Britain forms new special forces unit to fight al-Qaeda
Sean Rayment, Telegraph (UK), 25 July 2004
'A new special forces regiment is being created to infiltrate Islamic terrorist groups such as al-Qa'eda, the Telegraph can reveal.
'The Reconnaissance and Surveillance Regiment will work closely with the Special Air Service [SAS] and the Special Boat Service [SBS]. Its mission will be to penetrate groups, either directly or by "turning" terrorists into double agents.
'It will be given the authority to operate around the world, working closely with friendly intelligence agencies such as the CIA and Mossad.
'Security chiefs hope that the regiment, comprising up to 600 troops, will run a network of agents providing the West with accurate intelligence on potential terrorist operations, allows attacks to be foiled. It will at first be formed from members of a highly secret surveillance agency — the Joint Communications Unit Northern Ireland — which has worked in Ulster for more than 20 years. The unit, which worked with the SAS, MI5 and the Special Branch, perfected the art of covert surveillance in urban and rural areas and created a network of double agents who supplied the British security forces with intelligence of terrorist attacks.
'Its success stemmed from its ability to plant listening devices and cameras in the homes and cars of terrorists, to bug phones and to monitor suspects at close quarters.
'Such was the secrecy surrounding the unit that few of its operations were made public. Members of the unit are, however, some of the most highly decorated men and women in the Services. ...'
Hoon creates special forces regiment
Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian (UK), 6 April 2005
'A new [UK] special forces regiment has been formed to conduct covert surveillance operations, mainly in pursuit of international terrorists, the [UK] defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, announced yesterday.
'The Special Reconnaissance Regiment, the SRR, is the first special forces unit to be created since the end of the second world war and will be based in Hereford, home of the SAS.
'The regiment, consisting of women as well as men, will be fully operational from today. The ministry of Defence refused to disclose its size but it is likely to be less than half the size of the SAS, which consists of some 450 elite troopers.'
New special forces unit tailed Brazilian
Richard Norton-Taylor, The Guardian, 4 August 2005
'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. ...
'Yesterday Whitehall sources told the Guardian that soldiers of the Special Reconnaissance 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 "14th 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". ...'
In the UK, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) has drawn up a report on its investigation of the Menezes shooting on the London Underground last year. But it's a secret; we aren't allowed to know it yet.
The person who singled out Menezes [the one didn't take a proper look because he was taking a leak] was a member of the "SRR", the "Special Reconnaissance Regiment". This was allegedly created, out of the SAS, just before two of its alleged members (otherwise called SAS men) were caught by police in Basra, disguised as Arabs, with an alleged carload of explosives and a detonator. (They in turn then claimed they were investigating police corruption.)
The two men broken out of an Iraqi jail yesterday [19 Sept. 2005] were members of the UK's Special Air Service, the SAS. It was an SAS force that broke them out.
The men (who are white, incidentally) had been, according to the Iraqi police, disguised as Arabs and had a quantity of arms and munitions (including a grenade or rocket launcher).
(From my September 2005 diary, 20 Sept. 2005)
'... The Iraqis displayed photographs of the explosives, weaponry and several bags of equipment allegedly found in the boot of the men's unmarked car when they had been stopped at a checkpoint. There were also wigs, Arab headdress, and sophisticated communications equipment. ...'
(Ali Hamdani and Daniel McGrory, , "Police station raid was diversion ...", The Times [UK], 21 September 2006)
'... Defence sources have told The Scotsman that the soldiers were part of an undercover special forces detachment set up this year to try to "bridge the intelligence void" in Basra. The detachment draws on special forces' experience in Northern Ireland and Aden, where British troops went "deep" undercover in local communities [and used now-notorious methods] to try to break the code of silence against foreign forces.
'The troops are under the jurisdiction of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment that was formed last year by the then defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, to gather so-called human intelligence during counter-terrorist missions.'
(Colin Freeman, "British tanks in 'smash and grab' raid", The Scotsman, 20 September 2005)
'Green Slime' invades Iraq: The Force Reconnaissance Unit's collusion with death squads in Northern Ireland
William Bowles, Centre for Research on Globalization, 29 September 05
'This month Geoff Hoon, the [British] Defence Secretary [in fact John Reid has been Defence Secretary since the government post-reshuffle last May], announced the establishment of a new regiment, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), to provide covert intelligence expertise for operations by the SAS and the Special Boat Service [SBS]. 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)
'This is Brigadier Gordon Kerr [photo], 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 attache 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. ...'
Woman soldier['s picture] was used for target practice
The Times (UK), (?)10 October 2005
'One of Britain's most secretive special forces units is facing allegations of sex discrimination and bullying from a female corporal who accuses some of its soldiers of using a picture of her for live target practice.
"Corporal Leah Mates [sounds like a ringer for Leah Betts!], 30. from Calne, Wiltshire, will tell an employment tribunal next month that she was so worried by the incident, involving other members of the Det, a top secret [not that top secret, evidently] Northern Ireland surveillance unit, that she feared for her life. [the "Det" may have something to do with "Stakeknife", the agent provocateur infiltrated into the IRA.] ...
'The Det is already under scrutiny for its involvement in the surveillance operation in London last July that led to the killing by armed police of the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, who was wrongly believed to be a terrorist.
'The Det is now being absorbed into the new Special Reconnaissance Regiment, which is at the forefront of the war on terrorism. [My emphases.] Part of the old unit, previously known as 14 Intelligence Company, remains in Northern Ireland, where it is carrying out covert surveillance. The work is so clandestine that some of the tribunal will be closed and held at a secret location. ...'
Revealed: IRA bombs killed eight British soldiers in Iraq
Greg Harkin, Francis Elliot and Raymond Whitaker, Independent On Sunday (UK), 16 October 05
'Eight British soldiers killed during ambushes in Iraq were the victims of a highly sophisticated bomb first used by the IRA, The Independent on Sunday can reveal.
'The soldiers, who were targeted by insurgents as they travelled through the country, died after being attacked with bombs triggered by infra-red beams. The bombs were developed by the IRA using technology passed on by the security services [my emphasis] in a botched "sting" operation more than a decade ago.
'This contradicts the British government's claims that Iran's Revolutionary Guard ['through Hizbollah (Hezbollah), the revolutionary Islamist group it sponsors in Lebanon'] is helping Shia insurgents to make the devices.
'The Independent on Sunday can also reveal that the bombs and the firing devices used to kill the soldiers, as well as two private security guards, were initially created by the UK security services [my emphasis] as part of a counter-terrorism strategy at the height of the [Northern Ireland] troubles in the early 1990s.
'According to security sources, the technology for the bombs used in the attacks, which were developed using technology from photographic flash units, was employed by the IRA some 15 years ago after Irish terrorists were given advice by British agents. ...
'Even more alarming is the claim that the devices were supplied by the security services to an agent inside the provisionals [i.e. the Provisional IRA; my emphasis] as part of a dangerous game of double bluff.
'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 [FRU], and officers from MI5 [my emphasis] 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 [the FRU and MI5, evidently] 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 forces were supplying technology to the IRA, but the strategy was sound. ..."'
General article:-
Special Reconnaissance Regiment, Wikipedia