Report Criticises 'cowardly and violent' British Soldiers

So called western nations, involved in all of these issues this past decade plus, can no longer condemn others for these same actions, torture, renditions, secret prisons, inhumane treatment, violations of law on same, for we very publicly joined their ranks and supporters of have given a thumbs up to these treatments of our own by others and many continue to do so! The guilty are those at the top of the civilian ranks as well as the military command and control!

Baha Mousa report criticises 'cowardly and violent' British soldiers

Gage report cites 'loss of discipline and lack of moral courage' for death of Baha Mousa after 36 hours of detention in Basra

8 September 2011 - British soldiers inflicted "violent and cowardly" assaults on Iraqi civilians subjecting them to "gratuitous" kickings and beatings, an inquiry into the death of the detainee Baha Mousa has found.

In a devastating indictment of military culture, the retired appeal court judge Sir William Gage ruled that there was widespread ignorance of what was permitted in handling prisoners of war.



Although he did not suggest there had been a policy of systematic abuse towards Iraqi suspects, he deplored the absence of any "proper MoD doctrine on interrogation".

The report at the end of the two-year inquiry contains savage criticisms of individual soldiers and officers as well as damning descriptions of poor internal communications, "loss of discipline and a lack of moral courage".

Mousa, 26, a Basra hotel worker, died after spending 36 hours in detention in the custody of soldiers from the 1st Battalion Queen's Lancashire Regiment. He was found to have suffered from 93 external injuries.

Gage found that even senior commanders were ignorant of a ban imposed in 1972 on the use of five techniques, including hooding, stress positions and sleep deprivation.

The hooding, which was prohibited under the Geneva Convention, was "unjustified and wholly unacceptable".

"For almost the whole of the period up to Baha Mousa's death … the detainees were kept handcuffed, hooded and in stress positions in extreme heat and conditions of some squalor," the report said. read more>>>

The Report of the Baha Mousa Inquiry in three volumes of some 1400 pages.