 Britains new Defence Secretary Des Browne Monday defended UK troops who fired live ammunition and baton rounds during disturbances in the Iraqi city of Basra in which five Iraqis, reportedly including a child, were killed.
The disorder followed the crash last Saturday of a British military helicopter in the city, in which five British personnel are believed to have lost their lives, including the first British servicewoman to die in action in Iraq. In a statement to the House of Commons, Browne said he did not believe that last Saturday's events showed that southern Iraq was rising up against the British presence in the country. He resisted calls for the immediate withdrawal of troops, insisting that Britain would remain in Iraq as long as the Iraqi government wants it to.
| The calls for immediate withdrawal of troops is, of course, to be expected. They'll come from Brit parliamentarians who think they're in Madrid. |
The fighting which followed the helicopter crash was an "isolated incident" involving no more than 200-300 people, and the "vast majority" of Basra's residents want to work with British troops to improve security in the region, he said.
| Why not kill the 200-300 people? Then everything will be hunky dory? |
But the Defence Secretary revealed that elements of the crowd were armed with blast bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars and said it was "entirely right" that British troops took action to defend themselves.
| Not only "entirely right," but a damned good reason to have wiped the lot of them out. I sometimes think we've become entirely too civilized. In fact, I often think so. |
|