# Iraq-SCU=special crime unit-appaling **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 25, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559 "2006-12-25T22:38:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/1 "2006-12-25T22:38:45Z")
> **[Brits hit rogue Iraq police](https://www.smh.com.au/world/brits-hit-rogue-iraq-police-20061226-gdp4hf.html)** 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. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/2 "2006-12-26T00:08:46Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/3 "2006-12-26T00:12:14Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/4 "2006-12-26T00:37:25Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/5 "2006-12-26T11:31:23Z")
Still, the British did good. Saved a lot of lives. God bless them. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/6 "2006-12-26T11:34:31Z")
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](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6209249.stm). I hope that this can be regained, otherwise it could make the situation even worse (if that could be imagined). ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/7 "2006-12-26T11:48:42Z")
[QUOTE=xenophon41] 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.) [/QUOTE] 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? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/8 "2006-12-26T14:16:26Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] 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? 😕 [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/9 "2006-12-26T14:34:09Z")
Anyone else read the title of the OP and think that NBC was about to launch another Law and Order series? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/10 "2006-12-26T15:28:14Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] Anyone else read the title of the OP and think that NBC was about to launch another Law and Order series? [/QUOTE] 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. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/11 "2006-12-27T02:41:35Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/12 "2006-12-27T03:10:01Z")
[QUOTE=LouisB] 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. [/QUOTE] It’s my understanding that in most parts of the ME and some parts of Africa, a thumbs up is an obscene gesture. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/13 "2006-12-27T04:41:59Z")
Maybe, but I have never encountered such a custom. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2006, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/iraq-scu-special-crime-unit-appaling/385559/14 "2006-12-27T15:06:48Z")
[QUOTE=asterion] Anyone else read the title of the OP and think that NBC was about to launch another Law and Order series? [/QUOTE] Sshh, don’t give 'em any ideas.