Claims British soldiers tortured Iraqis to be investigated

Scotsman ^ | 6-21-04 | ALISON HARDIE

[Indy Pendance]

ALLEGATIONS that British soldiers mutilated the bodies of Iraqi insurgents will be investigated, Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said yesterday.

However, he said it was important to remember that the lurid claims could be "false allegations against British troops".

Mr Hoon was responding in the Commons to a story in yesterday’s Guardian which included new allegations of brutality by coalition troops. The newspaper claimed to have seen death certificates which stated that corpses handed over to hospital authorities had shown signs of "mutilation" and "torture".

A certificate relating to one 37-year-old Iraqi listed extensive injuries, including bullet wounds to his head, face and body, a severed right arm and an eye "removed by gouging". But a second doctor, who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity, cast doubt on the death certificates and questioned whether any of the wounds could have been caused by anything other than fierce warfare.

Mr Hoon told MPs he had "read the story in some detail". However, he told Paul Keetch, the Lib Dems’ defence spokesman: "I hope you would accept that the headline in the story [‘Troops accused of mutilating Iraqi bodies’] could just as easily have been ‘More false allegations against British troops’, because the detail of the story did not particularly bear out the rather lurid headline that the Guardian editor chose to adopt."

The Defence Secretary promised that each allegation involving British troops "will be thoroughly investigated".

The Guardian reported that Dr Adel Salid Majid had said that 22 corpses handed over by British forces had shown signs of torture.

The Iraqi fighters involved were killed during a skirmish involving soldiers of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders near the town of Majar al Kabir last month.

The Ministry of Defence declined to discuss the case in detail. A spokesman said: "The Royal Military Police are looking at the evidence. It is too early to speculate about the outcome of any investigation at this stage."

Meanwhile, Mr Hoon assured Labour’s Tam Dalyell that the US military had set up a thorough investigation after US forces attacked a wedding party in the Iraqi desert on 18 May, killing more than 40.

[Indy Pendance]

Let's see if we can get the Aussies and Poles involved too. The left is so transparent.

[isthisnickcool]

From what I read the moslems made the mistake of bringing guns to a knife (bayonet) fight.

[Indy Pendance]

You'd think they'd have at least advanced to the catapult by now. Bayonets were so last century.