The British in Basra?

For those of you who have been reading me for awhile, you know that I have repeatedly questioned some of the more curious actions of the British in Basra, probably the most bizarre was the attack on an Iraqi prison where two British men were being held after being arrested disguised as local Iraqis and engaging in a shootout with local Iraqi police. Unfortunately, I didn't save the picture of their car's contents, but it contained significant quantities of weapons, comm and night vision gear, and EXPLOSIVES. And I keep asking what the British are up to in Basra?

Well, here's what the Iranians think. (Note: Basra is about 30 miles from the SW Iranian border.)

Iran said on Sunday Britain was behind deadly bomb attacks in Iran, sharply raising tension after Washington backed British charges that Tehran helped Iraqi militants kill eight of its troops.

Five people were killed in twin bombings in southwest Iran on Saturday.

I'll do a little hunting later to see if I can actually find any stories with evidence that go beyond he said/she said.

UPDATE: No new evidence for the above, but the British government's story has changed from "stopping inflow from Iran" to "stopping torture by infiltrating local Iraqi forces." If that's the case, then why did they have explosives in their equipment. (Boy, I wish I'd saved that photo.)

And while we're on strange things woth the British in Basra, there's this from the BBC:

Captain Ken Masters was discovered in his accommodation in Waterloo Lines in southern Iraq on Saturday.

The MoD said an inquiry was under way but the circumstances were not regarded as suspicious.

Captain Masters, who was 40 and married with two children, had served with the Royal Military Police since 1981.

Investigation

The MoD said in a statement: "On Saturday 15 October 2005, the body of Captain Ken Masters was discovered in his accommodation in Waterloo Lines, Basra.

"He was Officer Commanding 61 Section, Special Investigation Branch, Royal Military Police.

"He had been responsible for the investigation of all in-theatre serious incidents, plus investigations conducted by the General Police Duties element of the Theatre Investigation Group." .....

He added: "Quite often they are with British frontline forces when they go on searches and such like, and they would have been doing some of the investigations into cases against British forces on behalf of Iraqi civilians.

Forty years old, died alone in his "accomodation," and it's not regarded as suspicious. Hmmm....