'You have tarnished the reputation of the Army and the British nation'
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The reputation of British military forces has come under critical and damaging scrutiny after two soldiers were convicted for "brutal'' and "revolting'' abuse of prisoners in Iraq.
The reputation of British military forces has come under critical and damaging scrutiny after two soldiers were convicted for "brutal'' and "revolting'' abuse of prisoners in Iraq.
The verdicts on Mark Cooley and Daniel Kenyon at a court martial in Osnabrück in Germany came after fellow soldiers Gary Bartlam and Darren Larkin had pleaded guilty to offences committed in what has been described as Britain's Abu Ghraib scandal.
The men, all from the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, were arrested and charged after graphic and shocking trophy photographs were found of Iraqi civilians being mistreated at Camp Bread Basket, an aid depot near Basra, shortly after the end of the war.
L/Cpl Cooley, 22, Cpl Kenyon, 33, and L/Cpl Larkin, 30, who has pleaded guilty, will be sentenced tomorrow. They face prison sentences and dishonourable discharge.
Fusilier Bartlam, 20, who took the photographs, had also pleaded guilty and had been sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. Judge Advocate Michael Hunter said: "Anyone with a shred of decency would be revolted by what is contained in those pictures.
"The actions of you and those responsible for these acts have undoubtedly tarnished the international reputation of the British Army and to some extent the British nation too, and it will no doubt hamper the efforts of those who are now risking their lives striving to achieve stability in the Gulf region, and it will probably be used by those who are working against such ends.''
But the 22 days of highly publicised proceedings at the trial of Cooley and Kenyon at Osnabrück, with the international media present, have also heard repeated claims that the men were scapegoats to hide a culture of brutality which had "infected'' the camp with the culpability of senior officers.
The court heard that no officers were charged with the abuse which took place during an operation, codenamed Ali Baba, to catch people stealing aid from the camp. Dan Taylor, a captain who organised and named the operation, was exonerated despite breaking the Geneva Convention by the orders he issued. He was, instead, promoted to major.
Major Taylor told the court that he had kept Lt-Col David Patterson, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, abreast of the plans to tackle the looters, although Lt-Col Patterson denied being briefed in detail. The Lieutenant Colonel, too, escaped any censure and was also subsequently promoted.
Nor has anyone been convicted after a trial costing a million pounds for some of the most shocking of the 22 images - Iraqi men, stripped naked, being forced to simulate oral and anal sex, their humiliation completed by being made to smile and give a thumbs-up for the camera.
The Ministry of Defence claims that, despite exhaustive efforts, none of the victims of the abuse has been found to give evidence and identify their tormentors. The military prosecutor at the trial, Lt-Col Nick Clapham, acknowledged in court that soldiers who committed the crimes are still serving in the Army.
Cpl Kenyon, 33, from Newcastle, was cleared of encouraging others to force the detainees into the sex acts, although he is convicted of failing to report the offence to his superiors and also of failing to report that troops under his command had placed a detainee on a fork-lift truck from which he subsequently fell. He was also convicted of aiding and abetting L/Cpl Larkin to assault a prisoner.
Larkin, 30, from Oldham was cleared of a charge of aiding and abetting others to force the prisoners to strip. He pleaded guilty to the assault, having been photographed in boxer shorts standing on an Iraqi man curled on the ground.
L/Cpl Cooley was convicted of "disgraceful conduct of a cruel kind'' for driving a fork-lift truck with a prisoner clinging to the prongs. He maintained in court that he was, in fact, trying to help the man by moving him away from the sun.
The 22-year-old fusilier, from Newcastle upon Tyne, who has a previous conviction for violence, was also found guilty of "simulating'' a punch at a prisoner trussed up on the ground.
The investigation into what happened on 15 May 2003 began after Bartlam, then 18, took his set of photographs to be developed at a shop in his home town of Tamworth, Staffordshire. A shop assistant called police. Bartlam was due to stand trial alongside the three others. But a number of charges were dropped after he pleaded guilty and agreed to give evidence against Cpl Kenyon.
The photographs Bartlam took were released at the opening of the court martial and had immediate and widespread reverberations. They were posted on the internet, triggering anger in Iraq and the wider Arab world.
A few days after they were shown on the web, the British military base at Shaiba came under attack, injuring nine British soldiers and killing an Iraqi. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born militant leader announced this was in revenge for Iraqi prisoners being abused.
Tony Blair declared that the pictures were "shocking and appalling''. Michael Howard described them as bringing shame on the country and Charles Kennedy said their circulation would make life more dangerous for troops in Iraq. General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the Army, condemned "utterly, all acts of abuse''.
The high-profile comments ceased after the intervention of the Judge Advocate, but the evidence continued to make headlines. It was revealed that the mistreatment in the aftermath of war by British troops had become so serious that all soldiers had to be issued with a warning not to assault detainees.
Lt-Col Nick Mercer, of the Army Legal Services, said that, confronted by disorder and looting, soldiers had assaulted prisoners and forced them into carrying out heavy labour despite being told it was in breach of the Geneva Convention.
The orders given by Major Taylor to give suspected looters a "hard time'' was such a breach of the Convention, but Major Taylor insisted that he was not breaking the law. The Army had decided that, although Major Taylor had, indeed, broken the law, he had acted with "well-meaning and sincere but misguided zeal''.
The defence claimed that the trial has concentrated on junior ranks to protect senior officers. Joceph Giret, defence counsel for Cpl Kenyon, said of Major Taylor: "You didn't care about the soldiers under your command. You have been prepared to let the soldiers be the sacrificial lambs, so your career will be saved.''
OTHER CASES FACING THE ARMY
The end of the court martial is unlikely to end the continued scrutiny facing the British military amid abuse allegations.
Military prosecutors have investigated more than 160 charges of abuse by British soldiers in Iraq with dozens still being dealt with. Scotland Yard is also involved in reviewing numerous similar cases.
Yesterday at the High Court in London, Kevin Williams, 22, of the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, denied murdering Hassan Abbad Said, an Iraqi lawyer with nine children, in Basra in 2003. Trial was set for June.
And an Army officer and four soldiers may face a court about the death of Sergeant Steve Roberts. He was killed last March by friendly fire after he handed his body armour to a comrade. Police are also reviewing a case involving up to six British soldiers over the shooting of an Iraqi civilian two years ago.
In a separate case, seven men of the 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment, have also been charged with the murder of an Iraqi civilian.
Other cases include the death of Baha Mousa, a hotel receptionist who died in prison in 2003 in the custody of soldiers who allegedly beat detainees.