{"id":2281,"date":"2005-09-19T22:50:00","date_gmt":"2005-09-20T02:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meehawl.com\/Blogfiles-wp\/?p=2281"},"modified":"2005-09-19T22:50:00","modified_gmt":"2005-09-20T02:50:00","slug":"bond-unbound-in-basra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meehawl.com\/Blogfiles\/2005\/09\/19\/22\/50\/bond-unbound-in-basra\/","title":{"rendered":"Bond Unbound in Basra"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two British nationals were detained by Iraqi authorities. It emerged later that they were British soldiers. Dressed in plain clothes … the two men had been driving in an unmarked car when they arrived at a checkpoint in the city. In the confrontation that followed, shots were fired, and two Iraqi policemen were shot, one of whom later died. The Iraqi authorities blamed the men, reported to be undercover commandos, and arrested them … In a clear demonstration that the holding of the soldiers would not be tolerated, [British] tanks moved quickly to encircle the police station. Amid the confusion, a crowd initially of about a dozen, which later swelled to hundreds, soon surrounded the tanks … In the rioting that ensued, British control of the city, in the Shia-dominated south of Iraq, began to look seriously under threat. Two Iraqis were reported dead in the rioting, with 15 Iraqis reported injured, along with three British soldiers.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two British nationals were detained by Iraqi authorities. It emerged later that they were British soldiers. Dressed in plain clothes … the two men had been driving in an unmarked car when they arrived...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t