Britain: British military commanders yesterday stepped up security for British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan in the wake of a video apparently showing soldiers brutally attacking defenceless Iraqi teenagers.
The video was shown on television channels in the Arab world just as ministers and Muslim leaders are trying to dampen the row over the publication of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad and when thousands of British troops are preparing to be deployed to the hostile environment of southern Afghanistan.
It has come at a "bad time", a senior defence source admitted. The UK Ministry of Defence, still reeling after a series of cases of alleged abuse of Iraqis by British troops, said the video appeared genuine. It described the video as "extremely disturbing", and said military police had launched an urgent investigation.
The film, described as a "secret home video" obtained by the News of the World newspaper, was apparently filmed from a rooftop for fun by a corporal who is heard laughing and urging on at least eight of his colleagues. It shows the troops repeatedly kicking and punching civilians with batons while another soldier, apparently a corporal, mocks them and urges his colleagues on. The newspaper said it was made in early 2004.
It declined to name the regiment, understood to be based in Germany, to try to avoid reprisals. Britain's 20 Armoured Brigade, based in Paderborn, Germany, was deployed in southern Iraq until April 2004, a period that covered the riots in Basra in March. The brigade included the 1st Battalion Light Infantry, the 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Wales, the Queen's Royal Hussars and 26 Royal Artillery. It was replaced in April by 1 Mechanised Brigade.
Political sensitivity surrounding the damaging and highly embarrassing video was reflected in ministers, from Tony Blair down, rushing to join a combined exercise in damage limitation.
The only minister who did not do so was the defence secretary, John Reid, on the grounds that he could be part of the "chain of command" who could decide what punishment, if any, should be meted out to the soldiers.
Tony Blair said: "We take seriously any allegations of mistreatment and those will be investigated very fully indeed." But he added that the "overwhelming majority" of British troops behaved properly and did a "great job for our country and for the wider world". They deserved the "fullest support" for their role in Iraq.
Speaking at a press conference in South Africa where he is attending a summit of centre-left leaders, the British prime minister said: "Their presence there, under a United Nations resolution, helping Iraqis become the democracy they want to become, is of fundamental importance, not just to the security in Iraq but to the security of my country, Britain, and the wider international community."
British chancellor Gordon Brown said if the allegations were true they showed "unacceptable behaviour". Speaking on the BBC's Sunday AM programme, Mr Brown said the "loyal, hard-working, decent troops" in Iraq would see the allegations as a "slight on their great work".
In Iraq, Akil al-Bahadily, an official from the Basra office of the radical Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said: "This is good proof of the violations of human rights being committed by British troops in Basra."
Basra resident Muhannad al-Moussaoui was quoted by the Associated Press as saying: "We thank God that it comes from their own photography. Many consider the actions normal compared to what happens behind closed doors, which is greater."
On the video, the cameraman is heard laughing and saying: "Oh yes! Oh yes! You're gonna get it. Yes, naughty little boys. You little f***ers, you little f***ers. Die. Ha Ha."
British troops have been hit by abuse allegations in the past, though none approaching the scale of the abuse perpetrated by Americans against prisoners at Abu Ghraib jail in Baghdad in a scandal that shocked the world in 2004.
Three British soldiers were jailed last year in a case launched over pictures taken in 2003 that showed Iraqi prisoners being beaten, stomped on and forced to pose in sexually humiliating positions.
- (Guardian Service; additional reporting Reuters)