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09/26/2005:

"Britain refuses apology and compensation for Iraqis caught up in Basra riots"

· Judge's arrest warrant for soldiers still in force
· Local authorities suspend cooperation with British

British officials in Iraq have ruled out an apology for the mission to rescue two undercover soldiers from a Basra police station last week, saying police in Iraq's second city had disobeyed orders from their bosses in Baghdad.

"An apology to the police or the government would not be appropriate because there were orders to the Basra police from the interior ministry to release the two soldiers and they didn't obey," Karen McLuskie, a British diplomat in Basra, told the Guardian. "Our people were considered to be in danger and our actions were justified."

She said there were no special plans for compensating the relatives of the four Iraqis killed and the 44 injured in violence surrounding the raid last Monday.
"Any citizen who was hurt can apply for compensation in the same way as if they had been hit by an army Humvee or truck," said Ms McLuskie. There were no plans to help rebuild the police station.

Her remarks come after a weekend of tension during which the British base in Basra was hit by mortars and the city's chief anti-terrorist judge issued a warrant for the arrest of two soldiers on suspicion of committing "terrorist acts".

A British soldier who was seriously injured when his Warrior armoured vehicle was attacked with petrol bombs has been evacuated to Britain, where he is receiving treatment for burns, the Ministry of Defence said yesterday.

Many Basra residents are angry at what they said were "suspicious" and heavy-handed tactics by the British military. The soldiers, who were disguised in Arab dress, were arrested by Iraqi police then freed by British troops as tanks smashed down the wall of the police station. The raid infuriated locals, who set two British armoured vehicles ablaze and pelted soldiers with rocks. "We explained clearly to the authorities that they were British forces on a run-of-the mill observation mission," said Ms McLuskie.
guardian.co.uk

You'd think that if the Brits were remotely interested in what they say their mission is in Iraq, they'd apologize and rebuild the jail.