Iraq's government has admitted insurgents have infiltrated its security forces, as an inquiry continues today into events surrounding British troops' controversial rescue of two detained SAS men.
The Ministry of the Interior is looking into what led to UK armoured fighting vehicles bulldozing the wall of a Basra police station jail in a bid to free the Special Forces soldiers.
Iraq National Security Adviser, Dr Mouwafak al-Rubaie
Inside, troops discovered that the two men had been handed over to militia by Iraqi police and freed them later from a house in the southern city. The British operation sparked serious violence.
Iraq's National Security Adviser, Dr Mouwafak al-Rubaie, said he did not know how far security forces had been undermined by insurgents. He told BBC2's Newsnight: "Our Iraqi security forces in general, police in particular, in many parts of Iraq, I have to admit, have been penetrated by some of the insurgents, some of the terrorists as well.
"I can't deny this. We are putting in place a very scrupulous, very meticulous vetting procedure in the process of recruiting a new batch of police and Iraqi army, which will, if you like, clean our security forces as well as stop any penetration in future from the insurgents and terrorists."
Mr al-Rubaie added: "I can't give you a percentage of the extent of the penetration, but I have to admit that the Iraqi security forces are penetrated, to what extent I don't know."
Fears were raised that Iraq was "drifting towards civil war". The men's capture on Monday came just a day after British forces in Basra arrested two leading members of the outlawed Mahdi Army which is loyal to firebrand cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and is widely believed to have heavily infiltrated the local Iraqi police.
The two arrested men from the Mahdi Army were the group's Basra area commander, Sheikh Ahmad Majid al-Fartusi, and his aide Sajjat al-Basri. The SAS men appear to have been quickly handed over to militiamen by police and the mission to rescue them, which has been condemned by many Iraqis, was launched amid fears they could face summary execution.
Iraqi state television footage showed the detained SAS soldiers unshaven and looking nervous as police looked over wigs, Arab head-dresses, anti-tank missiles and electronic equipment, all apparently used in their mission.
One Iraqi member of parliament said that following the arrest of the SAS men, the Mahdi Army had tried to take them hostage to exchange them for its two leaders.
A spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari said the British operation against the jail had been "a very unfortunate development" but his office later released a statement saying there was no crisis in relations with the British.
Yesterday, Iraqi policemen at the jail surveyed a mass of rubble, broken plywood and air conditioning units where their perimeter wall and a number of prefabricated structures once stood. Several flattened cars appeared to have been run over by British Warrior armoured fighting vehicles. The two SAS men, who were travelling undercover, were arrested after allegedly becoming involved in a firefight with Iraqi police at a checkpoint.
Iraqi officials claimed they had shot dead a local policeman and wounded at least one other.
British Defence Secretary John Reid defended the subsequent action by British troops against the Jamiat police station jail, saying it was "absolutely right". In dramatic scenes outside the jail, British troops were confronted by an angry mob, hundreds strong, throwing stones and petrol bombs and several soldiers suffered minor injuries.