Here’s a link to the state of conditions in Basra, the model city in British hands in Southern Iraq. Yeah, we can win this war. 
Just for a second there, had a “whaaaa?” moment. “British troops attack police station”? The police? What the fuck? If the police are not to be trusted, its not civil war, its mere anarchy.
What is there left to say, samclem? What is there left to say that we who opposed this damn fool war haven’t said over and over, to no avail? Is there any prospect for Iraq not filled with destruction and despair?
Am I wrong to be even more apalled at the saber rattling directed by Washington toward Iran over this incident? -There are still many indications that the Bush administration considers invasion of Iran to be a way toward a solution to this mess!
(I remember a time when I couldn’t calmly imagine a long, bloody war by proxy in the middle of the fertile crescent to be the most attractive scenario facing the Middle East. Damn these fuckers.)
Still, the British did good. Saved a lot of lives. God bless them.
True, and something had to be done about the terrorist police, but now the Brits have got the political goodwill of the governor slipping from their fingers. I hope that this can be regained, otherwise it could make the situation even worse (if that could be imagined).
The article seems to be a bit strangely put together – what had the incident involving the Iranian diplomats got to do with the police station incident in Basra? 
Washington claims Iran is backing (the implication being with money and expertise) Shi’ia militia groups like that which apparently infiltrated the Basra police force. While I’m quite sure this is, in fact, correct and Iran is involved in every indirect way they can be, I don’t believe arresting diplomats is the responsible counteraction to Iranian influence.
Anyone else read the title of the OP and think that NBC was about to launch another Law and Order series?
Beat me to it, fuckwad! 
As for the article – which says Iranian diplomats got swept up in this . . . [sigh] does anybody still think we’re not going to war with Iran next? Unless we just decide to let them have Iraq . . . and maybe that would be the best thing for all concerned.
This afternoon, on a part of the All Things Considered program, I heard part of an interview with a British Army officer who said the Iraqis in the street were greeting his troops with a thumbs up gesture. I took it to mean his troops had the support of the citizenry and that the troops were not confusing the thumb with another digit.
It’s my understanding that in most parts of the ME and some parts of Africa, a thumbs up is an obscene gesture.
Maybe, but I have never encountered such a custom.
Sshh, don’t give 'em any ideas.