Iraq War

02/13/2006

Iraq Abuse Video

British Soldiers To Be Investigated Says Blair

The video could hardly be more graphic. A group of British soldiers is seen beating up Iraqi civilians. British Prime Minister Tony Blair wants a quick investigation to avoid a further straining of relations between UK troops and the locals.

The British army is to launch a full investigation into allegations of abuse in Basra, southern Iraq.

Tony Blair has vowed that there will be a full investigation into allegations that British soldiers brutally beat up young Iraqis during street protests in Basra in early 2004. A video, which was obtained by a British tabloid newspaper from an army whistleblower, shows four young men being dragged behind a wall by up to eight soldiers, before being attacked with fists and batons. The voice of the cameraman, who was filming from a rooftop, can be heard laughing and using obscenities to urge on the perpetrators. The images were first published in the News of the World on Sunday and the footage has been aired in Britain and across the Middle East.

Speaking at a conference of center-left leaders in South Africa, Blair said "We take seriously any allegations of mistreatment and those will be investigated very fully indeed." He added that "the overwhelming majority of British troops, in Iraq as elsewhere, behave properly, are doing a great job of our country and for the wider world."

This was the line reiterated by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. Speaking to the BBC on Sunday, he emphasised that the "loyal, hard-working, decent troops" in Iraq would see the allegations as a "slight on their great work."

The News of the World has vouched for the authenticity of the video, insisting it made exhaustive checks. Managing editor Stuart Kuttner said, "We've made enquiries of the source, of people around the source, of military experts, of the Ministry of Defence and beyond." Such caution is only to be expected. Back in 2004 the Daily Mirror tabloid got its fingers burned when it showed pictures of what it claimed were British soldiers abusing an Iraqi prisoner. When it emerged that the pictures were fakes, the newspaper's editor-in-chief Piers Morgan was forced to resign.

This latest scandal couldn’t come at a worse time. The cartoon furore has already raised hackles and now Arabic TV stations are said to be showing the footage every hour alongside images of the US abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Muslim groups in the UK were quick to condemn the video. The secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Sir Iqbal Sacranie said, "Incidents like this cause enormous damage to our standing in the Muslim world and also place those British troops who are carrying out their duties conscientiously in greater peril."

In Iraq, the head of Basra's city council Mohammed al-Abadi said that local leaders wanted quick action taken on the investigation and an assurance that Iraqis will not be "humiliated further" by coalition forces. Akil al-Bahadily, an official from the Basra office of Moqtada al-Sadr, said, "This is good proof of the violations of human rights being committed by British troops in Basra." A spokesman for the British forces in Basra, Flight Lt. Chris Thomas, told the BBC that the allegations related to only a "tiny number" of soldiers. He said, "We hope that the good relations that the multinational forces have worked very hard to develop won't be adversely affected by this material." Fearing reprisals, military commanders are now stepping up security for British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This latest allegation of abuse marks the further deterioration of relations between the British army and the local population in southern Iraq. When the occupation first began in 2003 the British urban-policing methods were contrasted to those of the US, with hard-gained experience in places like Kosovo and Northern Ireland having convinced the British army of the need for a less robust approach. The gesture of using soft berets rather than helmets while on patrol was intended to show that the soldiers were there to protect rather than attack the Iraqi people. However, there has been a string of abuse charges since those early days, including the imprisonment of three soldiers in 2005 for the abuse of prisoners.

smd/reuters/ap/bbc

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