I am absolutely amazed that this has not made it into any recent diaries, yet.
Two UK soldiers were broken out of captivity in a police station in Basra by British military forces. Some may have a problem with the fact that this is a violation of Iraq's supposed (but bullshit) sovereignty.
But it gets weirder...
The two men were apparently part of the British SAS/SRR (ie. secret military operatives) and were dressed as members of the Sadr militia, the Mehdi Army. They were driving around in Basra in a civilian vehicle and apparently caught the attention of Iraqi police, leading to a shootout...
When the two men were finally arrested, their car was found to have held an enormous cache of weapons and -- get this -- bomb-making materials.
They were held (rightly, I think) by the Iraqi police at a prison in Basra. This is where the story falls apart, depending on where you get your information.
Check out Sploid's article (the paranoid version of the events):
http://www.sploid.com/news/2005/09/the_british_bom.php
And check out BBC (British stiff upper lip version):
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4262336.stm
The BBC, earlier today, had more of the paranoid-sounding coverage, but it is gone, now. The British press does not have as much freedom as ours does (chalk up ten points for the USA, as we could use some points at the moment), so the government may have ordered the BBC not to continue with the unsanctioned version of the story...
... or I may be fucking crazy.
Either way, the situation in Iraq just got weirder. Since when did we have to break out our coalition troops from police stations?
The Sploid website is implying something that some of the more paranoid conspiracy theorists among us have wondered for a long time: Is the coalition responsible for some of the "terrorist" attacks on civilians? I am speechless. Could this be true?
If so, the US and UK governments make Milosevic look like a pussy. It makes the Plame investigation look like a big waste of time. It means... I can't even begin to say what it means...
... Or it may be blown out of proportion. I would not assume that the heavens are being torn asunder just yet, but shit is looking weird in Iraq right now... more than usual.