History > 2006 > UK > Wars > Iraq (III)

Saddam judge's relative shot dead

September 29, 2006
From Times Online
By Jenny Percival and agencies

The brother-in-law of the new judge in Saddam Hussein's genocide trial was one of at least 15 people who were found dead today in a wave of violence around Baghdad.

Kadim Abdul-Hussein died when gunmen opened fire on his car in a predominately Sunni suburb of west Baghdad. His son, Karrar, was wounded.

It was not clear whether they were targeted because they were related to Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa, a Shia Muslim who has been presiding over the Saddam trial since last week, or if they had simply fallen foul of one of the many random sectarian attacks that have been plaguing Baghdad.

During Saddam’s first trial, three defence lawyers were killed, and in July, Saddam and three other defendants refused food to protest over lack of security for lawyers and the conduct of the trial.

Today's attack in the Ghazaliyah district came half an hour before the weekly ban on traffic in the capital, that has been instituted to try to prevent suicide bombings on the Muslim holy day.

Judge Al-Khalifa had been deputy to the original chief judge in the trial, Judge Abdullah al-Amiri, who was removed on accusations he was too soft on Saddam. Among other things, Judge al-Amiri had angered Kurdish politicians by declaring in court that Saddam was "not a dictator."

Saddam’s nine lawyers walked out of the trial on Monday to boycott the proceedings in protest of al-Amiri’s removal.

Judge Al-Khalifa later adjourned the trial until October 9, saying that he wanted to give the defendants time to persuade their original lawyers to end the boycott, or to confer with new attorneys.

Saddam and six co-defendants face genocide charges for their roles in a campaign against Kurdish rebels in the late 1980s. The defendants could face the death penalty if convicted.

The death of Mr Abdul-Hussein came as ten bodies with signs of torture were found around Baghdad, more apparent victims of the sectarian death squads that roam the capital, while at least four people died in scattered attacks.

The corpses of seven men and one woman were found in east Baghdad neighborhoods. They were blindfolded, and had their hands and legs bound, police said.

Two more corpses, riddled with bullets, their hands and legs bound, were fished out of the Tigris river in the afternoon in Suwayrah, 25 miles (40 km) south of Baghdad. The police said they also showed signs of torture.

US commanders say that since the start of the holy month of Ramadan, which Sunnis started observing last Saturday and Shias on Monday, there had been an increase in sectarian violence in Iraq, centred on the capital

In an Iraqi army and police joint operation in the city of Baqouba, 35 miles (60 km) northeast of Baghdad, three bodies were discovered in a house and weapons were found in a mosque, while a traffic policeman was killed and two civilians injured in a bombing attack in central Baghdad.

Insurgents used what is becoming an increasingly common technique - detonating one bomb to attract attention, then detonating a second bomb when people had come to look, causing the casualties.

    Saddam judge's relative shot dead, G, 29.9.2006, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article655185.ece

11am

Iraq situation is dire, Straw admits

Friday September 29, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Bonnie Malkin and agenices

The former foreign secretary Jack Straw has described the situation in Iraq as "dire", blaming mistakes made by the US for the escalating crisis.

Mr Straw - now the leader of the Commons - was foreign secretary at the time of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, and staunchly backed Tony Blair's decision to join the operation.

"The current situation is dire," he said on BBC1's Question Time last night. "I think many mistakes were made after the military action - there is no question about it - by the United States administration.

"Why? Because they failed to follow the lead of secretary [of state Colin] Powell. The state department had put in a huge amount of effort to ensure there was a proper civilian administration."

Mr Straw said he had previously expressed the view that the situation in Iraq was unsatisfactory. "I certainly said there were mistakes made," he added.

Although ministers and officials in both Washington and London have accepted that the situation in Iraq is difficult, Mr Straw's comments were unusually forthright.

They came as the death toll from sectarian violence continued to climb.

On Saturday, the start of the holy month of Ramadan, Sunni extremists killed at least 37 Shia Muslims, many of them women, in a bomb attack in the Sadr City area of eastern Baghdad.

Despite the new Iraqi government's pledge to crack down on the violence sweeping the country, bombings and kidnappings have become almost daily occurrences.

In the past two months, the death toll recorded by the UN has reached 6,500 - 100 fatalities a day - with the vast majority happening in Baghdad.

Speaking at the Labour conference earlier this week, Mr Blair said Britain should not retreat from its involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and should maintain its fight against international terrorism.

"If we retreat now, hand Iraq over to al-Qaida and sectarian death squads and Afghanistan back to al-Qaida and the Taliban, we won't be safer," he said. "We will be committing a craven act of surrender that will put our future security in the deepest peril."

A total of 118 British troops have died in Iraq since the conflict began.

    Iraq situation is dire, Straw admits, G, 29.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1883995,00.html

Take UK troops out of Iraq, senior military told ministers

Army chiefs wanted to move forces to Afghanistan but were prevented for political reasons

Friday September 29, 2006
Guardian
Richard Norton-Taylor

Senior military officers have been pressing the government to withdraw British troops from Iraq and concentrate on what they now regard as a more worthwhile and winnable battleground in Afghanistan.

They believe there is a limit to what British soldiers can achieve in southern Iraq and that it is time the Iraqis took responsibility for their own security, defence sources say. Pressure from military chiefs for an early and significant cut in the 7,500 British troops in Iraq is also motivated by extreme pressure being placed on soldiers and those responsible for training them.

"What is more important, Afghanistan or Iraq?" a senior defence source asked yesterday. "There is a group within the Ministry of Defence pushing hard to get troops out of Iraq to get more into Afghanistan."

Military chiefs have been losing patience with the slow progress made in building a new Iraqi national army and security services. Significantly, they now say the level of violence in the country will not be a factor determining when British troops should leave.

The debate has been raging between different groups in the MoD and has involved the chiefs of staff as well as the permanent joint headquarters, based in Northwood, north-west London, defence sources say. Army chiefs have expressed concern about opinion polls showing the increasing unpopularity of the war and the impact on morale and recruitment.

Political arguments, including strong US pressure against British troop withdrawals, have won, at least for the moment. US generals in Iraq privately made it clear they were deeply unhappy about British talk of troop reductions and complained that the British seemed interested only in the south of the country.

The debate within the MoD is unusual: arguments about the size and shape of the defence budget are common, but arguments about the merits of military deployments overseas are much rarer.

The fierce debate at the highest military and political levels in the MoD is reflected in a passage of a leaked memo written by a staff officer at the Defence Academy, an MoD thinktank. It reads: "British armed forces are effectively held hostage in Iraq - following the failure of the deal being attempted by COS [chief of staff] to extricate UK armed forces from Iraq on the basis of 'doing Afghanistan' - and we are now fighting (and arguably losing or potentially losing) on two fronts."

The MoD, which is downplaying the significance of the memo, said yesterday it was written by a naval commander, the equivalent of a lieutenant colonel in the army, and that it was reporting views from a variety of military sources.

Hopes for early and large cuts in the number of British troops deployed in southern Iraq have been dashed repeatedly. A year ago, the MoD predicted that the number of British troops there would have fallen by now to 3,000, fewer than half the current total.

Military commanders now accept that the number of British troops in southern Iraq will probably stay at their present level, at least until early next year. Major General Richard Shirreff, the new commander of British troops there, was determined to launch what may be the last major operation in Iraq by British troops. He launched Operation Sinbad, with Iraqi forces, in a move designed to rid Basra of serious criminals and corrupt officials. The operation, involving about 3,000 British troops, is expected to continue until February.

A significant cut in Britain's military presence in Iraq could coincide with the run-up to the election of a new British prime minister. "We can and will run both [Iraq and Afghanistan] - for a period of time," a defence official said last night.

The defence secretary, Des Browne, has recently stressed the importance the government attaches to Afghanistan and to beating the Taliban and a growing number of jihadists there. Speaking before a meeting of Nato defence ministers in Slovenia, he said yesterday Nato had to "step up to the plate to meet our collective commitment to support the government and people of Afghanistan". Britain has nearly 5,000 troops in the country.

The Nato ministers agreed on a plan to donate surplus military equipment to Afghanistan's armed forces but their offers of extra troops did not meet Nato commanders' target of 2,500, officials said.

    Take UK troops out of Iraq, senior military told ministers, G, 29.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1883784,00.html

4.30pm

4,000 fighters killed, 'al-Qaida in Iraq' tape claims

Thursday September 28, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

The new leader of al-Qaida in Iraq has admitted that more than 4,000 foreign fighters have been killed in the country since the US-led invasion in 2003, according to an internet recording.

Speaking on the audio recording, posted on an Islamist website, a voice purported to be that of Abu Hamza al-Muhajir - also known as Abu Ayyub al-Masri - says: "We have spilled the blood in Iraq of more than 4,000 foreigners who came to fight."

The Arabic word he uses indicates he is speaking about foreigners who joined the insurgency in Iraq, not coalition troops.

It is believed to be the first major statement from insurgents in Iraq about their losses.

Masri succeeded Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq after Zarqawi died in a US air strike north of Baghdad in June.

In the recording, which has not been verified as authentic, the voice thought to be Masri's urges Muslims to make the holy month of Ramadan a "month of holy war". Ramadan began last weekend.

"I congratulate the Muslim nation on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, the month of jihad (holy war). I ask God to make it a month for honour and victory for Muslims," the voice says.

It also encourages Masri's followers to kidnap westerners who could be used to bargain for the freedom of Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman. The cleric is being held over links to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre in New York.

"I call on every holy fighter in Iraq to strive during this holy month ... to capture some dogs of the Christians so that we can liberate our imprisoned sheikh," it says. The voice goes on to offer a "general amnesty" to Iraqis who have cooperated with US-led forces or fled the country.

"As for those who supported the occupiers and their agents, becoming their eyes and ears, and who betrayed their religion, honour and land for material or social gains ... I declare a general amnesty during this month of generosity and forgiveness," the speaker says.

"We waive the right to [avenge] the blood that was shed by your hands and your betrayal," he says.

A US intelligence official in Washington said American authorities had expected a Ramadan message from the group.

"They wanted to get something out to continue shoring up their position, to show al-Qaida's still engaged and leading this after Zarqawi's death," he told Reuters.

    4,000 fighters killed, 'al-Qaida in Iraq' tape claims, G, 28.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1883341,00.html

Iraq war was terrorism 'recruiting sergeant'

· Study for MoD criticises Afghanistan involvement
· Pakistan army said to be indirectly aiding Taliban

Thursday September 28, 2006
Guardian
Richard Norton-Taylor

The Iraq war has acted as a "recruiting sergeant" for extremists in the Muslim world, according to a paper prepared for a Ministry of Defence thinktank, which also said the British government sent troops into Afghanistan "with its eyes closed".

The paper, which describes the west as being "in a fix" and includes a savage attack on Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, was written by an officer attached to the Defence Academy, according to BBC2's Newsnight programme. Its release provoked a furious response from the Pakistani president, Pervez Musharraf, who has been touring the US.

The MoD was quick to play down the significance of the report. However, the study reflects what the MoD, military commanders, and the Foreign Office, have been saying in private. What is embarrassing is the timing of the leak, a day after Tony Blair's defence of Britain's military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. The research paper blamed the ISI for indirectly supporting terrorism and extremism.

It adds: "The war in Iraq ... has acted as a recruiting sergeant for extremists across the Muslim world ... Iraq has served to radicalise an already disillusioned youth and al-Qaida has given them the will, intent, purpose and ideology to act."

On Afghanistan, the paper said Britain went in "with its eyes closed". It claims that a secret deal to extricate UK troops from Iraq so they could focus on Afghanistan failed when British military leaders were overruled.

The paper also accuses the Pakistan army of indirectly supporting the Taliban by backing Pakistan's religious parties.

General Musharraf told Newsnight: "I totally, 200%, reject it. I reject it from anybody - MoD or anyone who tells me to dismantle ISI. ISI is a disciplined force, breaking the back of al-Qaida. Getting [arresting] 680 people would not have been possible if our ISI was not doing an excellent job."

The BBC claimed the author of the academic paper, based on research carried out in Pakistan less than three months ago, was "linked" to MI6.

An MoD spokeswoman said last night: "The academic research notes quoted in no way represent the views of the MoD or the government. To represent it as such is deeply irresponsible and the author is furious that his notes have been wilfully misrepresented in this manner. He suspects they have been released to the BBC precisely in the hope they would cause damage to our relations with Pakistan.

"Pakistan is a key ally in our efforts to combat international terrorism and her security forces have made considerable sacrifices in tackling al-Qaida and the Taliban. We are working closely with Pakistan to tackle the root causes of terrorism and extremism."

It is not the first time during his current tour that Gen Musharraf - who is also promoting his memoirs- has attracted controversy. This week, while in the US to meet President George Bush, he told an American television programme that former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage had told his intelligence chief that Pakistan would be bombed "back to the stone age" if it failed to help the US track down and punish those responsible for the September 11 attacks.

The US government was quick to deny the allegation, which some claimed would damage Pakistan's international standing.

Asad Durrani, former head of the ISI, told the Reuters news agency: "Such remarks may well sell your book, but it creates more controversies."

The Pakistan connection

Western governments and their intelligence services have argued that Pakistan occupies a central position in the war on terror. The publication earlier this year of the first official accounts by police and security services of the events surrounding the July 7 bombings in London suggested the British bombers may have been radicalised, at least in part, in that country.

Mohammed Sidique Khan, the ringleader of the London attacks, in 2003 visited Pakistan and possibly Afghanistan where he is believed to have had training and met al-Qaida contacts.

Planning for the attack is thought to have begun shortly after a return visit with the second bomber, Shehzad Tanweer, between November 2004 and February 2005.

Pakistani officials have repeatedly insisted that the July 7 bombers were radicalised in the UK and not in Pakistan, in response to suggestions that they may have received training from extremists in the country. But the suggestion of ties between Pakistan and terror cells in this country have continued nonetheless.

Last week the Old Bailey trial of an alleged British al-Qaida cell was halted temporarily after one of the defendants refused to carry on giving evidence, claiming the Pakistani secret service had threatened his family. Omar Khyam, 24, who is accused along with six other men of plotting a UK bombing campaign using fertiliser-based explosives, refused to answer questions from his defence barrister. Earlier in the trial he had given evidence about a training camp in Pakistan where he claimed the ISI intelligence agency gave lessons in handling explosives.

His comments were the latest in a number of reports pointing to the existence of extremist groups in the country.

Alex Kumi

    Iraq war was terrorism 'recruiting sergeant', G, 28.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1882713,00.html

'They were celebrating beating us. They were behaving like criminals'

· Iraqi says British troops relished beating captives
· Soldiers were as bad as Saddam, court martial told

Wednesday September 27, 2006
Guardian
Steven Morris

An Iraqi hotel owner told a court martial yesterday that British soldiers relished beating him, making bets on whether they could knock him to the ground and laughing when he complained.

Ahmad Taha Musa al-Matairi said soldiers at a detention centre in Basra, southern Iraq, took turns to punch and kick him and his fellow civilian prisoners. "They were celebrating beating us. It was like Christmas," he said.

Mr Matairi said he had welcomed the British forces to Basra with flowers because he hated Saddam Hussein's regime. But after being beaten "continuously" over a 36-hour period, he concluded they were no different from the former leader.

Four British soldiers are accused of abusing Iraqi prisoners and three officers are charged with failing to make sure the detainees were not ill-treated. One of the detainees, hotel receptionist Baha Mousa, died after being allegedly beaten at the detention centre in September 2003.

Mr Matairi is the first of the Iraqi civilians to give evidence. He said he had gone to the hotel in Basra after his brother phoned to say it had been raided by soldiers. When he arrived, it was surrounded by tanks and the hotel workers were lying on the floor of the reception area. He was also ordered to lie down and a soldier began kicking him in the head, he said.

Mr Matairi said he had glanced up at one point and seen the soldiers loading the hotel's money into sacks. A little later he and the hotel workers were taken to a lavatory and deliberately splashed with water from the toilet bowl.

"It was really dirty," he said. "I welcomed the British soldiers with flowers. I put flowers in my children's hands and welcomed the British soldiers because of Saddam's wrongdoing. So it was hard to do that to me. I could not believe that. They were behaving like criminals."

Mr Matairi said he and the workers were taken to a British camp, which had previously been used by Saddam's intelligence officers. He was hooded with two sacks and was struggling to breathe, he said. Speaking through an Arabic interpreter, Mr Matairi said the detainees had been "continuously" beaten. "They started to kick us on the face, on other parts of the body. They did not tell us why." At one point he was beaten with a stick, at another hit with "karate blows".

The court martial has been told they were held in a painful "stress position" banned by the British army. "They would order us to sit; we would sit. They would order us to stand; we would stand. Stretch your hands out; we would do that."

Julian Bevan QC, prosecuting, asked Mr Matairi what would have happened if he had disobeyed. "It could be what happened to Baha Mousa," the witness replied. He told his fellow detainees to do exactly what they were told to do - "or we would be killed". Mr Matairi said the soldiers began to make bets on whether they could make him fall over. "They hit me in the kidneys and I fell down. They started to shout as if to say they had succeeded. We had done nothing to cause that."

He said that on the first evening of his captivity he had been taken to another building and interrogated. The hearing has heard that the detainees were initially suspected of being insurgents.

Mr Matairi was asked about the death of Baha Mousa. The court martial has been told that he died after suffering 93 injuries. Mr Matairi said he heard Baha Mousa shout: "My children will become orphans ... my children, my children. I'm going to die; blood, blood." Mr Matairi was also asked about a cache of weapons found at the hotel. He said Iraqi civilians had to keep weapons to protect themselves from attack. The hearing continues.

    'They were celebrating beating us. They were behaving like criminals', G, 27.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1881805,00.html

5pm

Torture in Iraq 'worse than under Saddam'

Thursday September 21, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

Torture in Iraq is worse now than it was under the regime of Saddam Hussein and "is totally out of hand", according to a United Nations investigator.

"The situation is so bad many people say it is worse than it has been in the times of Saddam Hussein," said Manfred Nowak, a UN special investigator on torture, at a press conference in Geneva.

He said government forces, private militia and terrorist groups were all involved.

"You have terrorist groups, you have the military, you have police, you have these militias. There are so many people who are actually abducted, seriously tortured and finally killed," said Mr Nowak, an Austrian law professor.

"It's not just torture by the government. There are much more brutal methods of torture you'll find by private militias."

Mr Nowak also said that bodies were being discovered with very heavy and very serious torture marks.

He said a mission to Iraq to investigate torture was too dangerous, but he had gathered information from interviews with people in Amman, Jordan, and other sources.

Mr Nowak is in Geneva to brief the UN Human Rights council - a body that addresses human rights violations - on the situation of the United States detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.

He is one of five UN human rights investigators who in February called for the closure of the camp on the grounds it was a "torture camp". The calls were rejected by the US.

Mr Nowak's comments come a day after the human rights office of the UN assistance mission for Iraq (Unami) raised concerns about the violence gripping the country. It said that 6,599 civilians had died in July and August.

Unami cited increasing evidence of violent torture, a growth in the numbers of death squads, and a rise in the honour killings of women and girls.

"Corpses appear regularly in and around Baghdad and other areas. Most bear signs of torture and appear to be victims of extrajudicial executions," said the report.

    Torture in Iraq 'worse than under Saddam', G, 21.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1878099,00.html

3pm

Soldiers suspected abuse victims over red cap killings

Thursday September 21, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Press Association

British soldiers who allegedly abused nine Iraqi detainees suspected the Iraqis were linked to the murders of six Royal Military police officers three months earlier, a court was told today.

Seven British soldiers are standing trial on charges relating to the alleged abuse of the civilian detainees following their arrest in a tactical swoop in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003. One of the prisoners, Baha Mousa, 26, died.

The prosecutor, Julian Bevan, QC, today outlined various factors that may have led to increased hostility between the soldiers of the then Queen's Lancashire Regiment (now the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment), and their detainees.

He told the court martial at Bulford Camp, Wiltshire, that the Iraqis were suspected to have been involved with the murder of six red caps in the town of al-Majar al-Kabir in Maysan province in June 2003.

The military police officers died in a hail of bullets after becoming caught in a demonstration by an angry crowd of some 500 Iraqis outside a police station.

Today Mr Bevan said that the "general feelings of hostility and enmity" felt by soldiers in Basra, who were facing a daily risk of death from insurgent attack, would have been heightened by suspicions about the detainees having a role in the Red Caps' deaths.

He said one of the accused, Major Michael Peebles, 35, of the Intelligence Corps, described the detainees as "suspected terrorists".

Another factor serving to increase the tension was the murder of Captain Dai Jones, a much-loved officer of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, Mr Bevan told the court. In August 2003, a month before the Iraqi civilians' alleged ordeal, Capt Jones had been murdered by insurgents in a bombing incident.

Mr Bevan said all these things would have "contributed to the tension and increase the enmity/hostility". Corporal Donald Payne, 35, admitted treating Iraqi prisoners inhumanely at the start of the trial on Monday. Cpl Payne denies two further charges, manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

The corporal's six co-defendants all plead not guilty to the charges facing them.

Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, 22, of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, denies a charge of inhumane treatment, as does Private Darren Fallon, 23, of the same regiment.

All other matters faced by Cpl Payne and his six co-defendants are alleged offences under the British Army Act 1955.

Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, 29, of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, is accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm with an alternative count of common assault.

Major Michael Peebles, 35, and Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 37, both of the Intelligence Corps, each face a charge of negligently performing a duty.

Colonel Jorge Mendonca MBE, 42, former commander of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, is the most senior UK serviceman yet to face a court martial. He is also accused of negligently performing a duty.

The trial continues.

    Soldiers suspected abuse victims over red cap killings, G, 21.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1877981,00.html

Court martial hears of corporal's 'choir' of screaming Iraqi prisoners

· Soldier hit detainees to 'conduct' groans, QC says
· Hooded civilians forced to hold illegal stress position

Thursday September 21, 2006
Guardian
Steven Morris

An army corporal conducted what he called "the choir" by hitting and kicking Iraqi prisoners to elicit a range of groans and screams, a court martial heard yesterday. Corporal Donald Payne took pleasure in making the civilians being held at a detention centre in southern Iraq suffer and "plainly enjoyed" showing off his "choir" to visitors, it was claimed.

The court martial was shown a video of Cpl Payne hurling abuse at hooded prisoners and forcing them to maintain a stress position which has been banned in the British forces for more than 30 years.

The judge refused to allow the video to be released for fear that it could provoke revenge attacks against British troops.

Earlier this week Cpl Payne, 35, became the first British soldier to be convicted of a war crime - the inhuman treatment of Iraqi civilians being held in Basra. However, he denies killing one of the civilians, hotel receptionist Baha Mousa.

The corporal is being tried with six others at a military court at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire. Some are accused of involvement in the "systematic abuse" of detainees, while officers, including the most senior brought before a court martial in modern times, Colonel Jorge Mendonca, allegedly did nothing to stop the torment.

Julian Bevan QC, prosecuting, said Cpl Payne was a regimental police officer who was in charge of prisoners arrested after a raid on a hotel suspected of being an insurgents' base in September 2003.

Mr Bevan claimed Cpl Payne, of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, had conducted what he called "the choir" for the "enjoyment and pleasure" of visitors. "The choir consisted of Cpl Payne systematically assaulting each of the civilians in turn by hitting them in the stomach or body causing each one to shriek or groan in pain."

Mr Bevan said the choir was conducted on a "pretty regular basis" during the 36 hours the men were held. "It is the very openness that is frankly astonishing - no effort being made to hush it up."

Mr Bevan said the video footage seized by investigators was taken by another soldier as a keepsake. It showed Cpl Payne striding around shouting abuse at prisoners who slipped from the stress position - backs to the wall, knees bent, arms stretched parallel to the floor and hands cuffed in front of them - which was outlawed in 1972.

Two of the other accused, Kingsman Darren Fallon and Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, also allegedly took part in the "choir" sessions.

In November last year L/Cpl Crowcroft was in a bar in Cyprus with other soldiers and expressed concern about the court martial. He was told he had nothing to worry about if he had not done anything wrong but allegedly said: "We all kicked him to death." Mr Bevan said he must have been referring to Baha Mousa, 26, the receptionist who died.

Baha Mousa was the most troublesome of the prisoners because he was able to slip out of his handcuffs and remove his hood, the hearing was told. He was singled out for beatings and held in a toilet.

On Monday, almost 36 hours after he had been captured, Cpl Payne spotted him without his handcuffs and thought he was trying to escape. He allegedly pinned him to the floor with his knee in his back, grabbed his head and banged it against the wall.

Baha Mousa slumped against a wall and stopped breathing. Medical help was called for but he could not be saved. He was found to have suffered 93 injuries including fractured ribs and a broken nose. He had also suffered asphyxia.

Cpl Payne denies manslaughter and intending to pervert the course of justice by telling colleagues to say that Baha Mousa died after accidentally hitting his head. L/Cpl Crowcroft, 22, and Kingsman Fallon, 23, deny inhuman treatment of civilians, a war crime under the International Criminal Court Act 2001. Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, 29, denies assault causing actual bodily harm. Col Mendonca, 42, Major Michael Peebles, 35, and Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 37, deny failing to ensure the civilians were not ill-treated.

The court martial continues.

Video ban

Mr Justice McKinnon banned the release of the video which shows Cpl Payne allegedly abusing prisoners on the grounds that it could fuel hostility against British troops. The media asked for the video to be released but Julian Bevan, prosecuting, argued there was a risk that if it was shown by the media "it would fuel hostility and anger against our soldiers in Iraq".

There was also a risk that journalists and "even the prime minister" would comment on it. Last year Tony Blair condemned images shown during a court martial of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British soldiers at another camp in Basra.

Mr Bevan said: "Any risk of prejudice from public comment, especially politicians, is not something to be welcomed." Mr Justice McKinnon has already ruled images of the soldiers' faces cannot be shown for fear they could be targeted by extremists.

    Court martial hears of corporal's 'choir' of screaming Iraqi prisoners, G, 21.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1877135,00.html

Saddam's legal team walk out as judge is sacked

September 21, 2006
From The Times
By Ned Parker

SADDAM HUSSEIN was thrown out of court yesterday as he rebelled against the Iraqi Government’s decision to sack the chief judge at his trial on charges of genocide.

When the court opened, the defence team for Saddam and his six co-defendants walked out in protest over Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s decision late on Tuesday to fire Chief Judge Abdullah al-Ameri, who some Shia and Kurdish politicians believed was showing leniency to the former President.

When Muhammad Oreibi al-Khalifa, Mr Amiri’s replacement, ordered court-appointed defence lawyers to proceed, Saddam bolted from his chair and complained about the switch.

“You do not have the right to speak,” the chief judge said firmly.

Then the exchange became quite heated between and Saddam pointed his finger in the air and banged the podium and shouted: “You should listen to my opinion!”

The judge jabbed toward Saddam and yelled: “I am the presiding judge and I will decide who to listen to”

“The court decides to remove Saddam Hussein from the court room,” Mr Khalifa shouted. Saddam yelled back: “Your father was in the security [forces] and he went on working as a sergeant in the security until the fall of Baghdad in 2003.”

Mr al-Khalifa answered: “I challenge you in front of the public if this is the case.”

The decision to replace Mr al-Amiri dismayed legal experts, who fear that the move could compromise the court’s reputation for fairness.

    Saddam's legal team walk out as judge is sacked, 21.9.2006, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article646065.ece

Saddam thrown out of court by new judge in genocide trial

September 20, 2006
From Times Online
By Devika Bhat and agencies

Saddam Hussein was today thrown out of court by the new chief judge in his genocide trial.

Mohammed al-Ureybi, a Shia who was deputy presiding judge, took over this morning as the new chief judge in the Baghdad trial after the government yesterday sacked Abdullah al-Ameri, also a Shia, for alleged bias in favour of Saddam who he had declared was "not a dictator".

During a particularly stormy hearing today, the former Iraqi dictator refused to sit down in protest against the appointment of the new judge, and was ordered to leave the court.

Before being escorted out by guards, Saddam Hussein told his fellow defendants: "You should leave too."

He also accused the judge of being the son of a government spy under his regime.

"Your father was a security agent!" he said. "I knew him. He had an operation here," he added, gesturing at his own abdomen.

"I challenge you to prove that to the public," responded the judge dismissively as guards led the ex-leader from the courtroom.

Another high-profile defendant, Ali Hassan al-Majid, also known as "Chemical Ali", also asked to leave the court, but the judge ordered him to stay.

Soon afterwards all the defence lawyers also left, protesting against Mr al-Ameri’s dismissal, saying that they would not continue proceedings until the government pledged not to interfere.

"We want to say that the government is interfering in the trial. We cannot continue with our work fairly," Wudud Fawzi said, reading a statement on behalf of the defence lawyers.

"We decided to withdraw from the trial for the above reasons, we want no inference with the trial from the government and we will not return until this condition is met."

The trial, which is taking place in the city’s high-security Green Zone, relates to Saddam's Anfal campaign against Kurds in the late 1980s.

Saddam Hussein and six of his colleagues are accused of spearheading a military campaign in 1987-1988 that killed 182,000 people. They face several charges including genocide and face the death penalty if found guilty.

The Government said that in deciding to sack the previous judge, it had taken into consideration "a big uprising from the people, who feel that there is no longer any neutrality for the victims".

A spokesman added that the law that established the Iraqi High Tribunal empowered the cabinet to remove and replace any of judges if it was felt they were not meeting their duty sufficiently.

    Saddam thrown out of court by new judge in genocide trial, Ts, 20.9.2006, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article645232.ece

British soldier admits war crime as court martial told of Iraqi civilian's brutal death

· 'Systematic' abuse meted out at detention centre
· Commanding officer denies neglecting duty

Wednesday September 20, 2006
Guardian
Steven Morris

A corporal in the Duke of Lancaster's regiment became the first British soldier ever to be convicted of a war crime yesterday as a court martial heard that he and his colleagues systematically abused prisoners at a detention centre in southern Iraq.

One civilian was killed and others tormented brutally while officers, including the most senior to be brought before a court martial in modern times, did nothing to stop the abuse, it was claimed.

Corporal Donald Payne, 35, pleaded guilty to the charge at the start of a court martial involving seven British soldiers. But Cpl Payne denied manslaughter and intending to pervert the course of justice. Six others have pleaded not guilty to charges relating to the death of Baha Mousa, 26, a hotel receptionist being held in custody in Basra in 2003.

The historic court martial heard that the prisoners were forced to maintain a "stress position" - backs against a wall, arms stretched out in front - which has been banned by the British army for more than 30 years. If they dropped their arms they were beaten, it was alleged.

One prisoner alleged he was threatened with lighted petrol and another said he was forced to urinate into a bottle which was then tipped over him.

The violence culminated with the killing of Baha Mousa, who died after being so badly beaten that he suffered 93 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken nose, the hearing was told.

Opening the court martial, Julian Bevan QC, said: "We are not dealing with robust or rough handling, which is bound to happen in the theatre that existed in Iraq, but something far more serious.

"We are dealing with systematic abuse against prisoners involving unacceptable violence against persons who were detained in custody, hooded and handcuffed and wholly unable to protect themselves over a very long period of time."

Mr Bevan said what happened was "only made possible by the negligence of three people" - the commanding officer, Colonel Jorge Mendonca, Major Michael Peebles, the battle group internment review officer, and Warrant Officer Mark Davies, in charge of tactical questioning.

The incident began at 6am on September 14 2003 when members of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment raided hotels in Basra which they believed were being used by insurgents. In one they found ammunition, grenades, bayonets, a sniper scope, timers, forged identity documents and a large amount of money.

A number of people, including the receptionist, Baha Mousa, were arrested, handcuffed and driven to the battle group's headquarters.

Mr Bevan claimed that over 36 hours from the Sunday morning to Monday evening they were badly mistreated. "They were repeatedly beaten when handcuffed and hooded with hessian sacks, deprived of sleep, continually shouted at and generally abused."

Baha Mousa died on the Monday. Another suffered such serious kidney injuries that he had renal failure and almost died.

In immediate charge of the Iraqis was Cpl Payne. According to Mr Bevan, he was "largely responsible for meting out the inhuman treatment". But others also took part. "Some of them, it seems, just did it for fun or feelings of hostility."

In temperatures which soared to almost 60C, the detainees were kept in the stress position. "No one can maintain that position for long without suffering pain and stress," said Mr Bevan. If they dropped their arms they were punched and kicked and shouted at. They were kept awake by being shouted at or having an iron bar banged next to them, the court was told. Some were also struck with the iron bar.

Cpl Payne denies manslaughter and intending to pervert the course of justice by telling colleagues to say that Baha Mousa had died accidentally after banging his head. But he admitted inhumanly treating Iraqi civilians - a war crime under the International Criminal Court (ICC) Act 2001. Col Mendonca, Maj Peebles and WO Davies denied negligently performing a duty by not ensuring that the prisoners were not ill-treated.

But Mr Bevan said the detention centre was only 60 metres from the main operational and living quarters. "The close proximity is highly relevant when you come to consider how openly these Iraqis were abused and how the shouting, bawling, screaming from that facility must have been heard by numerous soldiers and officers in that camp and yet no one appears to have raised it as a concern."

Two others, Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, and Kingsman Darren Fallon, denied a joint charge under the ICC Act of inhumanly treating Iraqi civilians. Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, pleaded not guilty to assault causing actual bodily harm.

The court martial, held at the military court centre at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire, is expected to last for up to 16 weeks.

Legal history was also made when the judge, Mr Justice McKinnon, ruled that images of the soldiers' faces could not be shown for fear that they could become terrorist targets. Nor can their addresses be given in even the vaguest terms.

The charges

All soldiers from the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment (formerly the Queen's Lancashire Regiment) unless stated otherwise


Corporal Donald Payne, 35 Manslaughter of Baha Musa, inhuman treatment of Iraqi civilians, a war crime under the International Criminal Court Act 2001, intending to pervert the course of justice

Colonel Jorge Mendonca MBE, 42 Negligently performing a duty by failing to take such steps ... to ensure Iraqi civilians being held ... under his command were not ill-treated

Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, 22 Inhuman treatment of Iraqi civilians under the ICC Act

Kingsman Darren Fallon, 23 Inhuman treatment of Iraqi civilians under the ICC Act

Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, 29 Assault causing actual bodily harm, alternatively common assault

Major Michael Peebles, 35 Intelligence Corps Negligently performing a duty by failing to ensure that miliary personnel under his effective control did not ill-treat Iraqi civilians

Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 37, Miliary Intelligence Section

Neglecting to perform a duty by failing to take steps to ensure that Iraqi civilians were not ill-treated.

All men pleaded not guilty to all charges save that Cpl Payne admitted inhuman treatment of Iraqi civilians

    British soldier admits war crime as court martial told of Iraqi civilian's brutal death, G, 20.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1876432,00.html

5pm update

British soldier admits war crime

Tuesday September 19, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies

A corporal today became the first member of the British armed forces to admit a war crime in court when he pleaded guilty to inhumanely treating civilians detained in Iraq.

Corporal Donald Payne is one of seven British troops who went on trial today facing charges linked to the death of an Iraqi civilian who was in British custody and to the alleged ill-treatment of other detainees.

The charges against all the defendants - which include two officers - relate to the death of Baha Musa, 26, an Iraqi civilian, in Basra, southern Iraq, in September 2003.

The opening of today's court martial at Bulford Camp on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, marks the first time British service personnel have been prosecuted for war crimes under the International Criminal Court Act 2001.

Opening its case, the prosecution said detainees were repeatedly kicked and beaten, and that doctors carrying out a post-mortem on Musa's body discovered 93 injuries.

Cpl Payne, 35, formerly of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment now of the renamed Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, admitted inhumanely treating civilians but pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and perverting the course of justice.

His six co-defendants pleaded not guilty to all the charges facing them.

Julian Bevan QC, prosecuting, said the case against the seven defendants centred upon the alleged ill-treatment received by Iraqi civilians held for a period of about 36 hours at a temporary detention facility in Basra between September 14 and 15, 2003.

Mr Bevan said the detainees were repeatedly beaten, kicked and punched while handcuffed and hooded with sacks; made to maintain a stress position for unacceptable lengths of time; deprived of sleep; continually shouted at; and "generally abused in temperatures rising to almost 60C".

"One civilian, Baha Musa, died as a result, in part from the multiple injuries he had received - there being no less than 93 injuries on his body at the post-mortem stage, including fractured ribs and a broken nose," Mr Bevan told a seven-man judging panel.

Another detainee suffered such serious kidney injuries that resulted in renal failure which could have killed him but for medical intervention, the prosecutor said. He said another detainee also suffered serious kidney problems which, when examined, were found to be caused by injuries consistent with being punched and kicked.

"In short, it is the crown's case that these Iraqi civilians were treated inhumanely," Mr Bevan said. "We are not dealing in this case with robust or rough handling, which is bound to happen in the theatre that existed in Iraq, but something far more serious.

"We are not dealing with the actions of a soldier or soldiers in the heat of the moment whilst on patrol in a hostile environment whose conduct is questionable.

"We are dealing with systematic abuse against prisoners involving unacceptable violence against persons who were detained in custody, hooded and cuffed, and wholly unable to protect themselves over a very long period of time."

The court heard that following Musa's death, Cpl Payne attempted to pervert the course of justice by telling those who had witnessed him beating Musa not to speak about it to those who were going to investigate.

Of Cpl Payne, Mr Bevan said that, despite his admission of inhumane treatment, "his behaviour went some way beyond what he admits". "Before he [Musa] died, he had removed his handcuffs, and it was believed by Cpl Payne that he was trying to escape," the prosecutor told the court. "Certain measures were taken by Cpl Payne."

Aside from Cpl Payne, another two of the defendants face war crimes charges. Lance Corporal Wayne Crowcroft, 22, and Private Darren Fallon, 23, both of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, both deny a charge of inhumane treatment, which is a war crime under the International Criminal Court Act .

All the other charges faced by Cpl Payne and the six co-defendants are alleged offences under the British Army Act 1955.

Sergeant Kelvin Stacey, 29, of the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment, is accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm with an alternative count of common assault.

Major Michael Peebles, 35, and Warrant Officer Mark Davies, 37, both of the Intelligence Corps, each face a charge of negligently performing a duty.

Colonel Jorge Mendonca, 42, formerly the commander of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment - as it was known before its merger to become the Duke of Lancaster's Regiment - is also accused of negligently performing a duty.

The "negligently performing a duty" charge, faced by three of the men, relates to an alleged failure to take reasonable steps to ensure that military personnel under the officers' control did not mistreat Iraqi civilians being detained.

Mr Bevan said the "sheer openness" with which the detainees were inhumanely treated indicated that there was a failure of more senior officers in their duty to protect their prisoners.

Mr Justice McKinnon, a high court judge sitting in the role of judge advocate, is presiding over the proceedings.

The trial, which has been listed for 16 weeks, continues.

    British soldier admits war crime, G, 19.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1876151,00.html

2.30pm

British soldier dies after Iraq shooting

Friday September 8, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Press Association

A British soldier has died from injuries sustained in a shooting incident in Iraq, the Ministry of Defence said today.

The soldier, who was serving in 58 Battery, 12 Regiment Royal Artillery, was injured when his patrol came under fire in Al Qurna, north of the southern city of Basra, on Tuesday.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said he died yesterday despite the efforts of medical staff to save him.

"Sadly, the MoD must confirm that a soldier from 58 Battery of 12 Regiment Royal Artillery died yesterday from injuries sustained in a shooting incident in the town of Al Qurna, Iraq, on Tuesday.

"His injuries were so serious that, despite the best treatment available, the medical team involved were unable to save him.

"Our condolences are with his family and friends. No further details will be released until the family's wishes have been established."

The soldier, whose name has not yet been released, is the 118th member of the British armed forces to die while serving in Iraq since the start of the conflict in March 2003.

He was in the same unit as two men killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq on Monday.

Gunners Samuela Vanua, 27, and Stephen Wright, 20, died in the bombing near the town of Ad Dayr, north of Basra. They were returning to base in a Land Rover after training Iraqi police officers.

Two other soldiers were seriously injured in the attack. Of the two soldiers that died, Mr Wright, from Leyland, Lancashire, was sent to Iraq in April this year - a month before his 20th birthday.

Mr Vanua, known as "Sammy", was Fijian and had joined the army in 2002.

The 58 (Eyre's) Battery Royal Artillery, which is normally based in Sennelager, Germany, is part of the Danish-led Basra rural north battle group. It is four months into a six-and-a-half-month tour of Iraq.

It has been a bloody start to September for British forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

A total of 22 members of the British armed forces have died in both countries since the beginning of the month: 19 in Afghanistan and three in Iraq.

    British soldier dies after Iraq shooting, G, 8.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1868147,00.html

Medals for acts of valour in Afghanistan and Iraq

Friday September 8, 2006
Richard Norton-Taylor
Guardian

A Harrier pilot who dive-bombed fighters attacking allied troops in Afghanistan, a soldier who took a "long walk" through an Iraqi crowd to defuse a bomb, and another who joked as he rescued a British foot patrol are among 64 military personnel honoured today.

Wing Commander Martin Sampson, described as a "fearless and courageous airborne warrior", has been awarded the Distinguished Service Order for action in southern Afghanistan. His citation says that in April 2006, his squadron was scrambled to help troops coming under extremely heavy fire. After the squadron attacked one target, the radios and weapons systems of other Harriers failed.

As panic began to set in and the troops' position became desperate, "at low level and again in the face of heavy enemy gunfire, he received a broken message to drop all his rockets on to a different aim point", the citation says."Unflustered, he readjusted his aim and neutralised the target."

Wing Cdr Sampson flew more than 100 missions in 12 months in Afghanistan.

Captain Kevin Ivison of the Royal Logistic Corps is awarded the George Medal for risking his life to defuse a bomb after an explosive device killed two of his colleagues in Amara, southern Iraq, in February 2006.

"An angry crowd of Iraqis had gathered and disabling the device was necessary to protect them and to allow casualties to be removed," his citation says. "Without a robot to defuse it", it adds, Capt Ivison "took the decision to approach and disable the bomb himself. He realised the device was highly likely to detonate and kill him, and that terrorist snipers may still be in the vicinity. [He] set off past the casualties on the 'long walk' to the device" before detonating it from a safe distance.

Sergeant James Newell is awarded a Military Cross for his bravery in rescuing foot patrols which came under fire in Samawah, Iraq, in January 2006. He saved the lives of his colleagues from 2 Para and the Iraqi police service as they came under small arms and grenade attack. He twice drove into the heart of the firefight to extract foot patrols which had become pinned down by enemy fire. He told them: "Come on! ... Don't take all day!"

Corporal Trevor Coult of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, was awarded the Military Cross for his actions during an ambush involving suicide bombers in Baghdad last year. Others honoured include Fusilier Daniel Smith, who receives the George Medal for rescuing colleagues from a burning vehicle in Iraq.

The Ministry of Defence last night named two of the three soldiers who died in Afghanistan on Wednesday. It said that Corporal Mark William Wright, 27, of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, had died in Helmand province while trying to save the life of a comrade injured in a mine explosion. Lance Corporal Paul Muirhead, 29, of the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, died on the same day from injuries suffered in a Taliban attack on his base last Friday.

    Medals for acts of valour in Afghanistan and Iraq, G, 8.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1867540,00.html

Another fatal day in the 'war on terror'

Patrick Cockburn, the award-winning journalist and author, has reported extensively from Iraq, Afghanistan and Jordan. Here, he explains how the 'war on terror' has fuelled resentment of the West and brought new levels of death and destruction

Published: 05 September 2006
The Independent

Yesterday was another black day in the "war on terror". Across the Middle East, wave upon wave of violence engulfed the region and paid testament to the new, bloody reality five years on from 11 September.

The focus of some of the violence yesterday, the victims of attacks in Iraq, in Afghanistan and in Jordan, were Britons. Be they military or civilian, British citizens are increasingly at risk everywhere in the area because Britain is seen as the closest political and military ally of the US.

A group of tourists were looking at the remains of a Roman amphitheatre in the heart of Amman, the capital of Jordan, yesterday morning when a lone gunman approached them, shouting "Allahu Akbar" - " God is Great" - and opening fire. One Briton was killed and six other people, including two UK nationals, were wounded. A Jordanian man was arrested for the shooting. Hundreds of miles away across the great stony desert dividing Jordan from Iraq, a British military unit came under attack at Ad Diyar, north of Basra. A roadside bomb tore apart their vehicle, killing two British soldiers and severely wounding a third. The deaths bring the total number of British dead in Iraq to 117. Still further east in Kabul, Afghanistan, a suicide bomber in a car blew himself up beside a British convoy, killing one British soldier and wounding three others, one of them seriously. Four Afghans were also killed.

It may be egocentric to write only of British dead. They are but a small percentage of the casualties in the multiple crises which are now cross-infecting each other in the Middle East.

Abdul Rahman Imran, a Palestinian I met in Nablus in the West Bank yesterday, spoke with anger of the plight of his people while the world looks away. In July and August, 251 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli army. Half of them were civilians, including women, children and the elderly, the Israeli daily Haaretz said.

It may soon become uncommon for a day to pass without a Briton, soldier or tourist, to be killed somewhere in the Middle East. It is dangerous to be a foreigner in any part of Iraq but I noticed last year that my Iraqi translator had started stressing to anybody we met that I was Irish rather than British. He claimed that The Independent was a well-known Scandinavian publication. Mr Imran is just one of many in the region whose outrage at the British and US governments is growing every day. "I want to kill Bush and Blair because of what they have done to us," he said. "They are against Islam whether it is in Palestine, Iraq or Afghanistan."

To Tony Blair, due to visit Israel next weekend, the problem is very straightforward. Speaking in Los Angeles last month he produced a terrifyingly over- simple view of the Middle East saying "the Iraqi and Afghan fight for democracy is our fight. Same values. Same enemy." He claimed that "we have to empower Moderate, Mainstream Islam to defeat Reactionary Islam". The American and British governments will apparently decide in future just who belongs to the latter strand of Islam and go to war with them. They will have their work cut out. The Britons who were killed yesterday in attacks across the Middle East died at the hands of very different people. The suicide bomber in Kabul was almost certainly sent on his mission by the Taliban, who are fundamentalist Sunni Muslims.

The Taliban might not even recognise as Muslim the men, almost certainly Shia in the south of Iraq, who planted the roadside bomb that killed two British soldiers north of Basra.

I have spent most of my time since 2001 in Afghanistan and Iraq. The reason for the rise of radical Islam is foreign occupation. Iraq had a secular tradition. Fanatical Islamic groups made little headway under Saddam Hussein not only because he persecuted them but because they had little popular support.

But the five million-strong Sunni community in Iraq almost entirely supported armed resistance to the US occupation. Fanatical Islamic groups were for the first time operating in a friendly environment.

At one moment in the past year the many Sunni insurgent groups debated whether they should try to hammer out a common platform. They eventually decided that their differences were too deep for unity on most issues but they were all agreed on opposition to the occupation and they concluded this was sufficient to hold them together.

One of the most extraordinary aspects of Tony Blair's analysis of militant Islam is his blindness to the extent to which foreign invasion and occupation has radicalised the region and legitimised militant Islam. For instance this weekend a group of Palestinian students in Jerusalem were debating the impact of the war in Lebanon on Palestinian fortunes. The issue which most interested them was the reason why Hizbollah was able to withstand Israeli attacks compared with the failure of secular nationalist movements such as Fatah, led by Yasser Arafat for so many years.

Across the Middle East secularist and nationalist regimes are being discredited by the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. Most governments in the region are corrupt patronage machines backed by brutal security services. They are close to the US but have little influence over it. All are becoming unstable in a way not seen since the 1960s.

The attack by a lone gunman in Jordan holds another dangerous message. At the end of 2001 I was able to stroll through the streets of Kabul and Kandahar without fear of being attacked. I drove between the two cities in a taxi. The same was true in Baghdad under Saddam Hussein and during the first months of the occupation. In 2003 I drove down to Basra in southern Iraq and up to Mosul in the far north without incident.

If I tried to repeat any of these journeys in Iraq or Afghanistan today I would certainly be killed. The rest of the Middle East is becoming more dangerous by the day.

The real reason of the increasing violence in the Middle East is the return to imperial control and foreign occupation half a century after the European colonial empires were broken up. This is the fuel for Islamic militancy. This is why fanatical but isolated Islamic groups can suddenly win broader support. Governments allied to the US and Britain have no legitimacy. The attempts by America and Britain to crush Islamic militancy across the Middle East are making sure it will become stronger.

    Another fatal day in the 'war on terror' , I, 5.9.2006, http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article1362708.ece

4.15pm update

British military toll continues to rise

Monday September 4, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Staff and agencies


Three British soldiers have been killed and two seriously injured in ongoing violence in Afghanistan and Iraq today, according to the Ministry of Defence.

The deaths came amid increasing concern about the army's overseas deployments and two days after 14 British soldiers were killed when an RAF Nimrod plane crashed in southern Afghanistan.

General Dannatt, the new head of the British army, told the Guardian today that soldiers were fighting at the limit of their capacity and could only just cope with the demands placed on them by the government.

"We are running hot, certainly running hot." He added: "Can we cope? I pause. I say 'just'."

The MoD said today that one British soldier was killed and another seriously injured when a four-wheel drive vehicle drove into a Nato convoy on Jalalabad Road, one of the busiest streets in Kabul.

Four Afghan civilians were killed and another nine, including three Nato troops, were injured in the morning attack. The driver of the vehicle was also killed.

"Sadly, one UK soldier has been killed and another very seriously injured as a result of this attack," said a spokesman from the MoD. "The injured soldier has been evacuated to a military medical facility for treatment."

Nato spokesman Major Toby Jackman said it was unclear if the attack was a suicide bombing or caused by a bomb that was being transported in a car, exploding prematurely.

The United Nations placed restrictions on movement of its personnel as British soldiers blocked the road leading to the site.

Suicide bombings in the capital have been rare, and have mainly take place in southern provinces where Afghan and Nato troops continue to fight anti-government elements.

Attackers have tended to target Jalalabad Road, which is home to Afghan and international military bases, a large United Nations compound and local shops.

A spokesman for Downing Street said the prime minister's view was "obviously one of sadness but it underlines again our debt of gratitude to the Army and the security services".

In Iraq, a roadside bomb north of Basra killed two British soldiers and injured two more, one seriously, said Major Charlie Burbridge.

The soldiers were travelling near the town of Ad Dayr in an armoured Land Rover, commonly known as a "snatch vehicle".

"It appears a roadside bomb was used to attack the convoy," Maj Burbridge said. "They were in a snatch vehicle. They have been designed to protect the crew against a certain threat and on occasion they have been defeated."

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said the injured men were taken by helicopter for emergency medical care at a British field hospital at Shaibah logistics base.

The identities of the dead soldiers were not being released until their families had been informed.

Twenty service personnel have been killed while on patrol in snatch vehicles in Iraq. Many experts have questioned whether the Land Rovers provide adequate protection from the weapons used by Iraqi insurgents.

Meanwhile, Nato in Afghanistan announced that warplanes had accidentally killed a Canadian soldier and wounded five others in a "friendly fire" incident in southern Afghanistan.

The incident happened today during an operation in Kandahar province, where Nato troops fighting anti-government elements in the western Panjwayi district called for air support.

Two Nato aircraft "regrettably engaged friendly forces during a strafing run, using cannons", a Nato statement said. An investigation was being launched.

"It is particularly distressing to us all when, despite the care and precautions that are always applied, a tragedy like this happens," the Nato commander Lieutenant General David Richards said.

    British military toll continues to rise, G, 4.9.2006, http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,1864625,00.html