Iraqi judge issues warrant for freed British soldiers
An Iraqi judge said on Saturday he had renewed arrest warrants for two British soldiers who were rescued from jail early this week by troops using armor to crash through the prison walls.
The British government said the warrants are not legally binding, as the soldiers are subject to UK law.
Basra authorities said the operation violated Iraqi sovereignty, and the governor ordered all government employees to stop cooperating with the British, who have 8,500 troops in the Shiite Muslim-dominated region.
Judge Raghib al-Mudhafar, chief of the Basra Anti-Terrorism Court, said Saturday that he reissued homicide arrest warrants for the two soldiers on Thursday.
But the British government said they are not legally binding on the British soldiers.
"There is no legal basis for the issue of this arrest warrant. Rather, we have a legal obligation to investigate the allegations ourselves. That is being done as we speak," a spokesman at the British defense ministry said in London on Saturday.
Looks like the Iraqi's have not yet gotten the word that they are part of an occupied country and local law doesn't mean anything. The British are probably doing what they feel they have to, but there are going to be a lot of hurt feelings over this. Particularly if the soldiers involved are not punished.
Jay
