Violence in Basra exposes myth of trust between British and Iraqi forces

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1573945,00....

Day of violence in Basra exposes myth of trust between British and Iraqi forces

Fears that police have been infiltrated by militia UK commanders haunted by murder of redcaps

Richard Norton-Taylor and Ewen MacAskill
Tuesday September 20, 2005
The Guardian


The storming of the Basra prison by British armoured vehicles and troops shatters the assumption, promoted by government ministers, that the security situation in British-controlled southern Iraq is getting better. Far from the picture painted by British ministers that British troops and the Iraqi security forces - trained by British troops - are working well together in mutual trust, last night's events suggest the contrary.

Ironically, British military commanders in Basra and the area of southern Iraq they control have recently been criticised for turning a blind eye to infiltration by radical militias of the Iraqi police. This may have caused the two undercover soldiers - almost certainly special forces troops - to suspect the apparently genuine Iraqi police who stopped and fired at them.

Throughout the day, the Ministry of Defence could not provide any information, or confirmation, of reports from Basra. In a statement from London last night it said: "We've heard nothing to suggest we stormed the prison. We understand there were negotiations."

This suggests the decision to storm the jail to free the two undercover soldiers was taken by local British commanders, though sanctioned, before or after the event by the chief of defence staff, General Sir Michael Walker, and the defence secretary, John Reid.