[A-List] UK military: Iraq atrocities

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

Soldier arrested over Iraqi torture photographs

Military police launch special investigation after shocked film processing
shop raises alarm

Richard Norton-Taylor

Military police are questioning a soldier about photographs of alleged
"torture" of Iraqi prisoners of war, including a picture showing one gagged
and bound and dangling in netting from a fork-lift truck. Other pictures
allegedly show soldiers committing sex acts in front of captured
Iraqis.Police were called after a film was handed in at a processing shop in
Tamworth, Staffordshire.

 Kelly Tilford, 22, the shop assistant who saw the photographs, said: "There
were just a couple of photos with a couple of soldiers in the pictures. I
showed them to a colleague and she called the police straight away."
The soldier under arrest was last week named as Gary Bartlam, 18, from
Tamworth. He is in the 1st Royal Regiment of Fusiliers. The regiment was
part of the 7th Armoured Brigade in southern Iraq during the war. It is
based in Celle, Germany, but  the soldier is believed to have been on leave
in Britain. He was handed over to the military authorities. The special
investigations branch of the Royal Military Police has launched an inquiry.

A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokeswoman confirmed that an investigation was
under way into "allegations of photos depicting maltreatment of Iraqi PoWs
[prisoners of war]". She added: "We cannot comment further. But if there is
any truth  in these allegations the MoD is appalled. We take responsibility
to PoWs extremely seriously."

The human rights group Amnesty International welcomed the inquiry and
stressed that torture allegations must not be "swept under the carpet". A
spokeswoman, Lesley Warner, said: "If these allegations are true, then this
is clearly a violation of the Geneva Convention."
The allegations follow last week's disclosure that Colonel Tim Collins,  who
commanded the 1st Battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment, is being
investigated by military police after serious allegations of ill-treatment
of Iraqis made by an American soldier.

| Four soldiers are threatening to sue the MoD after claiming they were
given multiple vaccinations in a single day before the war against Iraq, a
policy that the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, explicitly recognised was
dangerous after the experience of the 1991 Gulf war.

The Guardian Weekly 20-3-0605, page 10