Britain's Abu Ghraib
Now, Britain has a prisoner abuse scandal of its own, writes Audrey Gillan in The Guardian:
Images of British soldiers described as shocking and appalling that allegedly show the abuse of Iraqi prisoners were shown to a court martial in Germany yesterday as the long-awaited case of three members of the 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers got underway.Graphic photographs showing how squaddies forced Iraqis to strip bare and simulate oral and anal sex were put before a panel of seven officers. They also saw pictures of a grimacing Iraqi who had been strung up in a cargo net made from thick rope which had been hung from a forklift truck. Another showed a soldier, wearing just shorts and flip flops, standing on an Iraqi man who was crouched in a foetal position on the ground.
The military court in Osnabruck in Germany began hearing the evidence against Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, and lance corporals Darren Larkin, 30, Mark Cooley, 25, who face a total of nine charges relating to the alleged abuse of the Iraqis they had taken prisoner two weeks after the conflict was declared over in May 2003. L/Cpl Larkin has pleaded guilty to a charge of battery but has denied "disgraceful conduct of an indecent kind" after he was said have forced two "unknown males" to undress in front of others.
L/Cpl Cooley has denied two offences involving conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline for simulating punches and kicks to an Iraqi and allowing them to be photographed. He also denies disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind after he tied up an Iraqi and hung him from a forklift truck.
Cpl Kenyon denies all charges, including two of aiding and abetting a person to force two naked detainees to simulate a sex act.
If found guilty the men face prison sentences and dismissal from the army with disgrace. The case has been dubbed "Britain's Abu Ghraib", coming just one week after an US court martial sentenced one of its soldiers to 10 years for torturing Iraqis. US army specialist Charles Graner was accused of stacking naked prisoners in a human pyramid and later ordering them to masturbate while other soldiers took photographs at the prison, near Baghdad.
Yesterday's panel was presented with a collection of 22 photographs, taken from the cameras of five soldiers.
The three accused soldiers had been part of an operation to stop Iraqi looters from stealing humanitarian aid from the British-run camp Bread basket, half a mile west of Basra. The court heard that their commanding officer, Major Daniel Taylor, devised a plan, codenamed Operation Ali Baba, aimed at rounding up thieves who had become a major problem at the camp.
The fusiliers were sent out in groups of four armed with one SA80 assault rifle and camouflage poles to capture Iraqis and bring them back to the camp with the intention of "working them hard" to deter looting. The court heard such an order was illegal and was in contravention of the Geneva Convention.