Postwar Iraq page 2
Looking for trouble Story archive
			BRITISH TROOPS CAPTURE BASRA BOMB SUSPECTS The following is pooled copy from Gethin Chamberlain, of The Scotsman, in Basra, Iraq. British forces swooped (Friday) to arrest a group of people in Basra suspected of plotting to create carnage at tomorrow's elections with a bombing campaign aimed at polling stations and coalition troops. Operating with Iraqi special forces, 200 men of the Scots Guards mounted simultaneous raids on four houses in the centre of Basra. 29-01-2005 PA News
			IN THE DESERT DARKNESS, ARGYLLS' TRAP IS SET "LISTEN up, everyone," says Second Lieutenant Robbie Grieve. "If there is a casualty and it's a big contact then you have to leave him, guys. I know it's difficult, but when it's over then we will go back and deal with it. Try not to panic - remember, it's your mate there who might be dying." April 21, 2004
			Iraq Scotsman The following is pooled copy from Gethin Chamberlain, of The Scotsman, in Basra, Iraq The ballot boxes were full almost to overflowing, and still people queued up to get in to the polling stations. They turned out in their hundreds of thousands, walking in family groups, couples with their children, talking excitedly about what for the majority was their first chance to cast a vote in an election for anyone other than Saddam Hussein. 30-01-2005 PA NEWS
			Three months on, Basra is changed but air of threat remains THE looters are already running when the patrol spots them, darting into the wreckage of the buildings of Basra's old southern university, hurdling the blocks of rubble, looking for somewhere to hide from the British troops July 9, 2003
			RMPs hunt for clues to Iraq murders WHITE masks on their faces to protect from the dust, the two military police officers pick through the rubble of the tiny room in the police station in Majar al-Kabir where six of their colleagues died at the hands of an Iraqi mob. It is a painstaking task: picking bits of plaster from the walls, looking for bullet marks, bagging up anything that could provide a clue to who committed the killings. July 11, 2003
			Tribal leaders call the shots but Scots Guards sort out the bother IT STARTED, the story goes, with an argument over a buffalo belonging to the Garamsha tribe, munching its way through the garden of a member of Basra's Halaf tribe. Before long, the streets of northern Basra were echoing to the sound of nightly gun battles as both sides pounded each other with mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns. The body count began to rise. But the rockets were knocking down the power lines, which in turn led to disturbances in other parts of the city. Matters were getting out of hand. 29-01-2005 Scotsman
			Getting a nod from sheikhs is only half the battle THE meeting is in full flow, rows of sheikhs listening and nodding their agreement as speaker after speaker addresses the packed hall in the southern Iraqi town of al-Amarah. The hall is dark. What little light there is, is filtering in through gaps in the fabric roof and through the open doorway. A stage has been set up at the far end. Guards in blue shirts and trousers, AK-47s resting casually on their knees, eye up new arrivals, motioning them through. July 10, 2003
			MORE TROOPS OR DISASTER WARNS IRAQI UN ENVOY BRITAIN and the United States must send many more troops to Iraq immediately to prevent a catastrophic breakdown in law and order which would lead to chaos on the streets, the disintegration of the country and the emergence of a new "super rogue state", Baghdad's new ambassador to the United Nations said yesterday. Samir Sumaida'ie accused Iran of stirring up much of the current unrest in Iraq and said that any attempt to cut troop numbers - as Britain is planning to do - in response to political pressure at home would be a short-sighted decision. September 9, 2004
			Poll wreckers up against Scots Guards BRITISH troops are vowing to use overwhelming force to smash any attempts to disrupt Sunday's elections in Iraq. Commanders have drawn up plans for a "gloves-off" assault to deal with what they privately call the "Doomsday" scenario of a large-scale outbreak of violence in Basra. 28-01-2005 Scotsman
			'I felt the heat and the blast - there was smoke everywhere' A SURVIVOR of a suicide bomb attack on British troops has spoken publicly for the first time about the moment the bomber struck. Lieutenant Huw Longmore, 27, told how the bombers, who had travelled from Fallujah, planned to video the attack on a British checkpoint and how his squadron of light tanks headed them off, only for the bomber to detonate his device next to their vehicles. He described how his driver, Trooper Lee Williams, was saved from taking the full force by luck, ducking down to pick up his rifle just as the bomb went off. "His back was covered in flecks of suicide bomber," he said. "I felt the heat and the blast and there was black smoke everywhere." 26-01-2005 Scotsman
			Shiites in the south pledge to use their vote VOTERS in the south of Iraq appear determined not to be deflected from turning out for Sunday's crucial elections, despite a campaign of intimidation and threats to their lives from extremists determined to wreck the poll. With only three days to go before voting begins, there are signs of a growing popular support for the election, suggesting that turnout may be higher than first predicted. 27-01-2005 Scotsman
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