Sorry, should have sent this sooner but I've only just found it while
excavating my inbox:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/13/wgoogle13.xml


Terrorists 'use Google maps to hit UK troops'
By Thomas Harding in Basra
Last Updated: 2:06am GMT 13/01/2007

Terrorists attacking British bases in Basra are using aerial footage
displayed by the Google Earth internet tool to pinpoint their attacks,
say
Army intelligence sources.

Documents seized during raids on the homes of insurgents last week
uncovered print-outs from photographs taken from Google.

The satellite photographs show in detail the buildings inside the bases
and
vulnerable areas such as tented accommodation, lavatory blocks and
where
lightly armoured Land Rovers are parked.

Written on the back of one set of photographs taken of the Shatt al
Arab
Hotel, headquarters for the 1,000 men of the Staffordshire Regiment
battle
group, officers found the camp's precise longitude and latitude.

"This is evidence as far as we are concerned for planning terrorist
attacks," said an intelligence officer with the Royal Green Jackets
battle
group. "Who would otherwise have Google Earth imagery of one of our
bases?

"We are concerned that they use them to plan attacks. We have never
had
proof that they have deliberately targeted any area of the camp using
these
images but presumably they are of great use to them.

"We believe they use Google Earth to identify the most vulnerable
areas
such as tents."

One soldier has been killed in the past six months following a mortar
attack and there have been several injuries.

Since the maps were found intelligence chiefs have been keeping track
of
where rounds land to see if the insurgents are using them to pinpoint
weakly protected areas.

The British camps experience mortar and rocket attacks on a daily
basis.

Salvos are fired from up to four miles away and are increasingly
accurate.

Yesterday three rounds were fired into Basra Palace at a block close
to
where The Daily Telegraph was staying. No one was injured.

Intelligence sources also believe that the insurgents are receiving
more
training and weaponry from Iran to improve their fighting skills. But
the
British are gathering more intelligence on mortar crews and launching
several "strike operations" to detain the operators.

Anyone with the internet can sign up to Google Earth and by simply
typing
in the name of a location they can receive very detailed imagery down
to
identifying types of vehicles.

The company is one of several internet outlets that buy aerial
imagery,
usually taken by aircraft but sometimes by satellite, from governments
or
mapping companies.

It is unclear how old the maps are but it is believed the Basra images
were
made within the past two years.

Major Charlie Burbridge, the British military spokesman in Iraq, said:
"We
take the security of our bases very seriously and we constantly review
the
means to provide secure accommodation for our soldiers.

"There is a constant threat of reconnaissance missions to access our
bases
and using these internet images is just another method of how this is
conducted."

A Google spokesman said the information could be used for "good and
bad"
and was available to the public in many forms. "Of course we are
always
ready to listen to governments' requests," he said.

"We have opened channels with the military in Iraq but we are not
prepared
to discuss what we have discussed with them. But we do listen and we
are
sensitive to requests."

There have also been reports that the images are being sold to rogue
militias in the market place in Basra.

The British security services are concerned that terrorists will be
able to
examine in detail sensitive infrastructure such as electricity
stations,
military basis, and their own headquarters in London.

Soldiers from the Royal Green Jackets based at the Basra Palace base
said
they had considered suing Google Earth if they were injured by mortar
rounds that had been directed on the camp by the aerial footage.

"Even if they did blank out the areas where we are based it is a bit
after
the horse has bolted as the terrorist now have the maps and know
exactly
where we eat, sleep and go to the toilet," one soldier said.


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________________

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