening fire on the demonstrators killing and wounding many of them. In retaliation the inhabitants burned two British tanks. The two Britons that were arrested had in their possession explosives and remote-control devices, as well as light and medium weapons and other accessories.
Late this night, British forces raided the police headquarters of the Basra province, set free the two Britons as well as close to 150 terrorists, and burned the police vehicles."
Again, Sadr's agenda is to weaken the British hold on Basra, strengthen his fellow Shias, even though they are hardly allies. Sadr benefits because the weakness of the US/British coalition, the stronger his Mahdi Army.
Why would these two political rivals take advantage of a rather aggressive move by the British? One can only speculate. As I understand it, the Shias near Basra are heavily allied with Iranian Revolutionary Guard. They want to create an Iraqi Shia theocracy on the model of Iran in Iraq. They're willing to fight a long civil war to make this happen. They seem willing to accept a partitioning of Iraq as well if they have to to achieve their goal of an Iranian style theocracy.
Sadr is a dangerous political radical who has clear allegiance only to his future political power. He shifts his alliances pragmatically as it serves his immediate purpose to raise his political viability as a powerful alternative to the US, the weak central government and Sistani. While he also is interested in a Shia theocracy, he is willing to ally with Sunnis, Sistani, and Shia fundamentalists to further is goal of running the country. His model of government in his vision is one of his own making. This man is completely ruthless on the order of Sadaam himself. Except he seems to be an even wiser political operative.
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