[I suppose there COULD be an uprising in Basra, but so far the uprising seems as elusive as the yellow cake and the anthrax.]
[Actually, another news story reported that the Brits had put up loudspeakers outside the city and called upon them to come out of the city and get food and water!! That might be what's really happening.]
U.K.: Basra Uprising Against Saddam
[The Reuters headline on the same news conference is considerably more subjunctive: British Forces Plan to Support Any Basra Uprising]
18 minutes ago Add Top Stories - AP to My Yahoo!
By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
A British military commander confirmed Tuesday that Iraqis were in the streets of the southern Iraqi city of Basra and apparently were opposing Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government.
"I'm confirming that there are events in Basra," said Maj. Gen. Peter Wall, who is second in command of British troops. "We don't know what has spurred them, we don't know the scale, we don't know the scope of it. We don't know where it will take us."
Wall's statements follow reports from reporters with British troops outside Basra, Iraq (news - web sites)'s second-largest city, that an uprising against the Iraqi leader was under way in the city and that British troops have assisted by bombarding Iraqi forces that had attacked their own people.
"Of course we would be very keen to capitalize on it," Wall said. "We have a duty to reinforce that. But we've got to make sure that we do that in a sensible way."
"Irregular forces coming out," Wall said.
Asked what his forces were seeing, Wall said people were "appearing on the streets in significant numbers and who are essentially being less compliant with the regime than they are normally."
[But here is the full answer from the Reuters story: "We aren't seeing anything. We're just hearing reports that there are people who are appearing on the streets in significant numbers and who are essentially being less compliant with the regime than they are normally."]
Wall confirmed that Britain was looking to aid anti-Saddam activists.
"We're looking at how we might do that through application of military force in the right place at the right time in the right way," he said. "That will be down to the British commanders on the ground to work out the best way of doing that."
"My understanding is that this is the very thing we came to do: It's to set the conditions where the Baathist regime and all of its instruments will essentially be discharged from cities like Basra by the people," Wall said. "It may be that we are seeing the beginning of that sort of thing."
"We really don't have quite enough evidence to be absolutely sure, but this could be the beginning of something."
[Rumsfeld's comment, as reported by Reuters, was "No Comment But However":]
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said he had not heard the reports, but said he could imagine that forces loyal to Saddam were shooting deserters in Basra and said anybody trying to revolt was very courageous and he hoped they succeeded.
lp