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Worth a read: FRR / Special Reconnaissance Regiment
#1
From (NK) on the Terror On The Tube site. December 9, 2010.
http://terroronthetube.co.uk/latest-77-a...ing-glass/

Perpetrators of the London bombings
The formation of the British army’s Force Reconnaissance Regiment was announced by Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon on April 5th 2004, as part of the UK army’s ‘Special Forces.’ It would focus, Hoon explained, on ‘combating terrorism’. That was one month before the BBC’s Panorama program, which scripted the first outline of what London would suffer a year later on 7/7.
The FRR would go ‘deep undercover’ for its reconnaissance, behind ‘enemy’ lines. On April 6, 2005, the FRR came into existence, a mere three months before 7/7. It appears as a secretive organisation above the law, with a license to kill – and with bomb making skills. Its insignia shows a sword being shoved up through a helmeted head.[Image: FRR.jpg]
Let’s take a closer look, at the little that has come out. Our main areas of concern are:
  • The assassination of Jean Charles de Menezes
  • The gunning down of two young men as ‘terrorists’ at Canary Wharf at 10.30 am on July 7th
  • The fabrication of bomb equipment in Basra
  • The startling rescue of FRR agents once captured in Basra.
Here is an Irish view:
’By May 2005 another of the British military intelligence units involved in the ‘dirty war’ in Northern Ireland – the 14th Intelligence Detachment – nicknamed the ‘14th’ or ‘the Det’- was renamed the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) responsible for ‘counter-terrorism’ operations in Iraq and the UK. Brigadier Gordon Kerr was appointed the head of the SRR. All retain immunity from prosecution – this time that held by all coalition troops in Iraq at the demand of the Bush administration as occupying power.
‘True to old form in Northern Ireland we now know that the SRR have already been involved in getting at least one more innocent person killed. On the day that the Brazilian Jean Charles De Menezes was killed by armed police in the London underground at least one member of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment was the man who wrongly identified him as possibly being one of the July the 7th bombers. The government and the Metropolitan Police have refused to answer questions about whether more than one member of the SRR was involved in the surveillance team following Menezes.
‘The Scotsman newspaper also reported that the two SAS men arrested by Iraqi police last August for allegedly driving around with automatic weapons and bomb making equipment were also under the command of the SRR – which would also put them under the command of Brigadier Gordon Kerr as head of that unit.’
Here is a socialist view:
Members of military intelligence from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) carried out the flawed surveillance of Jean Charles de Menezes. The SRR ran death squads in Iraq, targeting supporters of the resistance to the US-British occupation of that country. When the SRR was formed in 2005 it incorporated a secret unit of the British army that had supplied names, addresses and photographs of Catholic targets to Loyalist paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.
So it had trained killers and bomb-makers from its inception – three months before 7/7.
Those seconded into the FRR had sophisticated bomb-making technology:
“According to investigators examining past collusion between the security forces and paramilitaries in Northern Ireland, members of the shadowy army undercover outfit, the Force Research Unit, and officers from MI5 learned in the early 1990s that a senior IRA member in south Armagh was working to develop bombs triggered by light beams. They decided the risks would be diminished if they knew what technology was being used.
“‘The thinking of the security forces was that if they were intimate with the technology, then they could develop counter-measures, thereby staying one step ahead of the IRA,’ a senior source close to the inquiry explained. ‘It may seem absurd that the security services were supplying technology to the IRA, but the strategy was sound.
The Identity of De Menezes’ Assassins
Even Wikipedia comments on the involvement of the SRR in the Charles de Menezes assassination:
On 22 July 2005 Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by armed police officers on the London Underground rail system, at Stockwell tube station. Three media reports carry assertions by unattributed UK government sources that SRR personnel were involved in the intelligence collection effort leading to the shooting and on the tube train whilst the offensive action occurred.
We should doubt Wiki’s view that police shot de Menezes. The Met were evidently distressed (I would say) at not being able to deny responsibility, even though such a mode of killing was quite foreign to their practice. The British police are not into shooting seven dum-dum bullets slowly into the back of the head of a totally innocent man pinned to the ground. But, they had to shoulder the blame, because the killers were immune from public scrutiny.
Here is The Times drawing attention to the real assassins of De Menezes:-
Press photographs of members of the armed response team taken in the immediate aftermath of the killing show at least one man carrying a special forces weapon that is not issued to SO19, the Metropolitan police firearms unit.
The man, wearing civilian clothes with a blue cap marked “Police”, was carrying a specially modified Heckler & Koch G3K rifle with a shortened barrel and a butt from a PSG-1 sniper rifle fitted to it — a combination used by the SAS.
Another man, dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and trainers, was carrying a Heckler & Koch G36C. Although this weapon is used on occasion by SO19 it appears to be fitted with a target illuminator purchased as an “urgent operational requirement” for UK special forces involved in the war on terror.[5] July 2005
The Express made a similar comment, about a photo taken just after the event:
The picture, along with several others, was taken outside Jean Charles’s home in a block of flats in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, and shows several men who appear to be carrying SAS weapons and wearing military issue clothing. The man in the blue check shirt wore a helmet with a green SR tag on the side. It is believed this means he was part of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, based next to the SAS HQ in Hereford.
Basra, September 19, 2005
“Iraqi police sources in Basra told the BBC the ‘two British men were arrested after failing to stop at a checkpoint. There was an exchange of gunfire. The men were wearing traditional Arab clothing, and when the police eventually stopped them, they said they found explosives and weapons in their car. It’s widely believed the two British servicemen were operating undercover.”[Image: uk-basra-712333.jpg]
“Iraqi leader, Fattah al-Sheikh said that police had ‘caught two non-Iraqis, who seem to be Britons and were in a car of the Cressida type. It was a booby-trapped car laden with ammunition and was meant to explode in the centre of the city of Basra.”
Who were these people? Quoting from The Scotsman:
British defence sources told the Scotsman (9/20/05) that the soldiers were part of an “undercover special forces detachment” set up this year to “bridge the intelligence void” in Basra, drawing on ‘special forces’ experience in Northern Ireland and Aden, where British troops went ‘deep’ undercover in local communities to try to break the code of silence against foreign forces.”
These elite forces operate under the Special Reconnaissance Regiment and were formed last year by then defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, “to gather human intelligence during counter-terrorist missions.”
The Scotsman added, rather crucially: “This is the same Regiment that was involved in the unlawful July 22 execution – multiple head-shots – of the innocent Brazilian, Mr. Jean Charles de Menezes, after he boarded a tube train in Stockwell Underground station.” That was a well-informed source speaking to The Scotsman.
Nafeez Ahmed commented, on the Basra episode, ‘A glance at the Special Reconnaissance Regiment gives a more concrete idea of the sort of operations these two British soldiers were involved in. The Regiment, formed recently, is “modelled on an undercover unit that operated in Northern Ireland” according to Whitehall sources. The Regiment had “absorbed the 14th Intelligence Company, known as ’14 Int,’ a plainclothes unit set up to gather intelligence covertly on suspect terrorists in Northern Ireland. Its recruits are trained by the SAS.”
After the SRR killers had their cover blown, what happened? They were rescued, in a spectacular manner: “British forces used up to 10 tanks supported by helicopters to smash through the walls of the jail and free the two British Servicemen. Several media reports and eyewitness accounts suggested that the SAS operatives were disguised as Al Qaeda ‘terrorists.’
The SAS were made to shoulder the blame. Why was it so vital to rescue them and to cover their identity by blaming the SAS? Why have we since heard nothing, not even the names of the persons arrested? There must have been something awful that the two bomb-makers could have blurted out, had they not been rescued. Normally undercover agents know that they will be abandoned to their fate if caught, and do not expect to be rescued.
Captain Ken Masters, commander of the Royal Military Police’s Special Investigations Branch in Iraq, was charged with investigating allegations of mistreatment of Iraqi civilians by British soldiers. While attempting to investigate the ‘rescue’ of the FRR members, he was found hung in his military accommodation in Basra on October 15. Reports indicate that he had displayed no signs of stress or illness and that no suicide notes were found at the scene. Following this, there was no government enquiry, no questions in the House – nobody went to jail.
What bunch of killers could have such power?
Through the Looking-Glass
For the SRR to go ‘deep undercover’ behind the ‘enemy’ lines might have made a grain of sense in Northern Ireland, however when applied to Al-Qaeda the situation is very different. Al-Qaeda does not exist, it is The Phantom Menace. Its primary characteristic, is non-existence. Its image has been nurtured and developed since the late ‘90s by the FBI and MI6 (For readers sceptical, see essays by Nafeez Ahmed, eg here) If killer thugs already somewhat ethically challenged are given a mandate to go ‘deep undercover’ etc, what is going to happen? Are they not going to go right through the looking-glass and end up as being themselves, ‘the enemy’? It is the anti-terror militia who create the false-flag terror events, that is the frightful reality and paradox of our new millennium.
Look at Bali, in 2002, or at Madrid 2004 when the big NATO anti-terror drill March 4-10th culminated so to speak in the railway-station explosions of 11th March. What NATO had drilled for in several European capital cities, then happened.
In the months prior to 7/7, Warner Brothers were filming in the London Underground for their smash hit, ‘V for Vendetta.’ We here hypothesise that the FRR were responsible for planting the bombs on the London Underground, in which they would have had assistance from US agents planted as film crew. That film featured a tube train primed to explode. It was due to open later in 2005 but had to be postponed as its theme was too similar to the 7/7 event. Its filming ended in June, 2005. Its photography co-ordinator died mysteriously and unexpectedly in December, prior to the release.

Acknowledgement: The case here presented has come about through discussions with Andrew McGregor. I have basically applied his suggestions and insights.

2 comments:

Written by forthurst about 4 days ago. A wholly unconvincing smear that in no way links the SSR with 7/7. As with 9/11, it is extremely difficult to get to the bottom of attacks on civilians without a proper investigation and the availability of all relevant forensic evidence. Both evidents were clearly followed by deliberate obfuscation and a determination that the victims’ murderers would not be brought to justice.
If the SSR had been involved in 7/7, they would have had to be directed to perform it at PM level and he presumably would have received his directions from the usual suspects.


Written by Andrew S. MacGregor about 3 days ago. Forthurst is quite correct in that the operations of the SRR unit would have received its performance immunity from the PM’s office, much the same as the members from the FRU did. However forthurst has failed to recognise the aspects of police investigation called ‘collating’ where information is gathered from a variety of sources and put together. What we do have is a similar modus operandi for the murder of Jean Charles de Menezes and the three assassinations of supposedly ‘suicide-bombers’, two at Canary Dock and one at the HSBC tower, and again an area where the SO19 police were present.
We then lookat the modus operandi of the team of 8 in Basra where two if its members were apprehended by police, and again, the modus operandi fits both the london bombing and the bombing in Iraq.
Thus what we really need is for people who were friends of the deceased, that is the four ‘bombers’ and Jean Charles de Menezes to view these photographs to see if they can remember seeing these people back in July 2005. That includes both English and Iraqi citizens, and perhaps some military.
It is my belief that there is a very good possibility that these two men may also have been filmed by the CCTV cameras in London on both the 28th of June and the 7th of July 2005.
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#2
That’s very curious Christer. I was just thinking last evening about the picture of the SO19 “police” officer that was published just after the De Menezes slaying.

I remember reading through a “Heckler & Koch” forum at the time, where the posters were largely military, special forces and police. They all largely agreed that the assault weapon the policeman was carrying had been modified in a manner that typically indicated it was the weapon of a special forces soldier. I later tried to locate the picture of the officer to archive but couldn’t find it anyway. It had been removed from every site I checked. This alone points to the Special Forces who don’t allow images of serving soldiers to exist in the public domain.

Then, of course, there is this:

Quote:he FRR would go ‘deep undercover’ for its reconnaissance, behind ‘enemy’ lines.

Behind enemy lines....

We are the “enemy” eh. It speaks volumes don’t you think.
The shadow is a moral problem that challenges the whole ego-personality, for no one can become conscious of the shadow without considerable moral effort. To become conscious of it involves recognizing the dark aspects of the personality as present and real. This act is the essential condition for any kind of self-knowledge.
Carl Jung - Aion (1951). CW 9, Part II: P.14
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#3
What wiki has to say as of June 2013:

Quote:Special Reconnaissance Regiment

[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Reconnaissance_Regiment"]
Special Reconnaissance Regiment[/URL]
Special Reconnaissance Regiment (crest).jpg
Cap badge of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment
Active 6 April 2005 Present[1]
Country United Kingdom
Branch British Army
Type Special Forces
Role Special reconnaissance
Size One Regiment
Part of United Kingdom Special Forces
Garrison/HQ Hereford[2]
Engagements War In Afghanistan
Post-invasion Iraq, 2003present
Commanders
Current
commander Director Special Forces
Abbreviation SRR

The Special Reconnaissance Regiment or SRR is a Special Forces unit of the British Armed Forces. It was established on 6 April 2005 and is part of the United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) under command Director Special Forces,[1] alongside the Special Air Service (SAS), Special Boat Service (SBS) and the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG).

The SRR was formed to meet a demand for a special reconnaissance capability identified in the Strategic Defence Review New Chapter. The regiment conducts a wide range of classified activities related to covert surveillance and reconnaissance. The SRR draws its personnel from existing units and can recruit volunteers from serving male and female members of all the United Kingdom's Armed Forces.[2]
Contents

1 Formation
2 History
2.1 Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes
2.2 Northern Ireland
3 Uniform distinctions
4 References

Formation

The Ministry of Defence does not comment on special forces matters, therefore little verifiable information exists in the public domain.[3] The Special Reconnaissance Regiment was raised at RMA Sandhurst and conducts surveillance operations mainly but not limited to counter terrorist activities.[4] It was formed to relieve the Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service of that role,[4] and is believed to contain around 700 personnel.[5]

Media reports state they are based alongside the Special Air Service, in Hereford.[6] The regiment was established following a Strategic Defence white paper identifying a requirement for assets to engage in covert special reconnaissance and surveillance in support of military activities worldwide. It is the second newest Special Forces regiment in the United Kingdom's Armed forces, announced by the then Secretary of State for Defence Geoff Hoon in 2004.[6]

The regiment was formed around a core of the already established 14 Intelligence Company which played a similar role against Irish republican and loyalist terrorism in Northern Ireland.[7]
History
United Kingdom Special Forces
Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes

On 22 July 2005 Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by armed police officers on the London Underground rail system, at Stockwell tube station. Three media reports carry unconfirmed assertions by unattributed UK government sources that SRR personnel were involved in the intelligence collection effort leading to the shooting and on the tube train whilst the offensive action occurred. A partial Ministry of Defence response was reported by the Sunday Times. [8][9][10]
Northern Ireland

In March 2009, Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde informed the Policing Board that he asked the Special Reconnaissance Regiment to be deployed in Northern Ireland to help the PSNI to gather intelligence on dissident republicans. He claimed that they would have no operational role, and would be fully accountable, as required per the St Andrews Agreement.[11]
Uniform distinctions

Personnel retain the uniforms of their parent organisations with the addition of an 'emerald grey' coloured beret and the SRR cap badge. The cap badge shares Excalibur (the sword of King Arthur) in common with the other Special Forces units, in the case of the SRR placed behind a Corinthian helmet surmounting a scroll inscribed RECONNAISSANCE.[7] The stable belt of the SRR is similar in style to that of the SAS, however is darker in appearance, being Midnight Blue.
References

^ a b "Special Reconnaissance Regiment". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 26-March-2010.
^ a b "Special forces regiment created". BBC. 2005-04-05. Retrieved 20-March-2010.
^ "Special forces quitting to cash in on Iraq". The Scotsman. Retrieved 9-March-2010.
^ a b Ryan, p.218
^ "A secret army of Amazons guards Olympic Games". Express. Retrieved 5-March-2013.
^ a b "Special forces regiment created". BBC. 2005-04-05. Retrieved 2007-01-09.
^ a b Thomas Harding (2005-04-06). "New Special Forces unit will spy on the terrorists". Telegraph.co.uk (London: The Daily Telegraph). Retrieved 2007-01-09.
^ Smith, Michael (2005-07-31). "Could this police officer' be a soldier?". Sunday Times (London). Retrieved 2007-10-14.
^ Richard Norton-Taylor (2005-07-04). "New special forces unit tailed Brazilian". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 2007-01-09.
^ "AN INNOCENT MAN SHOT DEAD ON THE LONDON TUBE BY POLICE ... since then everything we've been told has been wrong.". Sunday Herald. 2005-08-21. Archived from the original on 2005-12-04. Retrieved 2007-10-14.
^ anon (2009-03-06). "Forces are a 'threat': McGuinness". BBC. Retrieved 2009-03-06.


Ryan, Chris (2009). Fight to Win. Century. ISBN 978-1-84605-666-6.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon

"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
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#4
This is all from 2005, so fwiw:

Prof Michael Clarke, a very mainstream and connnected source:


Quote: BBC News

One terrorism expert said if the shooting was carried out by police - rather than special forces - it would represent a "pretty big departure" for the UK force.

Professor Michael Clarke, professor of defence studies at King's College London, said the officers who carried out the operation in south London were unlikely to be police.

'Head shot'

"These guys may have been some sort of plain clothes special forces," he said.

"To have bullets pumped into him like this suggests quite a lot about him and what the authorities, whoever they are, assumed about him.


I have just had one phone call saying, 'what if I was carrying a rucksack?'
Inayat Bunglawala, Muslim Council of Britain

"The fact that he was shot in this way strongly suggests that it was someone the authorities knew and suspected he was carrying explosives on him."

He added: "You don't shoot somebody five times if you think you might have made a mistake and may be able to arrest him."

Prof Clarke said police officers were not trained to carry out operations in this way.

"Even Special Branch and SO19 (Scotland Yard's armed unit) are not trained to do this sort of thing.

"It's plausible that they were special forces or elements of special forces."



Richard Norton-Taylor, a very well connected reporter:



Quote:New special forces unit tailed Brazilian


Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian, Thursday 4 August 2005 18.28 BST

A new army special forces regiment was involved in the operation that led to the killing of an innocent man at Stockwell tube station in south London last week, the Guardian can reveal.

The Special Reconnaissance Regiment, set up in April to help combat international terrorism, was deployed in the surveillance operation which led to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician, on July 22, according to Whitehall sources.

The revelation came as Scotland Yard announced the first charges in connection with the terror attacks in London.

Ismael Abdurahman of Kennington, south-east London, will appear before Bow Street magistrates today. He will be charged with having information he knew or believed may be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of another person in the UK for an offence involving the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism.

Yesterday Whitehall sources told the Guardian that soldiers of the Special Reconnaisance Regiment, modelled on an undercover unit that operated in Northern Ireland, was engaged in "low-level intelligence behind the scenes" when the Brazilian was shot. There was "no direct military involvement in the shooting", the sources said.

It is believed to be the first time the new regiment was engaged in an operation.

The regiment absorbed 14th Intelligence Company, known as "14 Int", a plainclothes unit set up to gather intelligence covertly on suspect terrorists in Northern Ireland. Its recruits are trained by the SAS.

Geoff Hoon, the then defence secretary, said the unit had been formed to meet a worldwide demand for "special reconnaissance capability".

Mr De Menezes was targeted because he was seen coming out of a three-storey block of nine flats, Corfe House in Tulse Hill, south London, identified as a building linked to the failed July 21 bombers.

He lived on the first floor with his two cousins, Vivian and Patricia.

Mr De Menezes was followed and seen boarding a No 2 bus, heading north towards Stockwell. Boarding with him, it is understood, were several plainclothes officers. Defence sources refuse to comment on suggestions that they may have been members of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment.

Other officers followed the bus in vehicles. When it became clear that Stockwell tube was his possible destination, a team of armed police officers in plain clothes were alerted. They fired eight shots at Mr De Menezes at close range after the 27-year-old Brazilian ran on to a tube train.

A senior police officer was running the operation from Scotland Yard's "Gold Command".

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is conducting an inquiry into the shooting. It is certain to include the role of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, and also issues relating to the false identification of the victim, and whether CCTV pictures of the failed bombers were available at the time.

Another question is why the Brazilian - a suspected suicide bomber - was allowed to get on to a London bus when two buses had already been targeted.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."

Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon

"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
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