The most disturbing aspect of the video apparently showing eight British soldiers assaulting four unarmed Iraqi youths (aside from the sadistic commentary) is the intent. The head butts, kicks and blows — delivered with fists and batons — were not delivered in battle. Although the Iraqis had been part of a potentially hostile crowd, no euphemism for “crowd control” will stand up as mitigation. The heat, if there had been any, had gone out of the moment. Only once back in the soldiers’ compound did the beating begin. It is the deliberation that makes the images all the more unsettling. The apparent presence of a non-commissioned officer in the squad also raises disturbing questions about the state of discipline in British ranks in Iraq.
Before the video surfaced in yesterday’s News of the World, there had been 184 allegations made against British troops in Iraq. These ranged from Iraqi civilians hurt in traffic accidents involving Army vehicles to the accidental or negligent discharging of weapons. Five — now six — cases have involved claims of prisoner abuse. That is six too many. But the context is important. Fourteen soldiers have faced trial on abuse charges, and 15 more are awaiting courts martial later this year. But the vast majority of complaints against British personnel, some 160, have failed to withstand close scrutiny. Either they have been shown to be specious or the actions concerned were within the Army’s rules of engagement. It should also be pointed out, as the Prime Minister did yesterday, that the overwhelming majority of the 80,000 British servicemen and women who have served in Iraq have done so with great courage, honour and distinction.
This is not to duck the extremely serious questions raised by the video. Indeed, the context serves to illustrate how critical it is for the regiment concerned and the British Army to identify, try and punish the eight individuals concerned as an example to the rest of the world. It does not take a public relations genius to appreciate the devastating harm that the pictures will do as they are beamed across the Arab world. They will doubtless give succour to every bigot and twisted fanatic prepared to overlook the freeing of the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein’s tyranny, and instead to view the intent of the US-led coalition as entirely malign. The guilty men have soiled their own names and that of their regiment. And they have made life much more difficult for their comrades currently serving in Iraq.
There are wider questions for the Army. All six cases against British troops involving claims of prisoner abuse took place in the 15 months from May 2003, when life for a coalition soldier in Iraq was at its toughest. They were not confined to one regiment. Four soldiers from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers have been convicted of abusing Iraqi civilians. Three Irish Guards and one Coldstream Guard are facing manslaughter charges. Five from the Queen’s Lancashire Regiment also face charges over the death of an Iraqi hotel receptionist. Discipline, the cornerstone of the British Armed Services, appeared to buckle. No one would pretend that serving in Iraq was easy, comfortable or without extreme challenges to body and soul. But neither are the hardships an excuse to resort to brutality. For those currently serving in Iraq, and the reputation of British forces, justice must be seen to be done, and promptly.