Zawahiri says "Brits fled Basrah", I ain't buyin it!

Yeah... I'm gonna call BS here






There was a lot of preliminary negative press in anticipation of the turnover of security responsibility to the Iraqis from the Brits dwon south in Basrah. It's clear that many mainstream media outlets have a vested interest in ensuring the British involvement in Iraq was nothing short of fiasco. There was the BBC poll conducted which not so subtlely stated that the Brits should never have been in Basrah in the first place, and there was the piece on women being targeted by Islamic fundamentalists for not covering their heads. This is natural in a democracy, since the press will undoubtedly cast doubt on the ruling administration's foreign policy agenda. Nothing new here. Sure Basrah had a lot of ups and downs, but the handover of security to the Iraqis is a success because it shows the competence of Iraq's security forces. But when that assclown terrorist Al-Qaeda #2, Zawahiri, said the "Brits fled Basrah", that was the last straw!

In a newly released video Osama bin Laden's deputy mocked the "decision of the British to flee" and said it follows the growing strength of the Mujahideen. Zawahiri says Iraq insurgency is strengthening. He also claimed that coalition control in Iraq is deteriorating "despite their desperate attempts to deceive and mislead".

This is typical Al-Qaeda nonsense to utilize the media to get across any message, no matter how grossly inaccurate it is. Since I'm still waiting on the War is Boring piece to get the no-nonsense appraisal of the situation, I talked to a civilian buddy who headed down to Basrah yesterday. You can check out his travel blog here. I asked him about it and he said it was a interesting ceremony with a whole slew of media to watch this historic moment. I asked him if the Brits provided any festive beverages to lighten things up and he said no, unfortunately. I then asked him if it resembled the Bataan death march that Zawahiri referred to, and he said no. So as always, I do my best to take into account all different sides and angles to discern the truth of events like these. I even looked at Iranian media and they didn't mention anything about a retreat. People sure say some strange things when they're in the throes of defeat, especially when they're trying the failed notion of setting up a caliphate through the greater part of the Middle East. Could this latest outburst be Zawahiri's death rattle, I hope so.

Brian schmoozin with the media in Basrah (no retreat here)