Publicola

This is interesting:

"The British military has ordered a suspension of weapons searches in the area of southern Iraq where six soldiers were killed, while a fundamental review takes place of the civilian population's right to carry arms."


Hopefully they'll have a fundamental review of the right to carry arms at home. But I won't hold my breath.

"The Army has agreed to a two-month "cooling-off" period in the town of Majar al-Kabir, near Amara, and this may be extended to other areas in an effort to defuse the rise in anti-British sentiment."

In other words, they realized that the civilians didn't want to be disarmed, so they're backing off to save face & their soldiers health.

"There is acknowledgement among defence staff that a lack of understanding of the local people contributed to the fatal confrontation on Tuesday in which six members of the Royal Military Police died."

So they realized not all people were sheep.

"The people of Majar al-Kabir deposed the local Baath regime without help from the British or Americans and there is a tradition of independence in the area. Some senior British officers believe this was not taken into account in attempts to disarm the population."

Again, very un-sheeplike tendencies. They never anticipated that a local population could be responsible for their own liberation. Granted it helped that the main source of their troubles' back-up was dispersed. But I would love to have seen the look on the first soldiers face in the area when he showed up to liberate them... " What do you mean you're already liberated???"

"The British commander in Iraq highlighted the resentment about the disarming process when he said that the violence might have been sparked by people believing they were about to be searched."

Hmmm still more un-sheeplike behavior. Resisting a liberation army when it's believed they're attempting to implement civilian disarmament.

All in all, the article relates how civilian disarament is not provoking the reaction that the Brits are used to: compliance. It still says it's a good idea, but not practical when the populace is resisting.