The bloody reality of war

The picture to the left actually says it all. This is a group of Iraqis carrying helmets and the metal remains of a roadside bomb that killed four British soldiers in Basra.

Look at how they cheer. Look at the happiness in their faces. These are not cruel people, nor are they murderous thugs. They are simply ordinary Iraqis, and anyone who claims that they are grateful for what we are doing in their country is either deluded or lying. They celebrate when our young soldiers are killed.

There is quite blatantly something missing from the narrative here. The John McCain/Mike Pence narrative that has an Iraq where Americans can walk the streets sipping coffee surrounded by Iraqis that are so grateful for their "liberation" that they offer them their wares free of charge is not simply a piece of spin, it is blatantly a bare faced lie.

Look at the picture again. Those guys in the background. That's joy. Unbridled joy. And it's joy that some of us have been killed.

So it's with that in mind, with the size of the lie they are feeding us about how ordinary Iraqis feel towards us and our occupation, that I give you the line from the Ministry of Defence:

They were killed after coming under fire from what army spokesmen called Shia "rogue militia" suspected of having links with Iran.

Even as they lie about their present war they are laying the foundations for the next one. And, again, they lay the foundations with suppositions, half truths and downright lies.

Step forward the Liar in Chief, the man who allowed us to think Saddam had the ability to strike us within 45 minutes, and yet who did nothing to correct this misconception even by his own admission, to further peddle innuendoes:

Speaking outside Number 10 as the freed sailors and marines were touching down in the UK, Tony Blair acknowledged that even as Britain rejoiced, the "sober and ugly reality" of the conflict had returned. Six British soldiers have now died in Basra since Sunday.

Using a noticeably harder tone than he had been able to adopt about Iran during the 13-day crisis, he said: "Now it is far too early to say the particular terrorist act that killed our forces was an act committed by terrorists who were backed by any elements of the Iranian regime, so I make no allegation in respect of that particular incident.

"But the general picture, as I said before, is that there are elements, at least, of the Iranian regime that are backing, financing, arming, supporting terrorism in Iraq and I repeat that our forces are there specifically at the request of the Iraqi government and with the full authority of the United Nations".

One wonders why, if he's making no allegation, that he even bothers to bring the subject up in the first place. The very fact that he does so is an act of subterfuge. He's putting it in people's minds even as he admits that he lacks the evidence to credibly do so.

Army sources in Basra said it was unlikely they would be able to identify the origin or the type of roadside bomb which wrecked the Warrior. "Intelligence suggests [weapons] are coming from Iran but there is very little hard evidence," a senior army source said.

If there is so very little hard evidence, then this would suggest that there is very little proof. In other words, they are offering us a hunch. A hunch that very neatly happens to coincide with the very nation that the neo-cons have made no secret of the fact that they would like to attack next.

But surely, if the groups there were funded and aided by Iran, then one would have noticed an increase in tensions during the twelve days in which Iran held fifteen UK sailors? By the army's own admission they were looking for such a thing:

Since the crisis over the seized British sailors erupted, British and Iraqi officials have been watching for signs that armed groups in the Basra region were stepping up attacks against British targets.

"We saw no noticeable up-tick in attacks during that period that we could definitively link to the situation with Iran," said a senior diplomatic source in Baghdad.

And yet, there was none.

Lie falls upon lie in this conflict; the lie that the Iraqis are grateful stumbles over the lie that we would be successful in Iraq were it not for the interference of those pesky Iranians.

This mission has failed. We are loathed. And it's no-one's fault but our own.

It's time to go home.

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Tags: Iraq, Iraq war, Basra, British soldiers killed, roadside bombing, Blair, Iranian interference