Order issued to stop abuse of Iraqi prisoners

BRITISH Army mistreatment of captive Iraqi civilians was so widespread in the aftermath of the Iraq war that a senior officer had to order soldiers not to assault people in custody, a court martial heard yesterday

Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholas Mercer, an army legal expert, issued the order five days after he "heard of problems" connected with Operation Ali Baba, which is at the heart of the British abuse scandal, the hearing in Osnabrck, Germany, was told.

"Once we moved into an occupation role from a battlefield one the situation changed and numbers of allegations were made that Iraqis were not being treated as properly as they should be," he said.

Lt-Col Mercer, whose duties included issuing soldiers with an "idiot’s guide" about how to behave respectfully to civilians, issued an order five days after the incidents at Camp Bread Basket that "detainees should not be abused".

Three soldiers are on trial accused of degrading and humiliating suspected looters, making them simulate sex acts for the camera as well as tying them up and simulating beatings of them. They claim they were obeying the orders of a senior officer, Major Dan Taylor, to "work" the captured Iraqis "hard" - and that they missed out on the briefings that Lt-Col Mercer was in charge of giving.

The court martial, being held at the Roberts Barracks in the army garrison town, has already heard that Maj Taylor’s order was illegal both under army rules and those of the Geneva Convention governing the treatment of civilians in wartime.

Lance Corporal Darren Larkin, 30, L-Cpl Mark Cooley, 25, and Corporal Daniel Kenyon, 33, deny a total of eight charges breaching army discipline and good conduct laws. Larkin has admitted one count of assault on a captive - for which his lawyer said he was "deeply ashamed".

Twenty-two colour pictures from five cameras detail the incidents which took place on 15 May, 2003 and the soldiers face up to ten years in jail if convicted by the panel of seven officers trying them.

Lt-Col Mercer told the hearing that the looting after the war was "psychotic and epidemic" and said the Iraqis moved like locusts through entire buildings, stripping everything from them including light fittings and electrical wiring.

In his evidence yesterday, Lt-Col Mercer said soldiers were taught to report any abuse they witnessed.

He said even if the defendants missed reading a "soldier’s card" telling troops to behave with "dignity and humanity" they attended a rules-of-war conference each year informing them of how to conduct themselves on duty.

"What we say is that you should have moral courage and when you see something that is wrong, you should report it and it is taught from the outset," he said, adding that his orders had made it clear how detainees should be treated.

He said: "It is very clear, you simply detained them, handed them to the Royal Military Police with humanity and dignity. Once you distil it down it is very straightforward."

At one stage the lawyer for Cpl Kenyon tried to get him to say that some of the pictures taken at the time of the alleged abuse were for ID purposes only.

The judge advocate, Michael Hunter, interrupted, saying: "We are agreed that this is not a photographic record taken for the purposes of identification."

Earlier Cpl Kenyon’s lawyer, Joseph Giret, tried to paint a picture of his client as a brave man with a blemish-free record.

"He has been described as a war hero and he was responsible for saving the lives of several of his colleagues," he said.

The judge cut Mr Giret short, saying character references about his client could be made at a later date.