by proldic » Sat Oct 01, 2005 7:50 pm
Global Research October 1, 2005 <br> <br>‘Green slime’ invades Iraq<br>The Force Reconnaissance Unit's collusion with right-wing death squads in northern Ireland<br><br><br>by William Bowles<br> <br>This month Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, announced the establishment of a new regiment, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), to provide covert surveillance expertise for operations by the SAS and the Special Boat Service. Although he did not specify which experts he had in mind, the new regiment is largely based around the surveillance specialists of the 14th Intelligence Company, also known as “the Det” (Detachment), which has operated in Northern Ireland for many years. (The Times, April 2005)<br><br>This is Brigadier Gordon Kerr, identified as being involved in the deaths of at least fifteen Irish Republicans during his tenure as head of the FRU or the Force Reconnaissance Unit in Northern Ireland. Promoted from Lt. Colonel to Brigadier for his efforts, Kerr was given the job as military attaché in Beijing, largely to keep him out of the way of an investigation into the activities of the FRU in the assassination of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane and as many as fourteen other people.<br><br>THERE’S a phrase set aside in the British army for men like Brigadier Gordon Kerr and it’s “Green Slime’’. Soldiers don’t mince words, and to regular squaddies and military brass, Kerr and his Intelligence Corps are on roughly the same level as pond life. Highly effective, immensely powerful and very dangerous pond life, but pond life nevertheless.<br><br>This is from an article by Neil Mackay on Kerr written in November 2000 for the Sunday Herald. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>That pond life has been given the job of ‘democratising’ Iraq speaks reams about the real objectives of the occupation</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> of Iraq and surely should disabuse anyone of the idea that we’re there to bring ‘human rights’ to the Iraqis.<br><br>Assigned by foreign secretary Jack Straw before the invasion of Iraq took place, to ‘de-Baathify’ Iraq,<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong> it will come as no surprise that he was subsequently handed the task of heading up the re-branded FRU, now known as the Special Reconnaissance Unit (SRR) in Iraq, almost certainly the group that the two agents provocateurs captured by Iraqi police in Basra, belonged to</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> if not directly, then because of the relationship between the SRR and the SAS.<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The FRU’s collusion with right-wing death squads in northern Ireland is a fact</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> established by the so-called Stevens Commission into <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>collusion between the British state and groups like the UDA (the Ulster Defence Association) and the now disbanded (or again, re-branded) Royal Ulster Constabulary in the assassination of leading Republican activists.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> The FRU passed on intelligence to groups like the UDA obtained via plants or in some cases, ‘freelance’ operatives who played fast and loose with the facts in order to get their monthly pay cheque. It was dis-information that led to the assassination of Pat Finucane in front of his family.<br><br>These loyalist double agents, including the Ulster Defence Association’s chief of intelligence, Brian Nelson, were handed packages of photographs and military reports detailing the movements and addresses of potential targets, which in turn were passed to loyalist murder gangs. In total, an estimated 15 civilians died as a result of FRU collusion with loyalist terrorists. One victim of this collusion was the Catholic solicitor, Pat Finucane, who counted a number of prominent republicans among his clients. Other victims included known Provos and high ranking republicans; but a handful – perhaps five – were so-called innocents, people who had no other reason to die other than the fact they were Catholic.<br>– Neil Mackay, The Sunday Herald, November 26, 2000<br><br>Prior to Kerr’s involvement in northern Ireland, he had already established a reputation as a hard-line Cold-War ‘warrior’ when he was stationed in Berlin in the 1980s where his group known as the Int Corp almost succeeded in wrecking intelligence operations against the Soviets.<br><br>And <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>it is important to note that Kerr was no ‘loose cannon’,</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>[A]ccording to FRU sources, [Kerr] was not a maverick – <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>he was sanctioned from the top</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. After leaving the FRU … <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Kerr returned to Berlin on more intelligence matters</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> and was then promoted to brigadier – hardly evidence that military top brass and the government were displeased with his undercover operations in Ulster.<br><br>In army terms, Kerr has what’s termed ‘’protezione’’ – a Mafia term meaning protection. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Kerr has connections going right to the heart of the British establishment</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> and his [former] position as military attache to Beijing makes him the effective joint number two in Britain’s entire military intelligence operation. – Neil Mackay<br><br>Although I can’t prove it, <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>what the capture of the two SAS/SRR operatives reveals is the obvious attempt on the part of the occupation forces to destabilize the situation in Iraq by attempting to divide the resistance, a classical colonial tactic that the Brits are so damn good at.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>So here we have two provocateurs badly disguised as Iraqis, in a car packed with weapons and explosives who were intercepted by the Iraqi police and who clearly didn’t want to be exposed, hence the fire fight. The obvious conclusion to draw is that they were going to plant bombs that would then be blamed on the ‘insurgents’ and/or the Iranians...<br><br>Some References<br><br>The Force Research Unit<br>www.sundayherald.com/31708 <br><br>www.sundayherald.com/fru.shtml <br><br>www.safrc.com/Militarisation/html/fru1.htm <br><br>www.safrc.com/Militarisation/html/fru2.htm <br><br>www.safrc.com/Militarisation/html/fru3.htm <br><br>www.safrc.com/Militarisation/html/fru4.htm <br><br>Iraq<br>www.antiwar.com/blog/index.php?id=P2377 <br><br>www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-13442083,00.html <br> <br><br><br>www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=BOW20050929&articleId=1018 <p></p><i></i>