Sunday, November 13, 2005

Iraqi Sovereignty - now you see it, now you don't!

Phil Shiner, of the Brimingham British Public Interest Lawyers, condemned the hypocrisy of Tony Blair’s government with regards to the protection of Saddam Hussein’s legal team, which has since stopped work after a 2nd lawyer on the team was shot dead, and one other injured.

In fact, Shiner was so incensed that he described the Blair government’s hypocrisy as knowing no bounds, which would be fairly strong language for the Brits.

Malaysia's former PM, Dr Mahathir, has also correctly highlighted that responsibility for the security of occupied Iraq, its citzens and government organs including defence lawyers (as officers of the court), should and must rest with the occupying powers, the USA and Britain.

But trust the Blair government to deny responsibility for the protection of the defence lawyers because it brazenly, outrageously and laughably claimed that sovereignty has been handed back to the Iraqi government.

Shiner pointed out that Blair’s officials had the bloody nerve to claim this despite the British military's regular blatant and publicly demonstrated disregard for Iraqi sovereignty, which have humiliated Iraqis to no ends.

For example, Blair’s government has reminded the Coalition Provisional Authority must continue to provide complete immunity for British armed forces and contractors even after the handover of authority to Iraqis. How can the Iraqis be considered as a sovereign authority when an alien force and non-citizens in its country are exempted from the laws of Iraq?

Shiner also reminded us of how the British military arrogantly invading a police station in Basra recently, which saw innocent Iraqi civilians being killed but with no British soldier held responsible. Where was Iraqi sovereignty then? Did Britain care two hoots about Iraqi public perception of an alien military force storming an Iraqi police station with impunity and immunity?

And to add insult to injury, the British attacked the Iraqi police station to release 2 British SAS men caught as agent provocateurs. In other words, the Brit military perpetrated a second crime to rescue criminals in teh first instant.

This is an extract of the full report by the Centre for Research on Globalization:

According to yet another BSBC [British State Broadcasting Company] report, after breaking into the police station, the Brits discovered that they [the captured British agent provocateurs] had been moved to a Mehdi Army house for 'interrogation'. Yet subsequent accounts revealed that they had in fact, been in the police station all along and, according to a CNN report, were being questioned by an Iraqi judge, not, as the British government alleged, by the ‘insurgents’.

By now, in a classic disinformation campaign, so many stories were being circulated that sorting out the truth from fiction was virtually impossible unless one is prepared to dig and dig deep.

What is clear is that the two SAS 'undercover operatives' had been caught red-handed by the British government’s alleged allies, the Iraqi police, dressed as Arabs, replete with wigs and armed to the teeth and in a car which according to one report, was packed with explosives (the car by the way, has been taken away by the British occupation forces).

The question the BSBC was not and still is not asking, is what were they up to, creeping around dressed up as Iraqis in what is meant to be a relatively peaceful Basra?


The sinister intentions of the British SAS aside and the consequential British 'rescue' to cover up their intended crimes of sh*t-stirring in southern Iraq, the attack on an Iraqi police station demonstrated a lack of respect by the British for the Iraqi authorities. There was a time when the British military would scornfully shake their heads at the arrogant behaviour of their American colleagues, but since Blair became PM, the Brits seem to have adopted many of the American military's misconduct.

Shiner succinctly stated that Tony Blair would refer to Iraqi sovereignty when it was convenient for him to disown responsibility, but forget about that when it enables Britain to do what it pleases in Iraq without facing the consequences.


Related:
(1) Mahathir's right about Perilous Defence in Iraq
(2) Mahathir Strikes Again at Iraqi Overlords
(3) Your honour, the defence rest!

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