BREAKING NEWS
ATROCITIES COMMITTED BY AMERICAN AND BRITISH SOLDIERS. SHAME OF ABUSE BY BRIT TROOPS
Paul Byrn, reporting from London.
Photo:
A HOODED Iraqi captive is beaten by British soldiers before being thrown from
a moving truck and left to die. URINATED ON: A British soldier urinates on
an Iraqi prisoner in a vile display of abuse. The captive was beaten and
hurled from a moving truck. Army chiefs are investigating.
The prisoner, aged 18-20, begged for mercy as he was battered with rifle butts and batons in the head and groin, was kicked, stamped and urinated on, and had a gun barrel forced into his mouth. After an EIGHT-HOUR ordeal, he was left barely conscious and close to death. Bleeding and vomiting and with a broken jaw and missing teeth, he was driven from a Basra camp and hurled off the truck. No one knows if he lived or died. The shocking pictures on this page were handed to us by one of the attackers and a colleague. We have agreed to protect their identities as they fear reprisals. Last night, their damning testimony was in the hands of appalled ministers and Army chiefs who pledged an urgent investigation. Chief of the General Staff General Sir Michael Jackson said: "If this is proven, the perpetrators are not fit to wear the Queen's uniform. They have besmirched the good name of the Army and its honour." No 10 said: "The Prime Minister fully endorses the general's statement." The outrage, which emerged the day after US troops were pictured torturing Iraqi prisoners of war, makes a mockery of the Army's attempts to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.
Photo: BUTT IN GROIN: A rifle is cruelly jabbed in the young man's groin as his eight-hour nightmare goes on.
We had one who fought back. I thought 'Don't do that', it's the worst thing you can do. He got such a kicking. You could hear your mate's boots hitting this lad's spine. "One of the lads broke his wrist on a prisoner's head. Another nearly broke his foot, kicking him. We're not helping ourselves out here. We're never going to get the Iraqis on our side. We're fighting a losing war." Soldier B claimed after the alleged September beating troops were told to destroy incriminating evidence. He said: "We got a warning, saying the Military Police had found a video of people throwing prisoners off a bridge. It wasn't 'Don't do it' or 'Stop it'. It was 'Get rid of it.' " The death is being probed. At least one soldier is expected to be charged with manslaughter. The two infantrymen claim abuse has started because Iraqi police are powerless to process suspects. Soldier B said: "There's no point taking them to the police station because they're released within 20 minutes. The coppers don't want any comeback and let them go. All we do is teach them a lesson our way. "You're knackered and you don't want to be going to a police station and doing statements, just for them to be released. Give them a kicking, then it's done and dusted.
Continues on the following pages.