17 June 2004 Edition

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British soldiers charged over Iraq abuse

Nothing new under the sun — A British soldier pictured in 1964 displays heads severed from Malayan guerrillas

Nothing new under the sun — A British soldier pictured in 1964 displays heads severed from Malayan guerrillas

A year after photographs depicting British troops abusing Iraqi prisoners were discovered by a shop assistant in Tamworth, Staffordshire, the British Attorney General announced this week that four soldiers are to face charges, including indecent assault, assault and failure to prevent assault, as well as the military offences of prejudicing good order and military discipline.

The photographs were turned over to the police by staff who had developed a film handed in by Gary Bartlam, a member of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. It is believed that he is one of the four charged, along with Mark Cooley and Daniel Kenyon. The identity of the fourth soldier is not known.

The Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, in a statement to the House of Lords earlier this week, said that the trial would be heard in a military court, but would be open to the public. No trial date was given. He said that the indecent assault charge arises from the soldiers' "making the victims engage in sexual activity between themselves". Other photographs show a semi-naked prisoner suspended in a netting sack from a forklift truck.

The charging of the soldiers came as further revelations about the conduct of British troops in Iraq were made public. It has emerged that the Ministry of Defence is investigating as many as 65 incidents involving either excessive or lethal force by British soldiers, although the figure may be even higher, and may involve more than one individual per incident. Previously, the government admitted to investigations into 33 cases of unlawful violence.

The level of violence has led to calls for a public inquiry from amongst others, Amnesty International, which said that "the army investigating the army is not enough.

"This is about how allegations of misconduct are handled in general. An independent civilian-led body needs to step in and investigate at a much earlier stage."

Nothing new under the sun

There was a sense of outrage at the catalogue of photographs of Iraqi prisoners being tortured in the Abu Graib prison published over the past few months. That sense of shock was barely dimmed when newspapers carried the pictures a few weeks later of a US civilian being beheaded in Iraq. The media screamed that new levels were being plumbed and for many, it was indeed a new level of barbarity.

But it wasn't new.

In June 1964, 40 years ago, the British were embroiled in a number of colonial struggles, in Cyprus, in Malaya, in Aden etc. Two members of the British forces in Aden had been beheaded a short time earlier when the British press raised a clamour about 'the uncivilised people against whom they were fighting in the Middle East', the United Irishman reported. On the front page of the paper, under the headline 'Perfidious Albion', a photograph was published showing what the British themselves were up to in Malaya.

The two heads in the picture had been severed from Malayan guerrillas by Dyak 'headhunters'. The Dyaks were mercenaries employed by the British to strike terror into their Malayan opponents by using the most brutal forms of warfare and as this smiling squaddie, posing with his trophies, shows, the Brits were not averse to their methods.

The barbarity employed by the US and British jailers in Iraq is not by any means a new experience. The skills acquired have been honed in prisons all over the world and all that is new now is that the exposure is instant and widespread.

There was outrage, too, in 1964 against the brutal treatment of prisoners and the degradation of dead bodies but unfortunately it did not last. Like the Eric Bogle song says, 'it all happened again and again and again'.

The world deserves better, the right thinking world wants scenes like these to end.

George Bush arrives in Ireland next week. Enough said.


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