British tactics reviewed as Basra erupts

Richard Norton-Taylor and Muhammad Alubedy in Baghdad
Monday May 8, 2006
The Guardian

British tactics in southern Iraq were under review last night as military chiefs studied whether the dramatic loss of an army helicopter at the weekend signified a new vulnerability in the air, as well as a growing hostility from Iraqis on the ground.

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The Lynx is the workhorse of the British army and as the roads of Iraq have become ever more treacherous the British military is using them routinely. The ministry of defence has yet to confirm what brought the Lynx down on Saturday, but if, as Iraqi police say, it was hit by fire from the ground, it would demonstrate a new level of vulnerability for British troops.

Yet just as alarming for the British deployment in southern Iraq were the scenes that followed. British forces have confronted angry Iraqi crowds before, but on this occasion the 300 men gathered at the crash site were jubilant at the loss of the helicopter and ready to inflict further damage. As soldiers from the British army's Quick Reaction Force got to the scene, they were confronted by stones thrown from the crowd. A minority, chanted support for the Mahdi army, the militia of the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, and was armed with assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and petrol bombs, British defence sources said.

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Basra residents said the jubilation at British misfortune stemmed from the city's descent into misery - and warned that such confrontation was likely to recur. "The miserable situation in Basra and the south definitely had a role in the buildup of events," said Abu Ali, a Basra resident. "Electricity is absent for most of the day and gasoline is very expensive. Ordinary people can never get a job at the state security forces because it is entirely controlled by the militias. People think those who used to live abroad came and controlled everything while the common citizens still cannot get basic life needs."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1769836,00.html
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No, they had to go for the profits to corporate globalists. What do they care about decimating a country? They don't.