Ewa Jasiewicz
Occupation Watch
November 24, 2003
Basra, Iraq

This week in British Occupied Basra

Wednesday November 19 a credible witness reported that at 10.30am a British Army jeep was blown up by a roadside bomb on the road to Zafwan, near the Basra Health Governorate. He reported seeing soldiers injured, with one definitely killed as his head injuries were too severe to warrant survival. He was convinced of that, pointedly and still-shocked by what he saw, describing the soldiers head as smashed through the temple. This witness showed me the damage to his car caused by the attack (the force of the explosion blew off his inside rear-view mirror). Local television reported the attack, mentioning injuries but failing to report any deaths. Perhaps the British will release the news, quickly, quietly, in a weeks time, like before, hoping the facts will sink unheld through the daily quagmire of American deaths, CPA outrages, urban guerrilla war manouvres, and the blunders, bribes and inefficacy of the national puppet show, the Governing Council.

On the same day, a Syrian woman was arrested by Iraqi police outside the Iraqi Port Authority in Maqal. She was found to be in possession of a detonator. It is suspected that another individual was set to arrive with the actual incendiary device shortly. Security at the IPA is now so tight that all electric equipment (cameras, mobile phones) and IDs are confiscated at the front desk and female security guards searching women pour through everything, even opening lipsticks from make-up bags and pen tops for possible devices/lethal substances.