British soldiers in Iraq had to be reminded not to mistreat their prisoners after it became clear that there was a ”problem”, a court martial in Germany heard on Wednesday.
The army’s senior legal adviser revealed that he had issued an order five days after the Camp Breadbasket abuse scandal erupted because a ”a number of allegations were made that people were not being treated as they should”.
The more widespread abuse of civilians in Iraq emerged at the court martial in Osnabrück, Germany, of three members of the 1st Royal Regiment of Fusiliers who are accused of mistreating Iraqis they had captured Iraqis during a mission nicknamed Operation Ali Baba, which was aimed at catching and deterring looters who had been stealing humanitarian aid from Breadbasket, half a mile west of Basra.
Defence lawyers claim that the three soldiers were only following orders from their superiors.
Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas Mercer, who was legal commander of the 1st UK Armoured Division during the invasion and later occupation of Iraq in 2003, told the court that after hearing there were ”problems” he had felt compelled to issue a legal order reiterating that detainees should be treated with ”humanity and dignity”.
He admitted that there had been problems with the difficult transition from war fighting to becoming an army of occupation, and that some prisoners had complained about their treatment at the hands of British squaddies.
”The British coalition forces took approximately 3 000 prisoners,” he said. ”At least 1 000 of those were in civilian clothing and had been taken from the battlefield. There were no allegations of any difficulties with these prisoners when they were brought off the battlefield.
”Once we moved into occupation, the situation obviously changed. We were now arresting people and bringing them in to be detained. A number of allegations were made that people were not being treated perhaps as they should. I felt it had to be reiterated. We had heard of problems.”
But he added that the order was simply restating a soldier’s initial training in the law of armed conflict and their obligations under the Geneva convention.
The court martial, made up of a panel of seven officers and the British judge advocate Michael Hunter, has been given a book of 22 photographs containing ”shocking and appalling” images allegedly showing the abuse of Iraqi prisoners after Operation Ali Baba.
The pictures showing how squaddies forced Iraqis to strip bare and simulate oral and anal sex were put before a panel of seven officers. They also saw pictures of a grimacing Iraqi who had been strung up in a cargo net made from thick rope which had been hung from a forklift truck. Another showed a soldier, wearing just shorts and flip flops, standing on an Iraqi man who was crouched in a foetal position on the ground.
Corporal Daniel Kenyon (33) and Lance Corporals Darren Larkin (30) and Mark Cooley (25) face a total of nine charges relating to the alleged abuse of the Iraqis they had taken prisoner two weeks after the conflict was declared over in May 2003. Lance Corporal Larkin has pleaded guilty to a charge of battery but has denied ”disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind” after he was said to have forced two ”unknown males” to undress in front of others.
Lance Corporal Cooley has denied two offences involving conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline for simulating punches and kicks to an Iraqi and allowing them to be photographed. He also denies disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind after allegedly tying up an Iraqi and hung him from a forklift truck.
Lance Corporal Kenyon denies all charges, including two of aiding and abetting a person to force two naked detainees to simulate a sex act. If found guilty the men face prison sentences and dismissal from the army with disgrace.
On Wednesday Joseph Giret, defending Lance Corporal Kenyon, said his client had been a war hero in Iraq who had saved the lives of several of his colleagues in his Warrior armoured fighting vehicle. He claimed that he had only been obeying orders.
The court had earlier been told that the commanding officer of Breadbasket, Major Daniel Taylor had told his soldiers to round up the looters and ”work them hard”, an order which was illegal.
”My client is a corporal who is on any view an outstanding soldier. He has a blemish-free record. He has on his conduct sheet not one single entry,” he said. ”It is my case that he has not acted out of character and the whole reason that he is in the dock stems from those who gave an order to execute plan Operation Ali Baba.”
He went on: ”Any rank and file non-commissioned officer or commissioned soldier, officer class, would think very carefully about his or her position before they refused an order because it is not permitted in the army to refuse to carry out an order.”
Colonel Mercer denied that this was the case, saying all soldiers were told from the outset of their careers to report any abuse that they had witnessed. He called this ”moral courage” and said it was instilled as soon as a soldier joined the army.
Last Tuesday Colonel Mercer told the court that pre-deployment legal training for troops had been ”extremely difficult”.
”Deployment was very fast and kept secret for a very long time. After Christmas it was made clear that we would deploy to the Gulf and by January 11 we were in the Gulf … The rules of engagement were received relatively late in the day because the politicians wanted to see them prior to battle commencing.”
He said soldiers had been briefed that they should treat prisoners and civilians humanely and to protect them from the dangers of war. They had also been issued with an aide memoire, described to the court as ”an idiot’s guide”, which underlined that they had to show ”humanity and dignity to all”. – Guardian Unlimited Â