Behind the killing of British soldiers

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

(The imperialist party line is that all armed resistance to the 
occupation is being conducted by Baathist hold-outs. Last night on the 
PBS news hour, they showed 4 men in hoods reading a statement. Calling 
themselves the Fedayeen for National Resistance or something along those 
lines, they stated emphatically that they had *no connections* to the 
old regime. Meanwhile the Washington Post reports that the British 
troops were punished for disrespecting what are Shiite households in all 
likelihood. The myth of recalcitrant Baathists might begin to play 
itself out as casualties mount. We shall see.)


Angry Iraqis Killed U.K. Troops
British Forces Want Killers Handed Over in 48 Hours

By Bassem Mroue
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 25, 2003; 7:24 AM

MAJAR AL-KABIR, Iraq -- An angry Iraqi crowd killed six British soldiers 
because the troops had slain four Iraqi civilians during a 
demonstration, police said Wednesday, a day after the shootings.

British forces gave civilian leaders in this town 48 hours to hand over 
the killers of the troops, a municipal official said.

Armed Iraqis killed two of the British soldiers at the scene of the 
demonstration — in front of the mayor’s office — and then stormed a 
police station and killed four other British soldiers after a two-hour 
gunbattle, a pair of Iraqi policemen said.

The violent demonstration was the second in two days, apparently sparked 
by British soldiers’ searches for heavy weapons in homes, said Abu 
Zahraa, a 30-year-old vendor.

“This angered the people because they went into women’s rooms,” Zahraa 
said. “The people considered it an invasion of privacy.”

The incident had raised fears that attacks against coalition troops were 
spreading to previously calm areas, such as southern Iraq.

It also sparked a review of Britain’s forces in southern Iraq, with 
Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon saying Wednesday that Britain could send 
more soldiers to Iraq and require them to resume wearing helmets and 
body armor like their American counterparts.

“I know that there was some tension in this particular town,” he told 
British Broadcasting Corp. television. “That arises out of the fact that 
it is routinely the case in a number of these southern towns for people 
to be armed and indeed for people to have quite heavy weapons, including 
machine guns.”

He said an “urgent review” was underway and that reinforcements were 
ready if needed to ensure the safety of troops.

“Depending on the results of that review ... we have significant forces 
available should it be necessary. Many thousands, certainly,” Hoon said.

British military officials were meeting with seven members of the city’s 
administrative council in the nearby town of Amarah, seeking the 
killers’ surrender, said Qassem Nimeh, an official in the mayor’s office 
in Majar al-Kabir.

Nimeh did not say how they would respond if the attackers were not 
handed over before the 48-hour deadline.

full: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29410-2003Jun25.html

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