A SOLDIER claimed yesterday that he hoisted an Iraqi looter more than two metres in the air on a forklift truck to move him out of the hot sun.
Lance Corporal Mark Cooley, who is accused of disgraceful conduct, denied humiliating the man. He told a court martial that it was the “easiest and laziest” way of getting him into the shade.
During the manoeuvre, the terrified prisoner, who was bound in a cargo net, fell but did not hit the ground.
“It seemed a good idea at the time,” Lance Corporal Cooley, 25, said. He went on to admit: “I am not a clever person.”
A photograph of the man suspended from the vehicle was among a series of images depicting the abuse of Iraqis which led to the court martial in Osnabrück, Germany, and caused outrage across the world. The detainee, who had been covered in the net because he would not obey orders to sit quietly, had been taken to the “hide” of Milan Platoon of The Royal Regiment Of Fusiliers, who were helping to capture looters at Camp Bread Basket near Basra on May 15, 2003.
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Three other detainees were sitting in the shade on top of a loading bay more than a metre high but the fourth man was left in the sun. “It was getting pretty hot and I decided to put him up with the rest of them,” Lance Corporal Cooley said.
The soldier said he was “jacked off” when nobody offered to help and the nearest steps were 200 metres away. He demonstrated to the man what he intended to do by sitting on the forks himself.
“I was driving forwards slowly. I can’t remember if I braked too hard or accidentally hit the wall. He fell to the right but was luckily caught in the cargo net. My first reaction was I thought it was quite amusing. But now it’s not funny, one bit.”
With soldiers laughing, he lowered the man to the ground. He and his section commander, Corporal Daniel Kenyon, then released him from the net. “Corporal Kenyon shouted at me. He wasn’t impressed, basically . . . effing and blinding.
“I gave the man a quick check over to make sure he wasn’t hurt. He had had quite a traumatic experience. With hindsight, it was a ridiculous idea.”
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He stroked the man’s finger as a sign of friendship. Lance Corporal Cooley added: “What I did wasn’t for fun or pleasure. It was just stupidity. I thought the easiest, laziest option to get him out of the sun was to use the forklift truck.
“I thought, if I was slow and careful enough, everything would have gone like clockwork. I didn’t mean any harm. I just tried to do the guy a favour.”
He has pleaded not guilty to disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind under the 1955 Army Act. He also denies conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline relating to a later incident that day in which he simulated a punch at another prone Iraqi.
Lance Corporal Cooley, who had already handed in his notice, said that he asked another Fusilier to take a photograph of him with a detainee.
He wanted a picture with a “stupid grin” on his face. But the other soldier allegedly said: “No, do something hard, look hard.” So, for a “toughie photo” he pretended to punch the man. He later threw it away.
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The hearing continues.