Gurkha shot dead in Iraq ambush

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L10502848.htm

BASRA, Iraq, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Iraqi gunmen shot dead a Nepalese Gurkha security officer in an ambush in central Basra on Sunday, a spokesman for southern Iraq's British-run administration told Reuters.

The dead man, who worked for the private security contractor Global Security, was in a vehicle that had been delivering mail for the United Nations. Nepalese Gurkha soldiers who have retired from service in the British army are widely employed by security firms in Iraq.

Basra has erupted into violence over the weekend, with Iraqis enraged by fuel shortages rioting in the city for two days running.

British troops fired warning shots again on Sunday over crowds attacking vehicles and burning tyres in an effort to quell some of the worst unrest seen since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

more

[qanda]

1. Sounds like the once calm Basra is no longer

the place the invaders can point to and say, "See, they love occupation!"

[madrchsod]

2. listened to bbc overnight

basra is in bad shape. the only thing that is holding it together is the iraqi`s not hating the brits as bad as they do the us. problem is that when they rebuild the power system the thieves strip all the material out to sell...there is also a critical shortage of fuel to run the power systems if they can keep them going...the brits are putting more troops into basra to guard these installations...

[madfloridian]

5. I wonder about the vandalism.

I have read some things that indicate the contractors are having trouble getting civilians to go there and work. Someone posted on here that her hubby turned down a huge amount for several months work there.

They can't force civilians to go there. I wonder if the work is being done at all.

[jamesinca]

9. And the first obligation is to the civilian needs

From the financial Times a few weeks ago I picked up this bit of information:

Because they rejected a United Nations-supervised administration of post-Hussein Iraq, the US and Britain needlessly shoulder most of the legal responsibility for the success or failure of the administration and reconstruction of Iraq. No wonder other nations and groupings, such as India, Pakistan and Nato, have rejected Washington's appeal for troops. Why risk the liabilities of a military occupation under current conditions, especially when a simple Security Council mandate could trump occupation law, with all its attendant burdens?

In an awkwardly crafted resolution in May, authored by Washington and London, the Security Council designated the two victorious nations as the "occupying powers". This title carries all the responsibilities, constraints and liabilities that arise under occupation law, codified in the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and other instruments. The UN assumed an advisory role but left the legal responsibility squarely with the US and Britain and reminded other nations of their obligations if they deployed troops in Iraq.

In the last half-century no country requiring such radical transformation has been placed under military occupation law instead of a UN mandate or trusteeship. No conquering military power has volunteered formally to embrace occupation law so boldly and with such enormous risk. And never in recent times has an occupation occurred that was so predictable for so long and yet so poorly planned for.

Occupation law was never intended to encourage invasion and occupation for the purpose of transforming a society, however noble that aim. The narrow purpose is to constrain an occupying military power and thus discourage aggression and permanent occupation. The humanitarian needs of the civilian population take priority and usually require the occupying power to act decisively for that purpose.

[bpilgrim]

3. rummy says 'don't worry your pretty little heads...'

EVERYTHING is going according to plan!

more...
http://bbs.globalfreepress.com/coppermine

peace

[madfloridian]

4. Earlier on CNN, strange strange video.....

It looked like the person in Basra taking the video was being pummeled from all sides, and the video was very shaky. It showed what looked like the whole city of Basra rioting, running, yelling.
It was absolutely scary.

The man who was speaking from Iraq had a quivering voice, like he was ready to cry. Spoke of the heat as well.

[LizW]

6. There's been some rough video footage this week

I was surprised to see ABC showing their reporter and cameraman caught in a crossfire earlier this week. The reporter and cameraman were cowering behind boxes and American soldiers were spraying the street with machine gun fire from vehicles.

When they stood up and panned around, there was a dead Iraqi man lying just a few feet behind them with a huge pool of blood running from under his head. The reporter looked freaked and had that breathless, scared spitless voice.

The showed two women in shock and tears when they discovered that the dead man was their relative. It was awful.

[joanski01]

7. I couldn't help wondering

if that's what it's going to be like here if monkeyboy* isn't stopped. If they steal CA and then the 2004 election, something's got to give.

[amberdisc]

8. Hot in Basra today - 57 degrees Celsius

about 135 Fahrenheit
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3139019.stm">link BBC