The spin of the week

The spin of the week

Ok, after watching this story of the two British soldiers in Basra evolve and contort over the past few days it has become apparent that mainstream media is now a branch of the United States government.

Al Jazeera had issued commentary prior to this incident, about coalition forces being responsible for some of the bombings that were taking place against the civilian populace. This of course was met with not only skepticism but indignant incredulity. No sooner did skeptics pause to take a breath and two British military personnel were captured with just such materials and disguises.

These two British soldiers were identified as Special Forces by the British government but no reason given as to why they were wearing local Iraqi garments and wigs, or even why when they opened fired on Iraqi police forces when they were asked to stop. After killing one police officer they were subsequently captured and detained while the Iraqi police discovered that the car they were driving contained explosives and a detonator. The Iraqi Ministry of the interior asked the local police to free the two British soldiers but The provincial governor, Mohammed Walli refused, and in turn the British military used at least a half dozen armored vehicles to break into the jail to free the soldiers.

Since this incident occurred I have seen just about every possible suggestion as to why these soldiers were there doing what they were doing; anything from a special mission to local insurgents infiltrating the Iraqi police force in Basra. The one thing that the press dares not say is that these two soldiers were spies who going to actually bomb the local populace in an attempt to discredit and remove support from the growing insurgency.

According to the Geneva Convention, [Chapter II, article 29]

“A person can only be considered a spy when, acting clandestinely or on false pretences, he obtains or endeavors to obtain information in the zone of operations of a belligerent, with the intention of communicating it to the hostile party.
Thus, soldiers not wearing a disguise who have penetrated into the zone of operations of the hostile army, for the purpose of obtaining information, are not considered spies. Similarly, the following are not
considered spies: Soldiers and civilians, carrying out their mission openly, entrusted with the delivery of dispatches intended either for their own army or for the enemy's army. To this class belong likewise persons sent in balloons for the purpose of carrying dispatches and, generally, of maintaining communications between the different parts of an army or a territory...”


Now I will not go so far as to say that is what these two soldiers were doing but one has to at least take that possibility into consideration and this is something the Press has failed to do. The fact that these men were in violation of the Geneva Convention, much as the Iraqi’s who used white flags to surrender then fired upon coalition forces seems to not even be considered. The overwhelming force that was used to free these men from a local police station would suggest that these two soldiers were either of some importance or the information pertaining to their mission was. So why has this story morphed as it has?

If the chaos created by the Abu Ghraib photo’s or the condition of prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay are any indicators then we may have the most plausible answer. The fact that the Press has done everything in its power to shy away from such assertions should make bells ring but the only thing ringing at the moment is the anti-coalition sentiment that is growing more each day.

As it has been seen countless times over the past two or so years, our government and its side kick Tony Blair will do just about anything under the sun to deny the overwhelming evidence that Iraq is falling into the abyss. No parades with flowers, no cheap oil, and of course, no weapons of mass destruction, only words telling us how well things are going. The obvious spin from this latest tall tale out of Iraq only shows the desperation and great lengths that the pro-war effort will go to in order to coat the pill of deception.