Yesterday a friend and I went to look at RV's to rent. My husband and I had rented one from this same place last Sept to go to the Grand Canyon and had had a good experience with this company. Well, she and I had gone into some of them to check out the inside, probably about eight, since renting last time I'm EXTREMELY careful getting in and out, hand rails etc. One of the employees came around and we looked at several w/ him, then went inside for info on renting, the employee came out to show us our opts. and got a call and walked away. Unfortunately the last RV we looked at I ended up slipping on the last step coming out, twisting my ankle and ending up on the ground. My friend ran to the office and he was w/ another customer. They left me laying on the ground for 20 mins before even calling 911. Long story short, my friend ended up driving me to hospital, using my own insurance, I have a fractured ankle, I can't go back to work 6 to 8 weeks( I 'm a server). What are my options now The non slip covering on the bottom step was in disrepair. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't looking for some BIG SETTLEMENT, I wouldn't have driven to the hospital or even used my own insurance if that were the case. Now it's about my job and being able to pay bills etc. I don't want to just take time off (6 TO 8 WEEKS) but I CAN'T work. I'm a server in a restaurant and crutches aren't an option. I just need to what steps to take from this point and what I should expect. Honestly, I don't think you should do anything. Sure it'd be GREAT to get some time off work and sue the hell out of a company and get money out of them... but the truth of the matter is, you slipped and it was an accident. Whatever you slipped on I'm quite sure was not intentionally placed in your path to cause you injury.
My advice is to take care of your ankle and get some rest. Anything more would be out of line. sue... call the police. I'd go back to the RV's manager and let him know what happened.
See if he's willing to pay you compensation for the money you will lose from being a server. I bet he'll be willing to pay you for your 8 weeks of pay. Come up with a figure to let him know exactly what amount you're looking for. This would be your best bet, because if you go to a lawyer, he'll get a 1/3 of that money and the RV place wants your business..plus he doesn't want to be charged more next year on his insurance policy because someone slipped and fell on his property. If you go to a lawyer it could take you around 3 years to finaly get a 1/3 of your money.
For peace of mind...see what the RV guy says first. He may want to check with his insurance carrier first and I bet they'll send over a check to you right away.
Wish you luck there. Zarqawi Eat Your Heart Out
Basra is relatively stable compared to central Iraq where violence involving insurgents, civilians and coalition forces is a daily routine. The city has rarely been a site of clashes between insurgents and coalition troops, nor is it a victim of regular terrorist attacks. This week, however, things changed. But not thanks to Zarqawi and his al-Qaeda ilk.
On Monday, two British soldiers were arrested and detained by Iraqi police in Basra. Within a matter of hours, the British military responded with overwhelming force. Despite subsequent Ministry of Defence denials, insisting that the two men had been retrieved solely through 鈥渘egotiations鈥? British military officials, including Brigadier John Lorimer, told BBC News (20/9/05) [1] that the British Army had stormed an Iraqi police station to locate the detainees. Ministry of Defence sources confirmed that 鈥淏ritish vehicles鈥?had attempted to 鈥渕aintain a cordon鈥?outside the police station. After British Army tanks 鈥渇lattened the wall鈥?of the station, UK troops 鈥渂roke into the police station to confirm the men were not there鈥?and then 鈥渟taged a rescue from a house in Basra鈥? according a commanding officer familiar with the operation. Both men, British defence sources told the BBC鈥檚 Richard Galpin in Baghdad, were 鈥渕embers of the SAS elite special forces.鈥?After arrest, they had been handed over to local militia.
What had prompted this bizarre turn of events? Why had the Iraqi police forces, which normally work in close cooperation with coalition military forces, arrested two British SAS soldiers, and then handed them over to militia? A review of the initial on-the-ground reports leads to a clearer picture.
Fancy Dress and Big Guns Don鈥檛 Mix
According to the BBC鈥檚 Galpin, reporting for BBC Radio 4 (19/9/05, 18 hrs news script), Iraqi police sources in Basra 鈥渢old 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鈥?It鈥檚 widely believed the two British servicemen were operating undercover.鈥?Undercover? Dressed as Arabs? What were they trying to do that had caught the attention of their colleagues, the Iraqi police?
According to the Washington Post (20/9/05) [2], 鈥淚raqi security officials on Monday variously accused the two Britons they detained of shooting at Iraqi forces or trying to plant explosives.鈥?Reuters (19/9/05) [3] cited police, local officials and other witnesses who confirmed that 鈥渢he two undercover soldiers were arrested after opening fire on Iraqi police who approached them.鈥?Officials said that 鈥渢he men were wearing traditional Arab headscarves and sitting in an unmarked car.鈥?According to Mohammed al-Abadi, an official in the Basra governorate, 鈥淎 policeman approached them and then one of these guys fired at him. Then the police managed to capture them.鈥?
Boobytrapped Brits?
In an interview with Al Jazeerah TV [4], the popular Iraqi leader Fattah al-Sheikh, a member of the Iraqi National Assembly and deputy official in the Basra governorate, said that police had 鈥渃aught 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 in the popular market.鈥?Contrary to British authorities鈥?claims that the soldiers had been immediately handed to local militia, al-Sheikh confirmed that they were 鈥渁t the Intelligence Department in Basra, and they were held by the National Guard force, but the British occupation forces are still surrounding this department in an attempt to absolve them of the crime.鈥?
No wonder the Iraqi authorities were annoyed. Two British SAS soldiers had been caught undercover dressed as Arabs, loaded with explosives and anti-tank weaponry [5], acting uncooperatively at a routine checkpoint, and opening fire on police when approached. This is hardly a mistaken case of 鈥榝riendly fire.鈥?The undercover operatives had conducted themselves suspiciously and aggressively. When it became clear that the British Army was about to use overwhelming force to rescue the operatives, it is hardly surprising that Iraqi police were reluctant to give them up, preferring to interrogate them to find out precisely what they had been doing.
The Special Reconnaissance Regiment and British Covert Operations
British defence sources told the Scotsman (20/9/05) [6] that the soldiers were part of an 鈥渦ndercover special forces detachment鈥?set up this year to 鈥渂ridge the intelligence void鈥?in Basra, drawing on 鈥渟pecial forces鈥?experience in Northern Ireland and Aden, where British troops went 鈥榙eep鈥?undercover in local communities to try to break the code of silence against foreign forces.鈥?These elite forces operate under the Special Reconnaissance Regiment formed last year by then defence secretary, Geoff Hoon, 鈥渢o gather so-called human intelligence during counter-terrorist missions.鈥?The question, of course, is how does firing at Iraqi police while dressed as Arabs and carrying explosives constitute 鈥渃ountering terrorism鈥?or even gathering 鈥渋ntelligence鈥?
The admission by British defence officials is revealing. 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 鈥渕odelled on an undercover unit that operated in Northern Ireland鈥?according to Whitehall sources.[7] The Regiment had 鈥渁bsorbed 14th Intelligence Company, known as 鈥?4 Int鈥? a plainclothes unit set up to gather intelligence covertly on suspect terrorists in Northern Ireland. Its recruits are trained by the SAS.鈥?This is the same Regiment that was involved in the unlawful 22nd July execution - by multiple head-shots - of the innocent Brazilian, Mr Jean Charles de Menezes, after he boarded a tube train in Stockwell Underground station.
According to Detective Sergeant Nicholas Benwell, member of the Scotland Yard team that had been investigating the activities of an ultra-secret wing of British military intelligence, the Force Research Unit (FRU), the team found that 鈥渕ilitary intelligence was colluding with terrorists to help them kill so-called 鈥榣egitimate targets鈥?such as active republicans... many of the victims of these government-backed hit squads were innocent civilians.鈥?Benwell鈥檚 revelations were corroborated in detail by British double agent Kevin Fulton, who was recruited to the FRU in 1981, when he began to infiltrate the ranks of IRA. In his role as a British FRU agent inside the IRA, he was told by his military intelligence handlers to 鈥渄o anything鈥?to win the confidence of the terrorist group.
鈥淚 mixed explosive and I helped develop new types of bombs鈥? he told Scotland鈥檚 Sunday Herald (23/6/02) [8]. 鈥淚 moved weapons鈥?if you ask me if the materials I handled killed anyone, then I will have to say that some of the things I helped develop did kill鈥?my handlers knew everything I did. I was never told not to do something that was discussed. How can you pretend to be a terrorist and not act like one? You can鈥檛. You鈥檝e got to do what they do鈥?They did a lot of murders鈥?I broke the law seven days a week and my handlers knew that. They knew that I was making bombs and giving them to other members of the IRA and they did nothing about it鈥?The idea was that the only way to beat the enemy was to penetrate the enemy and be the enemy.鈥?Most startlingly, Fulton said that his handlers told him his operations were 鈥渟anctioned right at the top鈥?this goes the whole way to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister knows what you are doing.鈥?
Zarqawi, Ba鈥檃thists and the Seeds of Discord
So, based on the methodology of their Regiment, the two British SAS operatives were in Iraq to 鈥減enetrate the enemy and be the enemy,鈥?in order of course to 鈥渂eat the enemy.鈥?Instead of beating the enemy, however, they ended up fomenting massive chaos and killing innocent people, a familiar pattern for critical students of the British role in the Northern Ireland conflict.
In November 2004 [9], a joint statement was released on several Islamist websites on behalf of al-Qaeda鈥檚 man in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and Saddam Hussein鈥檚 old Ba鈥檃th Party loyalists. Zarqawi鈥檚 network had 鈥渏oined other extremist Islamists and Saddam Hussein鈥檚 old Baath party to threaten increased attacks on US-led forces.鈥?Zarqawi鈥檚 group said they signed 鈥渢he statement written by the Iraqi Baath party, not because we support the party or Saddam, but because it expresses the demands of resistance groups in Iraq.鈥?The statement formalized what had been known for a year already 鈥?that, as post-Saddam Iraqi intelligence and US military officials told the London Times (9/8/2003) [10], 鈥淎l Qaeda terrorists who have infiltrated Iraq from Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have formed an alliance with former intelligence agents of Saddam Hussein to fight their common enemy, the American forces.鈥?Al Qaeda leaders 鈥渞ecruit from the pool鈥?of Saddam鈥檚 former 鈥渟ecurity and intelligence officers who are unemployed and embittered by their loss of status.鈥?After vetting, 鈥渢hey begin Al-Qaeda-style training, such as how to make remote-controlled bombs.鈥?
Yet Pakistani military sources [11] revealed in February 2005 that the US has 鈥渞esolved to arm small militias backed by US troops and entrenched in the population鈥? consisting of 鈥渇ormer members of the Ba鈥檃th Party鈥?鈥?the same people already teamed up with Zarqawi鈥檚 al-Qaeda network. In a highly clandestine operation, the US procured 鈥淧akistan-manufactured weapons, including rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, ammunition, rockets and other light weaponry.鈥?A Pakistani military analyst noted that the 鈥渁rms could not be destined for the Iraqi security forces because US arms would be given to them.鈥?Rather, the US is playing a double-game to 鈥渉ead off鈥?the threat of a 鈥淪hi鈥檌te clergy-driven religious movement鈥?鈥?in other words, to exacerbate the deterioration of security by penetrating, manipulating and arming the terrorist insurgency.
What could be the end-game of such a covert strategy? The view on-the-ground [12] in Iraq, among both Sunnis and Shi鈥檌tes, is worth noting. Sheikh Jawad al-Kalesi, the Shi鈥檌te Imam of the al-Kadhimiyah mosque in Baghdad, told Le Monde: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi exists as such. He鈥檚 simply an invention by the occupiers to divide the people.鈥?Iraq鈥檚 most powerful Sunni Arab religious authority, the Association of Muslim Scholars, concurs, condemning the call to arms against Shi鈥檌tes as a 鈥渧ery dangerous鈥?phenomenon that 鈥減lays into the hands of the occupier who wants to split up the country and spark a sectarian war.鈥?In colonial terms, the strategy is known as 鈥渄ivide and rule.鈥?
Regardless of doubts about Zarqawi鈥檚 existence, it is indeed difficult to avoid the conclusion that this overall interpretation is plausible. It seems the only ones who don鈥檛 understand the clandestine dynamics of Anglo-American covert strategy in Iraq are we, the people, in the west. It鈥檚 high time we got informed.
Notes:
[1]. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4...
[2]. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp- dyn/content/article/2005/09/19/AR2005091...
[3]. http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticl...
type=worldNews&storyID=2005-09-19T2100...
_01_SPI946735_RTRUKOC_0_US-IRAQ-BRITON...
[4]. http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?c...
viewArticle&code=20050920&articleId=98...
[5]. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4...
[6]. http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=19...
[7]. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/...
1542080,00.html
[8]. http://www.sundayherald.com/25646
[9]. http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/com...
story_page/0,5744,11488568%255E1702,00...
[10]. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news...
[11]. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East...
[12]. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/7...
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