Iraq judge seeks arrest of freed British soldiers

Iraq judge seeks arrest of freed British soldiers



Abdel-Razzak Hameed / Reuters | September 24 2005

Related: British SAS Caught in Staged Iraq Terror

An Iraqi judge has issued arrest warrants for two British undercover soldiers who were freed after a controversial British raid in the city of Basra, an Iraqi lawyer said on Saturday.

Judge Raghib Hassan accused the men of killing an Iraqi policeman and wounding another, carrying unlicensed weapons and holding false identification, said Kassim al-Sabti, the head of the lawyers syndicate in the southern city.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said on Saturday the warrants had no legal basis.

"All British troops in Iraq come under the jurisdiction of Britain," a defence spokesman said in London.

The whereabouts of the two soldiers was not clear.

British forces mounted a bid to free the two soldiers on Monday, but were initially repelled as a crowd of angry Iraqis petrol-bombed an armoured vehicle.

Later British forces returned and armoured vehicles broke down the walls of the jail. The two soldiers were later freed from a private house nearby, where they were believed to be held by a local militia.

Basra authorities had said British troops killed two Iraqi police during the raid.

Monday's flare-up has harmed the relationship British forces were able to build with local Iraqis in and around Basra, a relatively stable city compared with other parts of Iraq.

Officials said Basra's governing council stopped all cooperation with the British until they apologise, guarantee that similar actions are not taken again and provide compensation for damage inflicted during the operation.

An investigation into the events leading up to the rescue is under way by Iraqi authorities and the British military.

"We will continue to work closely with the Iraqis and the inquiry which the Iraq government has begun into the events of Monday," the British defence spokesman said.

Britain's secretary of defence said he stood by the actions of the forces on the ground.

"They did what they judged was appropriate at the time and I commend them for the swift and decisive action in very difficult circumstances," John Reid said. (Additional reporting by Matthew Jones in London)

They cant arrest them something about being excluded from any legal action, I have 2 find that memo.. Plus they are not brown enuff to be givin back 2 the Iraqis

It is illegal in Iraq for the Iraqi security forces to arrest coalition forces, the British army is refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of the judge's arrest warrants.

fuckin ungrateful fuckin rag headed fuckin iraqi's...our ppl are getting killed out there helping these ungrateful stone aged, backwards, mad fucking mullahs

pull the troops out now...then nuke the place

well who put r people in iraq, The iraqis did not ask 4 war gawddamn. fukin racist

its spelt rascist

im not rascist

i hate White iraqis, Black iraqis, Arab Iraqis

who the fuk cares how it is spelled

I hate everyone the same, If i wanted a spell check I would do it myself. thanks 4 the input. YA RIGHT!!

I thought we were past this "conspiracy"! :rolleyes:

Sep-22-2005, 17:38
TonyD
Registered Join Date: Jul-21-2005
Posts: 67



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The Iraq police were ordered by their own ministry of interior and other government departments to release the prisoners, they refused to do so ignoring commands from superiors. The police were believed to be working with terrorist and insurgent forces, this coming after the chief of police in iraq said he only trusted a 1/4 of his men.

The Iraqi police then continued to hand over the prisoners to a radical militia with weapons, the brigadier on the ground then decided that he must take action to save the soldiers life's.

A British light armoured warrior drove through the police wall and the iraqi's were then convinced to tell them where the prisoners were taken as above said this may have been helped by a 30mm Rarden cannnon.

The British then sent a rescue team to the location (a house in Basra) the men were successfully recovered. Both men were from 22 SAS the British army's elite special forces (believed by a great majority who have an unbiased view to be the worlds best trained force anywhere in the world.)

I think you'll find it is spelled racist not rascist.