SPINNING THE FOG:

British forces support Basra 'uprising' (Guardian, 3/26/2003)

After a series of setbacks, and with the advance on Baghdad delayed by sandstorms, the invasion forces were badly in need of some positive developments yesterday.

It's a quagmire!

The first success of the day - which came just at the right moment for prime-time television news in the UK - was a claim by the British military that a "popular uprising" against Saddam Hussein's regime had broken out in Basra....

Until now, Shia organisations in southern Iraq have been very wary of getting involved in the war. In 1991, the US encouraged them to rebel but then abandoned them to their fate at the hands of Saddam's merciless men.

Given the reluctance of the native population to rebel, it's quite plausible, as I noted yesterday, that the uprising was initiated by a Shiite militia that had trained with U.S. and British troops in Qatar for just this purpose. If so, the uprising would have begun at evening Iraq time, 5 p.m. in Britain, when night gives the allies their greatest advantage.

In Nassiriya yesterday, US officers said they had found 3,000 chemical protection suits and large quantities of nerve gas antidote at a hospital which had been used as a base by Iraqi soldiers fighting the invasion. This is being interpreted as evidence that Iraq may be prepared to use chemical weapons.

However, the "antidote" - atropine - also has routine medical uses for treating heart patients and some respiratory conditions.

Yes, 25-year-old Iraqi soldiers often need to treat themselves for heart conditions. Posted by Paul Jaminet at March 26, 2003 7:26 AM