<font color=brown>Some graphic details of what the Brits allegededly did to an Iraqi caught stealing at the docks. The guy apparently was 19-20 years old. After 8 hours of beating, they threw him off a moving truck to die. Assuming its true, and some are trying to claim it isn't, I want to know how we are significantly better than Saddam?<font color=black>
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Sunday 02 May 2004 > National news
Britain in tailspin over Iraq photos
ANDREW DONALDSON: London
DISGRACE: The front page of the Daily Mirror with one of the pictures of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi captive
AS THE world recoiled at images of prisoners being stripped naked and mocked by US soldiers, new pictures of a British soldier urinating on an Iraqi was published in Britain's Mirror newspaper yesterday.
Downing Street has launched an urgent inquiry into allegations that UK troops beat and urinated on a prisoner, said to be between 18 and 20 years old.
Published in yesterday's Daily Mirror, the five photographs show soldiers kicking and stamping on the youth. The photograph of a trooper apparently urinating on the hooded prisoner dominated the paper's front page.
The shocking images, which drew immediate condemnation from Britain's army chief and defence minister, were published just days after pictures of US troops abusing Iraqi prisoners provoked anger and dismay around the world.
Through a spokesman, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said that the behaviour of the men in the photographs "directly contravened" the US-led coalition's policy towards prisoners.
Britain's most senior general, Sir Michael Jackson, has ordered an inquiry into the allegations against the men, all soldiers in the Queen's Lancashire Regiment stationed at Basra and who had detained the Iraqi on suspicion of stealing.
The BBC has reported that the Defence Ministry was in a "tailspin" over the news, which threatened the British mission to win Iraqi "hearts and minds".
The Mirror reported that the pictures were handed over by British soldiers who claimed a rogue element in the British army was responsible for abusing prisoners and civilians.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the soldiers told the paper no charges were brought against the unnamed captive. They claimed that during his eight-hour ordeal, in September last year, he was threatened with execution, his jaw broken and his teeth smashed.
The reason for making the photos public was, they said, to show why the US-UK coalition was encountering such fierce resistance in Iraq.
Blair, who is considering sending more troops, is facing mounting criticism over his Iraq policy.
The account given by the soldiers to the Mirror made for harrowing reading.
One of the soldiers told the newspaper: "You pick on a man and go for him. Straightaway he gets a beating, a couple of punches and kicks to put him down. Then he was dragged to the back of the vehicle." A sandbag was placed over his head and his hands tied behind his back.
"He was hit with batons on the knees, fingers, toes, elbows and head. You normally try to leave off the face until you're in camp. If you pull up with black eyes and bleeding faces you could be in shit.
"So it's body shots - scaring him, saying 'We're going to kill you'. A lot of them cry and piss themselves. Because it was so hot we put him in the back of a four-tonner truck which has a canopy over it. That's where the photos were taken.
"Lads were taking turns giving him a right going over, smashing him in the face with weapons and stamping on him. We had him for about eight hours.
"You could see blood coming out early. He was pissed on and there was spew. We took his mask off to give him some water and let him have a rest for 10 minutes. He could only speak a few words, pleading 'No, mister. No, mister.'
"I did less than the others. But I joined in. Me and my mate calmed down. Then two lads come on and it starts again.
"He was on his way to being killed. There's only so much you can take.
"An officer came down. It was, 'Get rid of [the prisoner] - I haven't seen him'. The paperwork gets ripped. So they threw him out, still with a bag on his head."
The soldier said: "He'd done nothing, really. I felt sorry for him. I'm not emotional about it, but I knew it was wrong."
After the alleged September beating, troops were told to destroy incriminating evidence. "We got a warning, saying the Military Police had found a video of people throwing prisoners off a bridge. It wasn't 'Don't do it' or 'Stop it'. It was 'Get rid of it'," the soldier said.
Weeks after the pictures were taken, a captive was allegedly beaten to death in custody by men from the Queen's Lancashire Regiment.
The Mirror also claimed a video was found of prisoners being thrown off a bridge. The incident was being investigated and at least one soldier was expected to be charged with manslaughter, it said.
The newspaper's sources - the two infantrymen - claim that this abuse of prisoners has started because Iraqi police are powerless to process suspects.
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