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Claims British soldiers mutilated Iraqis' bodies were just rumours, says colonel Claims British soldiers abused dead Iraqi detainees 'baseless', says colonel
(about 4 hours later)
Claims that British soldiers mutilated the bodies of Iraqis killed in battle were "baseless rumours" and part of efforts to discredit coalition forces, an army colonel has told a public inquiry. A senior officer has described allegations that British soldiers murdered and abused detainees after a fierce gun battle in south-east Iraq as "baseless rumours" spread by insurgents and encouraged by ignorance of the horrific injuries that can be inflicted by modern weapons.
Col Richard Griffiths said he had not seen any evidence to suggest that bodies taken back to a British camp after the battle of Danny Boy were mistreated. Colonel Adam Griffiths also told a public inquiry into the incident, which occurred in 2004, that he questioned what he described as a "very unusual" order – to retrieve the bodies of dead Iraqis from the battlefield and take them to a British military base.
Griffiths was the officer commanding B Company, 1st Battalion the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, in May 2004, leading a "rover group" that was ambushed by Iraqi insurgents. The ambush was the start of a three-hour pitched battle on 14 May that has since become known as the battle of Danny Boy after a nearby vehicle checkpoint. He was later told that the order was given in an attempt to identify the Iraqis to see whether any of them had been responsible for the massacre nearby of six British military police the previous year.
Griffiths was the first military witness to give evidence to the al-Sweady inquiry, which is examining claims that British troops mistreated and killed detainees after the battle. The inquiry, which was ordered in 2009, is looking into claims that 20 or more Iraqis were unlawfully killed at Camp Abu Naji (CAN) near Majar-al-Kabir on 14 and 15 May 2004, and that detainees were abused there and at Shaibah logistics base, where they were moved to. Griffiths, at the time a company commander in 1st Battalion, the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, is the first of scores of British army witnesses due to give evidence to the al-Sweady inquiry.
The Ministry of Defence denies the claims, saying those who died were killed on the battlefield, and that bodies handed back were those that had been removed from the battlefield and taken back to CAN. The inquiry in London – named after the family of alleged victim Hamid al-Sweady, 19, – is into claims that British soldiers killed 20 unarmed civilians and abused others at Camp Abu Naji after what became known as the battle of Danny Boy, a British military checkpoint near Majar al-Kabir, on 14 May 2004.
Griffiths admitted the order to take bodies back to the base was "highly unusual" but must have been for a good reason – it has previously been suggested the order was given because it was thought the insurgents included someone responsible for the murder of six Red Caps in Iraq the previous year. The inquiry, headed by Sir Thayne Forbes, a retired high court judge, has so far cost more than £20m, and is due to be completed later in the year. Griffiths told the inquiry he had heard nothing to make him believe any of the detainees had been executed or mistreated. "I did not observe anything that appeared to be inconsistent with battlefield injuries," he said.
But Griffiths said he did not, and had never, believed rumours that troops had mutilated bodies before they were handed back to relatives. In a statement to the inquiry, he said: "I did not believe any of our soldiers had mutilated a body and I did not see at the time, and have not seen since, any evidence to support this proposition. Griffiths recalled a meeting with other officers called to consider the allegations. "We discussed the devastating impact that modern weapons systems can have on the human body and in particular, the damage that can be caused by GPMG [general purpose machine gun]," he said.
"I thought then, and I still think now, that the rumours were baseless and caused by a combination of ignorance amongst the local population as to the traumatic injuries that can be suffered in combat and the misinformation spread by insurgents who wished to discredit the coalition forces." Griffiths said one of his sergeants told him that "some of the dead … had such severe injuries as a result of this [rifle and machine gun] fire that limbs were in a few cases almost detached from bodies".
Griffiths said he had seen nothing to suggest mistreatment of detainees at CAN, nor mistreatment on the battlefield, and asked if he had seen any "executions", replied: "Categorically no." In a written statement to the inquiry he said: "I thought then (and this was a view shared by all present), and I still think now, that the rumours were baseless and caused by a combination of ignorance amongst the local population as to the traumatic injuries that can be suffered in combat and the misinformation spread by insurgents who wished to discredit the coalition forces."
He said he did not want his soldiers "to have to pick up the bodies of men they had just killed" – 12 were believed to have been killed by platoons under his command – and take them to the British camp. He said the order came from on high, perhaps his brigade commander, or higher.
He was told the reason was to see if any of them "had been involved in previous insurgent attacks such as the murder of six RMP [military police] at Majar al-Kabir in 2003".
Patrick O'Connor QC, for the Iraqis, questioned why Griffiths had not at first reported an injury, a badly bruised hand, to one of his soldiers, Private Dodd. Lawyers for the Iraqi detainees say they were beaten up by British soldiers. The International Committee of the Red Cross expressed concern about the treatment meted out to some detainees.
Griffiths earlier said he agreed that pre-deployment training of British soldiers about how to treat detainees was "a little skimpy". He later told the inquiry it was more than adequate. However, problems with training is known to be one of the issues included in a "lessons learned" study into the battle of Danny Boy.
The inquiry was forced on the Ministry of Defence in 2009 after high court judges accused it of "lamentable" behaviour and "serious breaches" of its duty of candour.
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