Paras in Iraq. posted by Richard Seymour

I missed this from a couple of days ago:

British paratroopers secretly operating in support of the SAS in Iraq are using American uniforms, weapons and vehicles as part of their cover, The Daily Telegraph has learned.

Although John Reid, the Defence Secretary, only announced this week that the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) had become operational, a company of more than 100 paratroopers has been working for six months in Baghdad. They have reportedly become so successful that American special forces have called on their help.

The SFSG was formed mainly because it was found that small groups of highly trained SAS troopers did not have enough firepower to take on large groups of Iraqi and Afghan terrorists. The unit has already seen a substantial amount of action in Baghdad.

Whenever the SAS goes on raids to apprehend terrorists in highly dangerous areas of Baghdad, the Paras are used to provide perimeter security.

Arriving in US Humvees, dressed in American army fatigues and armed with C7 Diemaco guns - a Canadian made version of the M16, the men have fought several battles with insurgents while protecting SAS colleagues.

"The SAS are doing the smash and grab but all the contacts are happening on the perimeter and there are a serious amount of rounds going down the range," a Parachute Regiment source said.

"They are making a really good name for themselves with the Hereford blokes and the Americans. If the shit hits the fan and the SAS need them, the boys are there as a quick reaction force."

The paras have a curious record in the archives of British counterinsurgency. Initially formed during World War II to be dropped behind enemy lines and "set Europe ablaze", as Winston Churchill had it, they became a straightforward hardcore commando unit used in imperial operations, in Malaya, Borneo, Aden and the Suez. They have a reputation for swift, brutal and direct aggression that is not to be expected from other units, and appear to regard themselves as vastly superior to the much-hyped SAS. Despite their record of brutality, their record isn't one of unalloyed success. John Newsinger describes in his British Counterinsurgency: From Palestine to Northern Ireland how their deployment in Aden led to a serious defeat and to their retreat under a hail of attacks from the NLF. Similarly, their atrocities in Ireland, particularly the shooting of 42 unarmed demonstrators on 30 January 1972, killing 13 on the spot, actually led to a military and political catastrophe, fuelling recruitment to the Provisional IRA and leading to decades of attacks on security forces and the mainland. (One of the curious myths about the Provos is that they uniquely and particularly targetted civilians - in fact, in Death Squad, edited by Jeffrey Sluka, the figures show that of deaths in N/Ireland during the troubles, two main groups of victims can be found - Security forces and Catholic civilians, the former killed by IRA operations, the latter by loyalist death squads operating as an auxiliary to British intelligence. IRA activities were overwhelmingly military activities against the occupying army). Of course, the very idea of having a parachute regiment was swiftly rendered eloquently ridiculous - men parachuting themselves to the ground are easily caught and rounded up, because they tend not to travel too fast. They also make easy targets against a bright blue sky. So, it's a bit of a laugh to read the Telegraph's masturbatory regurgitation of myths about the paras heroism and derring-do.

The brutality of the regiment is not in doubt. Eamon McCann, who was among those present on Bloody Sunday, has a fascinating talk about the political psychology of the parachute regiment here and here. Citing a range of sources, from books by paras to testimony at the Saville enquiry, McCann paints a baroque portrait of disturbed young men drawn from backgrounds of what is euphemistically referred to as 'care', given a structure of rules and an identity as part of the regiment ("you should have seen twenty of us marching down the street on Friday night, in our boots and maroon jackets" etc). The men pride themselves on doing things that others would find disgusting - initiation rites involving swallowing a pint of vomit, for instance. They nurture extreme racism toward Catholics, and knowingly (and with officers' knowledge) contrive to break every rule of peace and war, including firing on protesters with rubber bullets loaded with razor-blades, smashing skulls with lead-filled truncheons, firing indiscriminately on men, women and children (with the excuse that some obscure figure had fired on them first).

Well, that's the regiment that was sent into Derry on Bloody Sunday, and it is the regiment that was sent in to massacre West Side Boys in Sierra Leone, and it is the regiment that is operating in Iraq. Knowing what we know about them, it would stretch credulity to breaking point to swallow the Telegraph's portrait of valorous commandos holding back waves of insurgents. More likely is that they simply shoot whatever moves, riddle houses with bullets, shoot up vehicles and take pictures of the bodies.