UK soldier held over PoW torture claims

THE Ministry of Defence has arrested a Gulf War soldier and launched an investigation into claims he took sickening photographs of Iraqi prisoners of war being tortured.

The alert came after the soldier from the 1st Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (part of the famous Desert Rats 7th Armoured Brigade) took a roll of film to his local photo shop to be developed.

Workers at the shop in Tamworth, Staffordshire, were horrified when they saw the pictures and called in the police.

They arrested the soldier - normally based at Celle in Germany - and he is now being held in Ministry of Defence custody at a secret location.

One of the photographs shows the prisoner of war dangling upside down and probably alive from a forklift truck. The PoW was bound and gagged and held in netting, and the truck was being driven by a British soldier. Other photographs allegedly show soldiers committing indecent acts near captured Iraqis.

The photographs were taken while the war in southern Iraq was at its height.

Now, the Army’s Special Investigations Branch has launched a probe into the photographs. If proven, the incident would breach the Geneva Convention, which specifies prisoners must be properly treated.

If it emerges that British troops have been torturing and abusing Iraqi PoWs it would be a major embarrassment to the British Army, Prime Minister Tony Blair and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon.

An MoD spokesman said: "An investigation is under way into allegations of photos depicting maltreatment of Iraqi PoWs. If there is any truth in these allegations, the MoD is appalled. We take responsibility to PoWs extremely seriously."

A source close to the investigation revealed: "We believe the Iraqi was alive. At this stage it is not clear whether the Fusilier handed in the film on behalf of someone else or took the pictures himself. Whatever, the case it is pure dynamite."

The revelation came as Mr Blair thanked British troops for their "huge, mighty and momentous" role in ridding Iraq of Saddam Hussein.

It took some of the shine off his address to 400 members of the Desert Rats and Paras in Basra where he praised their "extraordinary" winning of the war and "remarkable" building of the peace.

Allegations of British troops torturing Iraqi PoWs undermines the image of UK soldiers as being more restrained and humane than American counterparts.

It comes on top of a double investigation into Colonel Tim Collins, the 43-year-old commanding officer of the 1st Royal Irish Regiment. He is being investigated over claims he mistreated Iraqi PoWs and civilians following complaints by a disgruntled US major whom he dressed down.

Col Collins - who made an inspirational address to his 650 men on the eve of war telling them they were liberators not conquerors which was praised by Mr Blair and US President George W Bush - is expected to be cleared of the war crimes accusation. However, there is a second probe into his style of command of the regiment, which some soldiers claim is too harsh and brutal. The latest probe into the pictures is not connected to Col Collins.

In Iraq, Mr Blair - who was mobbed by children and kissed on the cheek by five-year-old Abbas Adnan - said weapons of mass destruction (WMD) would be found in the country. This followed claims earlier this week from US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that Saddam may have destroyed his weapons before the Iraq conflict.

Now, amid signs of a transatlantic rift on the issue, Mr Rumsfeld has backtracked.

He said on US radio that he believes WMD will be found but have not been so far because Saddam’s henchmen worked so hard to hide them. And he rejected claims the war had been waged under a false pretext. He said the Allies’ case had been based on "good intelligence".

Downing Street was waging a similar battle over claims Mr Blair’s advisors insisted on "sexing up" an intelligence dossier on Saddam’s WMD before the Prime Minister’s speech on Iraq to the Commons.

Mr Blair today branded the idea "completely absurd" and said he had "absolutely no doubt" that evidence of Saddam’s WMD was completely true.

Visibly annoyed that claims on WMD were still dogging him, he went on: "People who have opposed this action throughout are now trying to find a fresh reason for saying it wasn’t the right thing to do."

The deadly nerve gas Sarin can be made from mail order components available in the UK, it has emerged. A BBC reporter used his credit card and faked letterheads to obtain the four chemicals needed to manufacture the nerve agent from two English companies, and found instructions for manufacturing it on the internet.