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"If proven, the perpetrators are not fit to wear the queen's uniform. They have besmirched the good name of the army and its honor," said Jackson
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LONDON,
May 1 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – The four pictures
published by the press Saturday, May 1, showing British troops
brutally beat and urinate on an Iraqi detainee drew an immediate
outcry and an urgent investigation.
"If
proven, not only is such appalling conduct clearly unlawful, but it
also contravenes the British army's high standards," British
Chief of General Staff Sir Mike Jackson as quoted as saying by Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
"If
proven, the perpetrators are not fit to wear the queen's uniform. They
have besmirched the good name of the army and its honor," he told
a hastily arranged press conference in London.
The
mass-circulation Daily Mirror published
four pictures showing British troops brutally beat and urinated on
an Iraqi detainee.
While
Prime Minister Tony Blair said the reported abuse is shameful, his
spokesman said the prime minister fully endorsed the words of his army
chief.
"The
prime minister agreed that allegations of this nature are treated most
seriously, but they should not be taken as a reflection of the general
behavior of coalition forces and the work they are doing with the
Iraqi people," the Downing Street spokesman said.
Britain's
armed forces minister Adam Ingram told BBC radio Saturday: "If
these allegations are true, they are appalling, they are despicable
and there is no justification for them at all."
'Damaging'
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"This issue must be resolved as soon as possible before more damage is done to the reputation of our forces," said Kennedy |
Michael
Ancram, the opposition Conservative Party's foreign affairs spokesman,
called for a "swift full and in-depth inquiry" into the
"wholly unacceptable and damaging" misconduct.
Charles
Kennedy, leader of the opposition Liberal democrats, said: "If
true, such treatment of people is a total disgrace and a disservice to
all that we stand for and to what needs to be achieved in Iraq.
"This
issue must be resolved as soon as possible before more damage is done
to the reputation of our forces."
Ahmed
Al-Sheik, editor-in-chief of Arab TV news, warned the photographs
would outrage Arabs around the world.
"These
scenes are humiliating not only to the Iraqis, but to every Arab
citizen around the world," he told BBC's Newsnight television
program in London.
The
furor came after pictures apparently showing U.S. soldiers abusing
Iraqi detainees drew
international condemnation Friday and overshadowed a U.S. pullout
from the troubled Iraqi city of Fallujah
'Bleeding'
"Vile,
but this time it's a British soldier degrading an Iraqi," said
the Daily Mirror's headline on a front page dominated by a photograph
of a man in army uniform appearing to urinate on a bound detainee who
had a bag over his head.
Further
pictures inside appeared to show a soldier jabbing the man - who was
wearing nothing but underpants and a T-shirt - in the groin with a
rifle, and the prisoner lying on the floor with a soldier's boot on
his head.
The
paper - the strongest voice of opposition to the Iraq invasion in
Britain - said that the detainee, aged 18-20, was savagely beaten
before being thrown from a moving truck leaving to die.
The
daily reported that the detainee was earlier threatened with execution
during an eight-hour ordeal, which left him bleeding and vomiting,
with a broken jaw and smashed teeth.
The
Daily Mirror said it was given the pictures by serving soldiers from
the Queen's Lancashire Regiment, who were horrified at the act
depicted.
One
of the soldiers quoted anonymously by the newspaper said: "We are
not helping ourselves out there. We are never going to get them (the
Iraqi people) on our side. We are fighting a losing war".
