Orville_third
Banned
How is the Iranian community in the UK doing? Has there been a backlash against them?
(Please don't kill Freema.)
(Please don't kill Freema.)
Dying A Dream - the UK / Iran War 2006 (My first TL)
- Thread starter Lemon flavoured
- Start date
- Status
There's not been a backlash as such, maybe a little more suspicion than normal, but nothing major, and I don't think it'll be more than that.
Next update in the next post.
Author's note: From this point, any names that are redacted are because they are people who I know in OTL (mostly people I went to school with), and I don't want them to be identifiable.
17 - Hollow Point Was The Ammunition...
Just a Brazilian Electrician / Christ only knows what he came here for / Hollow Point was the ammunition / It's our turn now for some shock and awe...[1]
Even after the attacks of the 16th of May, the anti-war groups and Liberty did not call off their protests, and went to great pains to make sure they woud be peaceful. The police too had an interest in making sure things happened peacefully, as they didn't want their decision to allow the use of what amounted to a shoot to kill policy for suicide bombers to be seen as restricting liberty. In one regard they were successful, in that the demonstrations themselves went peacefully, with only a handful of arrests out of up to 100,000 demonstrators. In other ways though, they failed.
Hannah [NAME REDACTED] was a 20 year old student at the University of Manchester, who had been part of the Stop The War Coalition protest. It's not known exactly when the police identified her (wrongly as it turned out) as acting suspiciously, although it is beleived to have been as early as when she arrived in London that morning. She was watched by police for most of the day. After the protest was over she was followed into a tube station by police, who were heard to ask her to stop, when she didn't she was shot twice in the back. Medical reports indicate that she died almost instantly, although there have been persistant rumours[2] that she could have been saved had the police called an ambulance. Exactly why she didn't stop when asked by police is not entirely clear, although she was wearing headphones, so it's plausible she either didn't hear them, or assumed it wasn't directed at her.
Had the police been upfront about what had happened, they may not have been critisized as much as they were. instead, much like in the Menezes case a year earlier, they attempted to cover up the true circumstances of the incident. The initial reports were designed to suggest that a police dog had found traces of explosives in her bag, although this was later found to be untrue. Eventually the police did concede that they had made a tragic mistake, and issued an apology. This did not stop them conducting an investigation, possibly at the request of the Home Secretary although there is no documentary proof, into whether she had any ties to Iran. The investigation proved that she didn't, although for unknown reasons this fact was not made public until after the war.
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I'd had a bad feeling about the protests from the start, even though as a cabinet we decided that banning them would have been counter productive. I heard about the shooting at about 6pm, and was breifed by the police that they thought the dead woman was a suicide bomber. A few hours later they updated that and told me that she wasn't, but that they had reason to believe she was an Iranian agent. Despite the investigation eventually finding that she wasn't, I still believe, given subsequent events, that she had some connection to the Iranians[3]. Overall though, I think the police handled the situation better than they had with the Menezes case[4], and I made very clear to the Commisioner that I stood by the "Shoot To Kill" policy, and that it should stay, especially given that the Kings Cross bombers were still at large. - Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
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A number of people saw the shooting as a sign that the police were "out of control", with some vocal groups calling for the amount of armed police to be reduced, although a fair few others saw it as a necessary evil to protect the country from more bombings such as those of May 16th. Most people though reacted in much the same way as they did to the Menezes shooting, with abivilance, although Hannah maybe got a little more sympathy due to being a British woman rather than a Brazilian man.
In the days following the shooting, the Metropolitan Police came under pressure to suspend the shoot to kill policy, just as they had a year earlier. This time however they stood by it, claiming that it was necessary given the threat posed by Iranian sleeper cells.[5] It was made clear that there would be no additional restrictions placed on protests, although they urged people to stay alert and follow instructions given by the police[6].
In the only public reaction from the protest groups to the shooting, Liberty put out a statement on the 23rd of May saying that the police were using the threat of attack as an excuse to control the public[7].
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[1]If you know the song, you might have guessed where this is going from the end of the last update.
[2]Read as "conspiracy theories".
[3]She didn't, and Harman should know better. The "subsequent events" will be in a later update.
[4]She's just being delusional there.
[5]They are greatly exaggerating the number of such groups. The Kings Cross bombers basically being the only one directly linked to Iran.
[6]A case of "they would say that wouldn't they", and saying things like that has a tendency to piss of the more militant protesters anyway.
[7]I'm fairly sure they've said similar things in OTL.
17 - Hollow Point Was The Ammunition...
Just a Brazilian Electrician / Christ only knows what he came here for / Hollow Point was the ammunition / It's our turn now for some shock and awe...[1]
Even after the attacks of the 16th of May, the anti-war groups and Liberty did not call off their protests, and went to great pains to make sure they woud be peaceful. The police too had an interest in making sure things happened peacefully, as they didn't want their decision to allow the use of what amounted to a shoot to kill policy for suicide bombers to be seen as restricting liberty. In one regard they were successful, in that the demonstrations themselves went peacefully, with only a handful of arrests out of up to 100,000 demonstrators. In other ways though, they failed.
Hannah [NAME REDACTED] was a 20 year old student at the University of Manchester, who had been part of the Stop The War Coalition protest. It's not known exactly when the police identified her (wrongly as it turned out) as acting suspiciously, although it is beleived to have been as early as when she arrived in London that morning. She was watched by police for most of the day. After the protest was over she was followed into a tube station by police, who were heard to ask her to stop, when she didn't she was shot twice in the back. Medical reports indicate that she died almost instantly, although there have been persistant rumours[2] that she could have been saved had the police called an ambulance. Exactly why she didn't stop when asked by police is not entirely clear, although she was wearing headphones, so it's plausible she either didn't hear them, or assumed it wasn't directed at her.
Had the police been upfront about what had happened, they may not have been critisized as much as they were. instead, much like in the Menezes case a year earlier, they attempted to cover up the true circumstances of the incident. The initial reports were designed to suggest that a police dog had found traces of explosives in her bag, although this was later found to be untrue. Eventually the police did concede that they had made a tragic mistake, and issued an apology. This did not stop them conducting an investigation, possibly at the request of the Home Secretary although there is no documentary proof, into whether she had any ties to Iran. The investigation proved that she didn't, although for unknown reasons this fact was not made public until after the war.
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I'd had a bad feeling about the protests from the start, even though as a cabinet we decided that banning them would have been counter productive. I heard about the shooting at about 6pm, and was breifed by the police that they thought the dead woman was a suicide bomber. A few hours later they updated that and told me that she wasn't, but that they had reason to believe she was an Iranian agent. Despite the investigation eventually finding that she wasn't, I still believe, given subsequent events, that she had some connection to the Iranians[3]. Overall though, I think the police handled the situation better than they had with the Menezes case[4], and I made very clear to the Commisioner that I stood by the "Shoot To Kill" policy, and that it should stay, especially given that the Kings Cross bombers were still at large. - Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
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A number of people saw the shooting as a sign that the police were "out of control", with some vocal groups calling for the amount of armed police to be reduced, although a fair few others saw it as a necessary evil to protect the country from more bombings such as those of May 16th. Most people though reacted in much the same way as they did to the Menezes shooting, with abivilance, although Hannah maybe got a little more sympathy due to being a British woman rather than a Brazilian man.
In the days following the shooting, the Metropolitan Police came under pressure to suspend the shoot to kill policy, just as they had a year earlier. This time however they stood by it, claiming that it was necessary given the threat posed by Iranian sleeper cells.[5] It was made clear that there would be no additional restrictions placed on protests, although they urged people to stay alert and follow instructions given by the police[6].
In the only public reaction from the protest groups to the shooting, Liberty put out a statement on the 23rd of May saying that the police were using the threat of attack as an excuse to control the public[7].
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[1]If you know the song, you might have guessed where this is going from the end of the last update.
[2]Read as "conspiracy theories".
[3]She didn't, and Harman should know better. The "subsequent events" will be in a later update.
[4]She's just being delusional there.
[5]They are greatly exaggerating the number of such groups. The Kings Cross bombers basically being the only one directly linked to Iran.
[6]A case of "they would say that wouldn't they", and saying things like that has a tendency to piss of the more militant protesters anyway.
[7]I'm fairly sure they've said similar things in OTL.
Sorry for the delay in updating, a bit of a shorter one here.
18 - Rewind
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N[1]
While the middle and end of May saw the war being brought home to Britain, in a number of ways, the main part of it continued in the Middle East. The Iran / Iraq border had been the scene of battles since even before the war was official, and it continued throughout May. There were no major battles during that period, but a number of skirmishes took place. 3 British and 6 Iranians were killed in a firefight on the afternoon of May 16th, an incident clearly overshadowed by events earlier that day[2].
Meanwhile British planes continued to attack any Iranian artillery and mobile missiles that got relatively close to the border, along with a number of sorties deeper into Iran, although these mission were limited to reduce the risk of planes being shot down. This reluctance to fly missions deep into Iran allowed some level of retaliation to continue with medium - long range missiles, although the intensity was reduced from the early days of the war.
The main target of the Iranian attacks remained the British bases in and around Basra, with some southern oil facilities also being targeted. These developments kept the oil price rising steadily, and it hit $135 / Barrel on the 19th of May.
It was around this time that Britain started to make plans for using bases in Afghanistan to attack Iranian missile bases in the more inaccesible areas of Afghanistan. Initially however this plan was me with skepticism by some in the cabinet, as it was thought it might risk endangering the Afghan mission.
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Aside from everything going on at home, things were still ticking along in Iraq and Iran. First of all I worried that people might think we'd forgotten about the missing fighter pilots, so I made a point of mentioning them in my speech after the Kings Cross attacks. At this point we didn't have any plans to actually rescue them, and we were confident that American negotiations could get them released...
...A number of people (including the Americans) were critical that we hadn't attempted to take out all of the Iranian missile sites early in the war. The problem wasn't that we didn't know where they were, but that we were worried about not being able to avoid losing planes. The idea was floated a few times of using bases in Afghanistan for attacks on some of the more obscure locations, but it was decided that doing so too soon would risk escalation which we wanted to avoid.
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
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SECRET/UK GOVT.
...IT IS LIKELY THAT A RESCUE OPERATION WOULD BE TOO RISKY AT THIS TIME, AND WE RECOMMEND THE USE OF THIRD PARTY NEGOTIATORS...
From a Cable sent from the US to Britain, late May 2006 - Leaked 2011.
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[1]Well. war goes on, yay for massively out of context and subverted use of lyrics.
[2]See Chapter 16.
18 - Rewind
L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N[1]
While the middle and end of May saw the war being brought home to Britain, in a number of ways, the main part of it continued in the Middle East. The Iran / Iraq border had been the scene of battles since even before the war was official, and it continued throughout May. There were no major battles during that period, but a number of skirmishes took place. 3 British and 6 Iranians were killed in a firefight on the afternoon of May 16th, an incident clearly overshadowed by events earlier that day[2].
Meanwhile British planes continued to attack any Iranian artillery and mobile missiles that got relatively close to the border, along with a number of sorties deeper into Iran, although these mission were limited to reduce the risk of planes being shot down. This reluctance to fly missions deep into Iran allowed some level of retaliation to continue with medium - long range missiles, although the intensity was reduced from the early days of the war.
The main target of the Iranian attacks remained the British bases in and around Basra, with some southern oil facilities also being targeted. These developments kept the oil price rising steadily, and it hit $135 / Barrel on the 19th of May.
It was around this time that Britain started to make plans for using bases in Afghanistan to attack Iranian missile bases in the more inaccesible areas of Afghanistan. Initially however this plan was me with skepticism by some in the cabinet, as it was thought it might risk endangering the Afghan mission.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aside from everything going on at home, things were still ticking along in Iraq and Iran. First of all I worried that people might think we'd forgotten about the missing fighter pilots, so I made a point of mentioning them in my speech after the Kings Cross attacks. At this point we didn't have any plans to actually rescue them, and we were confident that American negotiations could get them released...
...A number of people (including the Americans) were critical that we hadn't attempted to take out all of the Iranian missile sites early in the war. The problem wasn't that we didn't know where they were, but that we were worried about not being able to avoid losing planes. The idea was floated a few times of using bases in Afghanistan for attacks on some of the more obscure locations, but it was decided that doing so too soon would risk escalation which we wanted to avoid.
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECRET/UK GOVT.
...IT IS LIKELY THAT A RESCUE OPERATION WOULD BE TOO RISKY AT THIS TIME, AND WE RECOMMEND THE USE OF THIRD PARTY NEGOTIATORS...
From a Cable sent from the US to Britain, late May 2006 - Leaked 2011.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]Well. war goes on, yay for massively out of context and subverted use of lyrics.
[2]See Chapter 16.
19 - The Battle of Al-Faw
Sometimes you just get caught where the smoke blows
The British plan had always been to avoid ground fighting as much as possible, while at the same time taking out Iran's capability to retaliate. As has been shown, this wasn't always as successful as they would have liked. Iran tried at various times to cross the border in various places, usually near oil facilities. For the most part these attempts led to small scale skirmishes with minimal damage or casualties. The battle that took place between May 27th and 28th however was bigger, and was seen by some as a major escalation.
In the early hours of May 27th a sizable Iranian force, backed by artillery, but not air support, managed to attack and occupy the border town of Al-Faw, about 50 miles SE of Basra[1]. Fearing that Iran would attempt to use this as
a staging post for a more widespread invasion, and a little worried by how they'd been caught by surprise, the British decided that the town had to be re-taken as a matter of urgency. During the few hours that they had as a head start the Iranians managed to forify some of their positions, although not all of them. A number of Anti-Aircraft guns were also moved into the town.
By midday on the 27th the British forces had begun shelling the Iranian fortifications, using both artillery and air support. One British plane was damaged by Anti-Aircraft fire, but managed to make it back to base. British ground forces began attacking the town at about 6pm, and the battle continued well into the night, with both sides giving very little ground. Eventually the British forces gained the upper hand in the early hours of the 28th, although it would be late that afternon before the Iranian troops finally withdrew. Overall 27 British soldiers were killed, along with around 100 Iranians (although the Iranian numbers are difficult to substantiate due to continuing secrecy on the matter).
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That battle was the first time it really felt like a war to me. This might seem an odd thing to say, but before then it reminded me of Kosovo or the first Gulf War. That is it seemed almost easy. I think the realisation that not only could the Iranians actually fight us on some form of semi-equal level, they could hold territory against us, even if only for a few hours. Added to the fact that we already knew they were capable of carrying out attacks in Britain[2] and it suddenly got quite scary really. Obviously there are incidents later that affected me more personally, but this was the first time I actually knew what a war was like. Reading the list of nearly 30 names at the PMQ's after the battle was a very difficult thing to do as well.
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
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Following the battle of Al-Faw it was decided by the British cabinet, in somewhat of a U-Turn, that planes based in Afghanistan should be used to attack Iranian missile sites. The initial attacks after this policy shift took place overnight between the 29th and 30th of May 2006. Iran responded by moving some troops to the border region, but did not otherwise directly attack British troops in Afghanistan as had been feared. The attacks themselves were a limited success, destroying a number of missile bases and mobile launchers, although not as many as had been hoped. It is also believed that the British plans to rescue their two captured airmen were initially considered around this time. However, due to later events[3] very little infomation is available about the planning stages of the raid.
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[1]I really don't know much about the town, I just looked on Google maps for a suitable border town.
[2]She seems to think that everything bad that happened from the 16th of May onwards was somehow an Iranian plot, even though a lot of it wasn't.
[3]This will be covered in a later update.
Sometimes you just get caught where the smoke blows
The British plan had always been to avoid ground fighting as much as possible, while at the same time taking out Iran's capability to retaliate. As has been shown, this wasn't always as successful as they would have liked. Iran tried at various times to cross the border in various places, usually near oil facilities. For the most part these attempts led to small scale skirmishes with minimal damage or casualties. The battle that took place between May 27th and 28th however was bigger, and was seen by some as a major escalation.
In the early hours of May 27th a sizable Iranian force, backed by artillery, but not air support, managed to attack and occupy the border town of Al-Faw, about 50 miles SE of Basra[1]. Fearing that Iran would attempt to use this as
a staging post for a more widespread invasion, and a little worried by how they'd been caught by surprise, the British decided that the town had to be re-taken as a matter of urgency. During the few hours that they had as a head start the Iranians managed to forify some of their positions, although not all of them. A number of Anti-Aircraft guns were also moved into the town.
By midday on the 27th the British forces had begun shelling the Iranian fortifications, using both artillery and air support. One British plane was damaged by Anti-Aircraft fire, but managed to make it back to base. British ground forces began attacking the town at about 6pm, and the battle continued well into the night, with both sides giving very little ground. Eventually the British forces gained the upper hand in the early hours of the 28th, although it would be late that afternon before the Iranian troops finally withdrew. Overall 27 British soldiers were killed, along with around 100 Iranians (although the Iranian numbers are difficult to substantiate due to continuing secrecy on the matter).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That battle was the first time it really felt like a war to me. This might seem an odd thing to say, but before then it reminded me of Kosovo or the first Gulf War. That is it seemed almost easy. I think the realisation that not only could the Iranians actually fight us on some form of semi-equal level, they could hold territory against us, even if only for a few hours. Added to the fact that we already knew they were capable of carrying out attacks in Britain[2] and it suddenly got quite scary really. Obviously there are incidents later that affected me more personally, but this was the first time I actually knew what a war was like. Reading the list of nearly 30 names at the PMQ's after the battle was a very difficult thing to do as well.
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Following the battle of Al-Faw it was decided by the British cabinet, in somewhat of a U-Turn, that planes based in Afghanistan should be used to attack Iranian missile sites. The initial attacks after this policy shift took place overnight between the 29th and 30th of May 2006. Iran responded by moving some troops to the border region, but did not otherwise directly attack British troops in Afghanistan as had been feared. The attacks themselves were a limited success, destroying a number of missile bases and mobile launchers, although not as many as had been hoped. It is also believed that the British plans to rescue their two captured airmen were initially considered around this time. However, due to later events[3] very little infomation is available about the planning stages of the raid.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1]I really don't know much about the town, I just looked on Google maps for a suitable border town.
[2]She seems to think that everything bad that happened from the 16th of May onwards was somehow an Iranian plot, even though a lot of it wasn't.
[3]This will be covered in a later update.
20 - Justice For Hannah?
She's the symbol / of resistance / and she's holding on' my heart like a hand grenade...
The aftermath of the shooting of Hannah [NAME REDACTED] was subtle at first. Much like the Menezes case a year before, the family had been pretty vocal from the start, as had Liberty and similar groups. The first inkling that maybe something more was going on came when a rather cryptic message was posted on an anonymous message board[1] saying that the police were all traitors. The message was signed "Justice For Hannah / J4H". Over the next couple of days a couple of other similar messages were posted, from "varied locations"[2] according to police reports into the matter. For a couple of days no one took the posts particularly seriously, until late on the 2nd of June when petrol bombs were thrown through the windows of Sleaford police station, causing a large amount of damage. The following morning a website post claimed responsibility on behalf of J4H.
Harriet Harman, and to some extent the rest of the government, suspected from the start, wrongly, that the group was an Iranian front, and as such the police investigation was somewhat disadvantaged by being focused in the wrong direction. This was further complicated by the fact that the group behind the Kings Cross attacks were still at large, and some people, both in media and government, got a little confused at times about exactly who was who.
The full details of the group are not known, and much of the information relating to them is still classified, although recently[3] the government has shown some movement on the issue. The leader is believed to have been a man by the name of [NAME REDACTED] Robinson. What is interesting about this is that it has been acknowledged that he had, at best, a tenuous relationship with Hannah at the time of her death. The generally accepted version (discounting any number of later conspiracy theories) is that he was a former boyfriend of hers from school, and had kept some level of contact afterwards. At it's height it is beleived that the group consisted of around 50
people[4], mostly keeping in touch via email. It's also believed that at least one incident[5] that was ascribed to J4H was actually a "lone wolf" claiming affiliation to make a point.
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A number of things about the J4H stuff has made me believe, even now, that they were at least in contact with the Iranians. Even though it was very low level stuff (firebombings, graffiti, breaking windows, etc.) the fact that they evaded the police for even as long as they did was evidence that they had help[6].
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
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[1]I'm not quite sure whether I'm thinking of 4chan or GLP as I write this, but oh well it doesn't matter too much.
[2]Or, you know, varied proxy servers. I'm fairly sure that this takes place before the Police's cyber crime unit was set up in OTL.
[3]The "present day" of the narration is ~2025.
[4]This is an overestimate.
[5]This incident is quite important to a later part of the story, so it'll get it's own chapter eventually.
[6]Or perhaps, Harriet, it was low level because of a lack of organisation, and they got away with it because of police incompetence.
She's the symbol / of resistance / and she's holding on' my heart like a hand grenade...
The aftermath of the shooting of Hannah [NAME REDACTED] was subtle at first. Much like the Menezes case a year before, the family had been pretty vocal from the start, as had Liberty and similar groups. The first inkling that maybe something more was going on came when a rather cryptic message was posted on an anonymous message board[1] saying that the police were all traitors. The message was signed "Justice For Hannah / J4H". Over the next couple of days a couple of other similar messages were posted, from "varied locations"[2] according to police reports into the matter. For a couple of days no one took the posts particularly seriously, until late on the 2nd of June when petrol bombs were thrown through the windows of Sleaford police station, causing a large amount of damage. The following morning a website post claimed responsibility on behalf of J4H.
Harriet Harman, and to some extent the rest of the government, suspected from the start, wrongly, that the group was an Iranian front, and as such the police investigation was somewhat disadvantaged by being focused in the wrong direction. This was further complicated by the fact that the group behind the Kings Cross attacks were still at large, and some people, both in media and government, got a little confused at times about exactly who was who.
The full details of the group are not known, and much of the information relating to them is still classified, although recently[3] the government has shown some movement on the issue. The leader is believed to have been a man by the name of [NAME REDACTED] Robinson. What is interesting about this is that it has been acknowledged that he had, at best, a tenuous relationship with Hannah at the time of her death. The generally accepted version (discounting any number of later conspiracy theories) is that he was a former boyfriend of hers from school, and had kept some level of contact afterwards. At it's height it is beleived that the group consisted of around 50
people[4], mostly keeping in touch via email. It's also believed that at least one incident[5] that was ascribed to J4H was actually a "lone wolf" claiming affiliation to make a point.
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A number of things about the J4H stuff has made me believe, even now, that they were at least in contact with the Iranians. Even though it was very low level stuff (firebombings, graffiti, breaking windows, etc.) the fact that they evaded the police for even as long as they did was evidence that they had help[6].
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
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[1]I'm not quite sure whether I'm thinking of 4chan or GLP as I write this, but oh well it doesn't matter too much.
[2]Or, you know, varied proxy servers. I'm fairly sure that this takes place before the Police's cyber crime unit was set up in OTL.
[3]The "present day" of the narration is ~2025.
[4]This is an overestimate.
[5]This incident is quite important to a later part of the story, so it'll get it's own chapter eventually.
[6]Or perhaps, Harriet, it was low level because of a lack of organisation, and they got away with it because of police incompetence.
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Hey guys, just posting to say that I haven't forgotten about this, but real life has been getting in the way of me writing (my grandad died on July 10th). I'm hoping to do a short update tomorrow though.
I've also been putting together a spotify playlist of all the song's whose lyrics I've used as headers.
I've also been putting together a spotify playlist of all the song's whose lyrics I've used as headers.
Here is the short update I promised:
21 - Diary Interlude part 2
I've been courted by saints and by sinners, who know all the things that a tongue can tell
23/5/06 - After the shit that kicked off at that protest over the weekend things have calmed down a bit now, although there are still loads of people askign loads of questions. Harriet and others have been trying to avoid making any comparisons to Menezes, but it's bound to happen.
Of course after 16/5 we're all a bit on edge. I really do feel for the girl's family though, whether or not she was innocent. Dealing with the press has been keeping everyone on their toes in terms of avoiding letting stuff slip that we shouldn't. It's easier said than done sometimes, but luckily no D-Notices have been needed yet!
29/5/06 - Madness returns again! I guess that's to be expected in a war, but we didn't see an Iranian invasion coming. The MoD has been in an uproar, and I have barely slept for 48 hours. I can't imagine what Harriet and the other higher ups are like. Someone suggested I hire a masseur to help with the stress! I might have to do that if I can afford it.
21 - Diary Interlude part 2
I've been courted by saints and by sinners, who know all the things that a tongue can tell
23/5/06 - After the shit that kicked off at that protest over the weekend things have calmed down a bit now, although there are still loads of people askign loads of questions. Harriet and others have been trying to avoid making any comparisons to Menezes, but it's bound to happen.
Of course after 16/5 we're all a bit on edge. I really do feel for the girl's family though, whether or not she was innocent. Dealing with the press has been keeping everyone on their toes in terms of avoiding letting stuff slip that we shouldn't. It's easier said than done sometimes, but luckily no D-Notices have been needed yet!
29/5/06 - Madness returns again! I guess that's to be expected in a war, but we didn't see an Iranian invasion coming. The MoD has been in an uproar, and I have barely slept for 48 hours. I can't imagine what Harriet and the other higher ups are like. Someone suggested I hire a masseur to help with the stress! I might have to do that if I can afford it.
Some of the anti-terrorism measures the UK is reinstating such as "shoot to kill" and especially internment without trial would sound a little too familiar to many people in Ulster methinks. Could that result in disturbances similiar to the ones in Birmingham?
I mean you can tell people these measures are being directed at Islamists, but I don't know if that will fly when there's plenty of people around, many in leadership positions, who recall vividly the last time these measures were utilized and probably aren't going to take the chance of allowing those practices to be directed at Irish republicanism once more.
Not that would necesarily be HM's government's intent but republican paranoia could create a self-fulfilling prophecy of renewed explosive tensions, a violent incident arising from said tensions, a subsequent police crackdown on some republicans and from there perhaps a possible continuation of The Troubles.
Feel free to disregard this though as it's your timeline.
EDIT
The recent islamic terrorist attack could butterfly all of this away.
I mean you can tell people these measures are being directed at Islamists, but I don't know if that will fly when there's plenty of people around, many in leadership positions, who recall vividly the last time these measures were utilized and probably aren't going to take the chance of allowing those practices to be directed at Irish republicanism once more.
Not that would necesarily be HM's government's intent but republican paranoia could create a self-fulfilling prophecy of renewed explosive tensions, a violent incident arising from said tensions, a subsequent police crackdown on some republicans and from there perhaps a possible continuation of The Troubles.
Feel free to disregard this though as it's your timeline.
EDIT
The recent islamic terrorist attack could butterfly all of this away.
I know that in OTL the more severe anti-terrorist things (which the stuff here is merely an extension of for the most part) were pretty much openly aimed at Islamists. I'm not sure to what extent they were used in NI though, although as you say it's not impossible.
In terms of this timeline, I'll be leaving Northern Ireland alone for the most part because I don't know a great deal about it.
22 - Problems at home and abroad
Butchered sincerity / Act out of loyalty / Defending free country / Wish away
Over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of June the British intelligence services, using American satelite images and other information, came to believe that the Iranians were preparing another large attack on the Iraqi border. It was decided that the best course of action would be a pre-emptive attack on the Iranian forces at the city of Abadan. The attack began with airstrikes in the early hours of June the 5th, followed by a helicopter borne assault a few hours later. Unfortunately for the British, Abadan was rather better defended than the intelligence had suggested, and what had been intended to be a hit and run attack to disuede Iran attacking became a prolonged battle.
The battle raged throughout the 5th of June, with the British eventually sending a second assault force to back up the first. Eventually though it became clear that the Iranian forces were deeply entrenched in the area and the decision was made early on June 6th to withdraw British troops. In the end the battle could have been considered something of a success for the British, as it reduced the Iranian abilty to launch attacks from the area, however, the number of British casualties was far higher than had been anticipated. 17 British soldiers were killed, at least 60 injured and 2 were captured. Iranian casualties are estimated at around 30 dead and 80 injured, but as with most other occasions Iran has never officially confirmed numbers of dead or injured.
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That battle was a disaster from the start really. At the time I didn't think of it, but given later events I have often wondered whether Iran knew what we were doing even as far back as that[1]. We expected there to be resistance, but the plan was to destroy any artillery in the area and get out. Unfortuantely there were far more Iranian troops than we expected. The fact that 2 soldiers were taken prisoner was a difficult one, added to the airmen, who we were planning to rescue by this point, it gaves us something else to think about. - Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
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It wasn't just abroad that the British government were having problems. Since the 20th May incident there had been a number of threats of violence, and one firebombing[2], by a group calling itself Justice For Hannah. These took a
slightly more serious turn when a policewoman in Lincoln was badly beaten by a group of men on the 8th of June. The woman survived the attack, but was in hospital for a considerable period. J4H, which at this point was perhaps only
a dozen people, although it aquired more followers later, continued to make threats, mostly via anonyomous online posts.
Two men were arrested over the attack on the policewoman, but at this time most in the government and police falsely believed that there was an Iranian connection in the group, and the men were eventually released without
charge a few weeks later[3].
Things started to get even worse for the British government on the 9th of June when two planes were shot down over the city of Birjand near the Afghan border. Both pilots were killed, although there have been rumours that one was actually captured by the Iranians and died of his injuries later, this is considered to be unlikely. This was followed on the 11th of June by an Iranian missile attack on British troops just outside Basra which killed 5 soldiers and injured around 25. This attack was proof that even with an increase in airstrikes, including those from Afghan based planes, Iran retained a considerable ability to counter attack when needed.
Despite these setbacks, the British government remained confident that a positive outcome could be acheived. What wasn't clear at this point was what that outcome would be. No-one dared to mentioned "regime change" publicly, although it's believed that it was being mentioned privately as early as the middle of June 2006. The public mood was generally favourable, with the usual anti-war groups doing the same as they always did, including organising a further protest, to follow up from the 20th May one, for July 1st.
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[1]There's no evidence of that, and Harman is pretty paranoid.
[2]See update 20.
[3]The police are making a habit of treating anything vaguely related to the war as terrorism, so they can hold people for 90 days.
Butchered sincerity / Act out of loyalty / Defending free country / Wish away
Over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th of June the British intelligence services, using American satelite images and other information, came to believe that the Iranians were preparing another large attack on the Iraqi border. It was decided that the best course of action would be a pre-emptive attack on the Iranian forces at the city of Abadan. The attack began with airstrikes in the early hours of June the 5th, followed by a helicopter borne assault a few hours later. Unfortunately for the British, Abadan was rather better defended than the intelligence had suggested, and what had been intended to be a hit and run attack to disuede Iran attacking became a prolonged battle.
The battle raged throughout the 5th of June, with the British eventually sending a second assault force to back up the first. Eventually though it became clear that the Iranian forces were deeply entrenched in the area and the decision was made early on June 6th to withdraw British troops. In the end the battle could have been considered something of a success for the British, as it reduced the Iranian abilty to launch attacks from the area, however, the number of British casualties was far higher than had been anticipated. 17 British soldiers were killed, at least 60 injured and 2 were captured. Iranian casualties are estimated at around 30 dead and 80 injured, but as with most other occasions Iran has never officially confirmed numbers of dead or injured.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That battle was a disaster from the start really. At the time I didn't think of it, but given later events I have often wondered whether Iran knew what we were doing even as far back as that[1]. We expected there to be resistance, but the plan was to destroy any artillery in the area and get out. Unfortuantely there were far more Iranian troops than we expected. The fact that 2 soldiers were taken prisoner was a difficult one, added to the airmen, who we were planning to rescue by this point, it gaves us something else to think about. - Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It wasn't just abroad that the British government were having problems. Since the 20th May incident there had been a number of threats of violence, and one firebombing[2], by a group calling itself Justice For Hannah. These took a
slightly more serious turn when a policewoman in Lincoln was badly beaten by a group of men on the 8th of June. The woman survived the attack, but was in hospital for a considerable period. J4H, which at this point was perhaps only
a dozen people, although it aquired more followers later, continued to make threats, mostly via anonyomous online posts.
Two men were arrested over the attack on the policewoman, but at this time most in the government and police falsely believed that there was an Iranian connection in the group, and the men were eventually released without
charge a few weeks later[3].
Things started to get even worse for the British government on the 9th of June when two planes were shot down over the city of Birjand near the Afghan border. Both pilots were killed, although there have been rumours that one was actually captured by the Iranians and died of his injuries later, this is considered to be unlikely. This was followed on the 11th of June by an Iranian missile attack on British troops just outside Basra which killed 5 soldiers and injured around 25. This attack was proof that even with an increase in airstrikes, including those from Afghan based planes, Iran retained a considerable ability to counter attack when needed.
Despite these setbacks, the British government remained confident that a positive outcome could be acheived. What wasn't clear at this point was what that outcome would be. No-one dared to mentioned "regime change" publicly, although it's believed that it was being mentioned privately as early as the middle of June 2006. The public mood was generally favourable, with the usual anti-war groups doing the same as they always did, including organising a further protest, to follow up from the 20th May one, for July 1st.
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[1]There's no evidence of that, and Harman is pretty paranoid.
[2]See update 20.
[3]The police are making a habit of treating anything vaguely related to the war as terrorism, so they can hold people for 90 days.
Slightly shorter update this time:
23 - Eye of the storm?
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
Mid June was relatively calm in terms of the Iran - Britain war, with the only major action in the period occurring on June the 15th, when a number of British planes attacked Iranian mobile missile launchers based in the area around Shiraz. Iran responded with an artillery attack on a British base near Basra, which killed 5 British soldiers and injured about 20. Aside from this
attack, which reduced Iran's capability to launch missiles deep into Iraq but didn't totally eliminate it, there was little direct fighting. British airstrikes continued occasionally, targeting forces near the border, but most of the action was taking place behind the scenes.
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The Shiraz raid was a major success for us, and severely reduced Iran's ability to attack deep into Iraq. Overall that sort of time was pretty calm, and actually felt like the eye of a storm when I was thinking about it later...
...Israel had asked us before whether they could attack Iran through Iraq and we said no, although the second time they asked we did seriously consider allowing it. In hindsight I'm glad we didn't, because I think things would have sprialled out of control very quickly, especially considering how close they got even though we said no.
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
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Having originally asked during the early stages of the war, Israel sent a diplomatic message to Britain on June 13th, asking for permission to use Iraqi airspace to attack suspected Iranian nuclear plants. Once again Britain refused. Israel soon had there own problems. A skirmish on the Lebanese border early in the morning of June 16th killed a 13 year old boy, who Israel
claimed had been armed. Hezbollah responded to this with a rocket attack on the city of Karmiel which killed 1 and wounded 10 Israeli civilians.
Mindful that an all out Israeli invasion of Lebanon could quickly escalate, especially given the ongoing hostilities between Britain and Iran, the US government put pressure on Israel to be moderate in it's response. It's now believed, although it has never been confirmed, that Israel were hours away from an all-out invasion of Lebanon, but were convinced at the last minute by US diplomats to avoid it. In the end, Israel launched a number of airstikes on Hezbollah positions, and left it at that. Luckily for regional stability Hezbollah did not respond.
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SECRET-ISRAELI EYES ONLY
...THEREFORE IN THE INTERST OF REGIONAL SECURITY WE WOULD URGE YOU TO BE RESTRAINED IN ANY RETALIATION AGAINST LEBANESE TERRITORY.
- Memo sent by the US to Israel, 16 / 6 / 06. Parts leaked in 2011.
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23 - Eye of the storm?
Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
Mid June was relatively calm in terms of the Iran - Britain war, with the only major action in the period occurring on June the 15th, when a number of British planes attacked Iranian mobile missile launchers based in the area around Shiraz. Iran responded with an artillery attack on a British base near Basra, which killed 5 British soldiers and injured about 20. Aside from this
attack, which reduced Iran's capability to launch missiles deep into Iraq but didn't totally eliminate it, there was little direct fighting. British airstrikes continued occasionally, targeting forces near the border, but most of the action was taking place behind the scenes.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Shiraz raid was a major success for us, and severely reduced Iran's ability to attack deep into Iraq. Overall that sort of time was pretty calm, and actually felt like the eye of a storm when I was thinking about it later...
...Israel had asked us before whether they could attack Iran through Iraq and we said no, although the second time they asked we did seriously consider allowing it. In hindsight I'm glad we didn't, because I think things would have sprialled out of control very quickly, especially considering how close they got even though we said no.
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Having originally asked during the early stages of the war, Israel sent a diplomatic message to Britain on June 13th, asking for permission to use Iraqi airspace to attack suspected Iranian nuclear plants. Once again Britain refused. Israel soon had there own problems. A skirmish on the Lebanese border early in the morning of June 16th killed a 13 year old boy, who Israel
claimed had been armed. Hezbollah responded to this with a rocket attack on the city of Karmiel which killed 1 and wounded 10 Israeli civilians.
Mindful that an all out Israeli invasion of Lebanon could quickly escalate, especially given the ongoing hostilities between Britain and Iran, the US government put pressure on Israel to be moderate in it's response. It's now believed, although it has never been confirmed, that Israel were hours away from an all-out invasion of Lebanon, but were convinced at the last minute by US diplomats to avoid it. In the end, Israel launched a number of airstikes on Hezbollah positions, and left it at that. Luckily for regional stability Hezbollah did not respond.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SECRET-ISRAELI EYES ONLY
...THEREFORE IN THE INTERST OF REGIONAL SECURITY WE WOULD URGE YOU TO BE RESTRAINED IN ANY RETALIATION AGAINST LEBANESE TERRITORY.
- Memo sent by the US to Israel, 16 / 6 / 06. Parts leaked in 2011.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If this really happened, wouldn't Iran incite the Shia militias in Iraq to, say, be more active? Within less than a month all of Southern Iraq will be a bloodbath. I'd imagine British forces will be spending far, far more time battling insurgents in southern Iraq (this time inspired by a charismatic Shia preacher Muqtada al-Sadr) than attacking Iranian forces. In fact I don't think the Iranians would bother to make any direct strike at British forces in Iraq short of a few "incidents".
That's certainly plausible, and what I'll say is that just because I'm not mentioning something doesn't mean it's not happening. (It also conveniently explains why the British aren't able to do more than they are doing)
It's been a while since an update, so here's a pretty long one:
Author's note: The outline to this was written before recent OTL events in London.
24 - The night the lights went out in Leicester
He's coming by bus or underground / Hurah, Tudah / A woman's eye will shed a tear / To see his face so beaten in fear / An' it was just around the corner in the English Civil War
Racial, and specifically religious, tensions had been running high in the UK since even before the start of the war with Iran. The outbreak of the war had added a new dimension to this tension, especially in areas with diverse populations such as Leicester. There had been a number of small scale disturbances since the start of the war, but tensions finally boiled over in the afternoon of June the 19th.
That afternoon, a man was attacked outside a mosque in the city and left badly injured. Usually this sort of incident led to a bit of a stand off and a handful of arrests, but this time things conspired to spiral out of control. Late that evening trouble flared in a number of areas, not just Muslim ones.
As the violence spread around the city the police struggled to keep in control. Things were eventually brought under control by the follwing afternoon, although tensions remained high. In total 280 people were arrested. One person was killed, although there is some dispute over how related this was to the rioting[1] and around 25, mostly police officers, injured.
Following the violence the majority of blame for it started to fall on far right groups, although they denied any involvement. Publicly most people on all sides were calling for calm, including the Iranian-born comedian Omid Djalili. For a couple of days things seemed to settle down.
Unfortunately, the calm didn't last long. On the 21st of June a rumour started that the part-Iranian actress Freema Agyeman had been murdered. Exactly who started the rumour was never established, although it seems to have originated on the internet[2]. Before Ms. Agyeman could make a public statement to refute the rumour however, violence kicked off in Iranian areas of a number of cities, including Birmingham and continued even after the rumour had been squashed, with people once again blaming far-right groups for the rumour.
Following this second night of violence the police presence in city centres was increased as much as possible, although this put a lot of pressure on the police, especially in smaller cities, and was blamed for an attack by a group of teenagers claiming affiliation to the Justice 4 Hannah group on a police station in Lincoln. 3 youths were arrested and held under the terrorism act, but were not charged to begin with.
The holding of these youths without charge caused a bit of an outcry in the more liberal elements of the press, and among groups such as Liberty. The police stood by the decision, saying that they were investingating any link between J4H and Iran[3], and as such needed to hold suspects for as long as needed, up to 90 days.
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For a while we got worried that we might have to call out the army, which may well have ended up making things worse. When the riots died down we did best to improve community cohesion, bringing in people like Omid Djalili and Freema Agyeman to talk to local groups. For the most part it worked and the cities seemed to calm down in the end. We kept police numbers up though because we were worried about either Far-right groups or Iranian agents[4] trying to inflame things again...
...The J4H arrests were always going to be controversial. I wasn't surprised at all by Liberty's reponse to them, but I stand by my view that the 90 day detention caused a lot less problems than it solved and that very few innocent people were held for that long.
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
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[1] I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that someone would use a riot as a cover for settling an old grudge.
[2] 4Chan comes to mind, although I think anonymous are more sensible than that. You never know though.
[3] Basically a wild goose chase, certainly at this point in the TL.
[4] There she goes again with that one lol.
Author's note: The outline to this was written before recent OTL events in London.
24 - The night the lights went out in Leicester
He's coming by bus or underground / Hurah, Tudah / A woman's eye will shed a tear / To see his face so beaten in fear / An' it was just around the corner in the English Civil War
Racial, and specifically religious, tensions had been running high in the UK since even before the start of the war with Iran. The outbreak of the war had added a new dimension to this tension, especially in areas with diverse populations such as Leicester. There had been a number of small scale disturbances since the start of the war, but tensions finally boiled over in the afternoon of June the 19th.
That afternoon, a man was attacked outside a mosque in the city and left badly injured. Usually this sort of incident led to a bit of a stand off and a handful of arrests, but this time things conspired to spiral out of control. Late that evening trouble flared in a number of areas, not just Muslim ones.
As the violence spread around the city the police struggled to keep in control. Things were eventually brought under control by the follwing afternoon, although tensions remained high. In total 280 people were arrested. One person was killed, although there is some dispute over how related this was to the rioting[1] and around 25, mostly police officers, injured.
Following the violence the majority of blame for it started to fall on far right groups, although they denied any involvement. Publicly most people on all sides were calling for calm, including the Iranian-born comedian Omid Djalili. For a couple of days things seemed to settle down.
Unfortunately, the calm didn't last long. On the 21st of June a rumour started that the part-Iranian actress Freema Agyeman had been murdered. Exactly who started the rumour was never established, although it seems to have originated on the internet[2]. Before Ms. Agyeman could make a public statement to refute the rumour however, violence kicked off in Iranian areas of a number of cities, including Birmingham and continued even after the rumour had been squashed, with people once again blaming far-right groups for the rumour.
Following this second night of violence the police presence in city centres was increased as much as possible, although this put a lot of pressure on the police, especially in smaller cities, and was blamed for an attack by a group of teenagers claiming affiliation to the Justice 4 Hannah group on a police station in Lincoln. 3 youths were arrested and held under the terrorism act, but were not charged to begin with.
The holding of these youths without charge caused a bit of an outcry in the more liberal elements of the press, and among groups such as Liberty. The police stood by the decision, saying that they were investingating any link between J4H and Iran[3], and as such needed to hold suspects for as long as needed, up to 90 days.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For a while we got worried that we might have to call out the army, which may well have ended up making things worse. When the riots died down we did best to improve community cohesion, bringing in people like Omid Djalili and Freema Agyeman to talk to local groups. For the most part it worked and the cities seemed to calm down in the end. We kept police numbers up though because we were worried about either Far-right groups or Iranian agents[4] trying to inflame things again...
...The J4H arrests were always going to be controversial. I wasn't surprised at all by Liberty's reponse to them, but I stand by my view that the 90 day detention caused a lot less problems than it solved and that very few innocent people were held for that long.
- Harriet Harman, My rise and fall, an autobiography, published 2013.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that someone would use a riot as a cover for settling an old grudge.
[2] 4Chan comes to mind, although I think anonymous are more sensible than that. You never know though.
[3] Basically a wild goose chase, certainly at this point in the TL.
[4] There she goes again with that one lol.
So when will Harman institute her national castration laws that we all know she wants to do.
Lol, it wont quite come to that (although she will become more draconian for reasons which will become clear in a couple of updates time).
Slightly shorter update this time because the next one is probably going to be quite long:
25 - This is the News
I sit on the floor and watch TV / Thank you Christ for the BBC / A stupid fucking place to be / Down Rain Street
After a rather hectic few weeks, the war once again settled down to a pattern of British airstrikes and Iranian mid-range missile launches. What the war had also done was increase militia attacks in Iraq against British convoys and installations. While the military casualties in these incidents were lower than those directly caused by Iran, the civilian casualties were much higher. In most places however this didn't have have the effect of turning the Iraqis against the war, and in many cases it perhaps increased their dislike for Iran.
One of the many IED attacks in this period is significant, because it marked the first time a British journalist was killed in the war. The BBC's special correspondent Ben Brown was among 5 dead when a convoy was hit by a series of roadside bombs on the afternoon of June the 29th. Brown's death caused broadcasters to think twice about embedding journalists with military units, although for the most part they left it up to individuals whether they wanted to continue doing such things.
Another problem for the media was how to give as unbiased view as possible of the Peace march organised by Liberty that took place on July the 1st. For the most part they did a decent job, although there were accusations of bias (mostly claiming that the media were supporting the protest a bit too much, but some took the opposite opinion)[1]. Overall the protest itself went smoothly, with only a hanful of arrests. A "sympathy" march for the main one, held in Lincoln, was not quite as peaceful, with J4H getting the blame for what almost became a riot[2].
As a result of the Lincoln disturbances and continued tensions in major cities it was announced on July the 3rd that a consultation was to take place into whether the police should be given additional powers to deal with public disorder. In the end however, this was pre-empted by other events.[3]
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[1]Basically, ITV are accused of supporting the police's side, while the BBC and C4 are accused of the opposite.
[2]Exactly what J4H were involved in and capable of will be discussed in a few chapters time (probably chapter 27 or 28).
[3]Oooh, a cliffhanger
25 - This is the News
I sit on the floor and watch TV / Thank you Christ for the BBC / A stupid fucking place to be / Down Rain Street
After a rather hectic few weeks, the war once again settled down to a pattern of British airstrikes and Iranian mid-range missile launches. What the war had also done was increase militia attacks in Iraq against British convoys and installations. While the military casualties in these incidents were lower than those directly caused by Iran, the civilian casualties were much higher. In most places however this didn't have have the effect of turning the Iraqis against the war, and in many cases it perhaps increased their dislike for Iran.
One of the many IED attacks in this period is significant, because it marked the first time a British journalist was killed in the war. The BBC's special correspondent Ben Brown was among 5 dead when a convoy was hit by a series of roadside bombs on the afternoon of June the 29th. Brown's death caused broadcasters to think twice about embedding journalists with military units, although for the most part they left it up to individuals whether they wanted to continue doing such things.
Another problem for the media was how to give as unbiased view as possible of the Peace march organised by Liberty that took place on July the 1st. For the most part they did a decent job, although there were accusations of bias (mostly claiming that the media were supporting the protest a bit too much, but some took the opposite opinion)[1]. Overall the protest itself went smoothly, with only a hanful of arrests. A "sympathy" march for the main one, held in Lincoln, was not quite as peaceful, with J4H getting the blame for what almost became a riot[2].
As a result of the Lincoln disturbances and continued tensions in major cities it was announced on July the 3rd that a consultation was to take place into whether the police should be given additional powers to deal with public disorder. In the end however, this was pre-empted by other events.[3]
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[1]Basically, ITV are accused of supporting the police's side, while the BBC and C4 are accused of the opposite.
[2]Exactly what J4H were involved in and capable of will be discussed in a few chapters time (probably chapter 27 or 28).
[3]Oooh, a cliffhanger
- Status