World sees shocking images of British soldiers' brutality

[Son Goten]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...038149,00.html

A SHOCKING breakdown of military discipline is caught on video as eight burly British soldiers rain 42 kicks and blows on four puny young male Iraqi civilians, one of them a child.

The victims’ helpless cries for mercy and howls of pain and terror are ignored by groups of troops casually passing by. One man is heard to say: “In the f***ing head.”

The most senior soldier, thought to be a sergeant, does nothing to stop the brutality but instead delivers a vicious kick to one victim’s genitals.

The video’s soundtrack features a disturbing commentary from the cameraman, an excited sentry who laughs, sneers, encourages and mocks as the outrage unfolds before him.

Still images from the video, provided by a paid whistleblower and published in the News of the World, prove that the incident was far from being a unique atrocity perpetrated by the British forces in Iraq.

In another location an Iraqi civilian is seen being forced to kneel alone behind a brick wall by three soldiers who kick him hard in the chest.

A further episode sees a soldier display the corpse of a young Iraqi man, lift the victim’s head and display it to the camera. The cameraman defiles the body by twice kicking the dead face, a grievous insult to Arabs who regard shoes as dirty. A soldier laughs: “He’s been a bad motherf***er”.

But it is the casual savagery of the attack on the four young males, in effect prisoners of the British forces, which forms the most devastating two minutes of the video.

At first, groups of youths throw stones at the stronghold but they flee when lines of baton-wielding British soldiers emerge. A radio voice screeches targets for the troops: “Black top, blue bottoms — go on!”

Some of the Britons return, dragging their captives in headlocks. The moment they get inside the perimeter wall, out of sight of the civilian population, the violence begins.

The first victim, a boy no older than his early teens, is released from a headlock by a soldier still wearing his helmet who immediately head-butts him. The boy cries “No, please” and clings helplessly to the soldier’s baton. Another soldier grabs the boy’s neck and throws him to the ground. The first soldier brings his baton smashing down on to the child.

A second, slightly built youth is repeatedly dealt heavy blows with the baton until he crumples. A third victim is battered to the ground with a baton and kicked repeatedly like a football. In a distressing image the prisoner is last seen unconscious with a dark patch, resembling blood, around his head.

The cameraman shouts with delight when the captives are first brought into the compound. “Yes, yes, oh yes, you’re going to get it,” he says. “Yes, naughty little boys. Ha, ha, ha, ha. Phwoar. You little f***ers, you little f***ers. Die!” He mocks the captives’ pleas for mercy, adopting a high-pitched voice to say: “No, please don’t hurt me!”

The News of the World published extracts from the video on its website yesterday, allowing millions of people to download the images. The newspaper studied the video for several days, taking pains to confirm that it was genuine after hoax Iraqi abuse photographs cost Piers Morgan his job as Editor of the Daily Mirror. Stuart Kuttner, the News of the World’s managing editor, said: “We’ve made inquiries of the source, of people around the source, of military experts, of the Ministry of Defence and beyond.”

One of the key mysteries is how such a film could exist and be shown to military personnel for two years without the obvious crimes depicted being reported to the authorities.

[TRAZ]

Pretty horrible.....there are some sick ***** out there.....

[Taekwondo Guy]

I saw the video last night, i dont condone the attacks but they said on the news last (BBC) that the stones were thrown at the soldiers themselves, not the stronghold.

Abuse of power indeed, but abuse of soldiers and civilians going both ways... war is hell

[TrainedMind]

War is hell indeed...Too bad we can only wait and see the outcome.

[larryj1973]

I support the British Army.

If you are dumb enough to throw stones at them and then get your ass severely mauled then you got off easy.

I know for a fact that during the Battle of Normandy members of the 12th SS that tried to surrender to the British were shot on site...as someone else said "War is Hell"

[ams33]

and some fools wonder why hate towards US and UK in the arab world is growing .........

[gmmvp42]

why is there no mention of the grenades thrown at the soldiers, not just rocks

[TrainedMind]

Originally Posted by gmmvp42

why is there no mention of the grenades thrown at the soldiers, not just rocks

It's just to justify their hatred toward the Brits. You know how it goes: They are obviously looking for sympathiser(s)

[Taekwondo Guy]

Originally Posted by larryj1973

I support the British Army.

If you are dumb enough to throw stones at them and then get your ass severely mauled then you got off easy.

I know for a fact that during the Battle of Normandy members of the 12th SS that tried to surrender to the British were shot on site...as someone else said "War is Hell"

one german soldier was attributed to killing 3000 men from his machine gun outpost, once he ran out of ammo he did not retreat, he picked up his rifle and picked some more off. Germans got what they deserved. Karma.

Throw stones at anyone and your going to get a beating

[ams33]

i dont think that throwing a stone at a soldier desreve this kind of punishment , besides the are KIDS , wtf is wrong with u guys , for god sake , they are kids ....besides if as u r telling stones and grenades are thrown at the british and US army , then i think ,it s the biggest evidence that they are not welcomed there in iraq , DO I HAVE TO REMIND ALL OF U THAT THIS IS AN OCCUPATION , i think in every country it s allowed to resist occupation by any mean and this is justified according to the UN , call it whatever u want : freedom of iraq , justice , democracy ......any [edit] u want , iraq is ocupied and this occupation is not supported by the UN , and i guess they re not welcomed there at all cuz ppl are resisiting them , so why not go back to ur countries and care for ur own buisness......

edited for language

[ams33]

sorry if i seemed a bit offensive , but i didnt mean it , it s just i was so angry from what i saw , nothing personal to any one of u guys ok .......

[Taekwondo Guy]

Originally Posted by ams33

i dont think that throwing a stone at a soldier desreve this kind of punishment , besides the are KIDS , wtf is wrong with u guys , for god sake , they are kids ....besides if as u r telling stones and grenades are thrown at the british and US army , then i think ,it s the biggest evidence that they are not welcomed there in iraq ,

So because they are not welcomed in Iraq then they are allowed to be subjected to grenade attacks by kids?
Wow, sounds like a freee for all, can i join in? Pleeease....

DO I HAVE TO REMIND ALL OF U THAT THIS IS AN OCCUPATION , i think in every country it s allowed to resist occupation by any mean and this is justified according to the UN

sources please?
I doubt the UN allow grenade attacks on soliders

call it whatever u want : freedom of iraq , justice , democracy ......any [edit] u want , iraq is ocupied and this occupation is not supported by the UN , and i guess they re not welcomed there at all cuz ppl are resisiting them , so why not go back to ur countries and care for ur own buisness......

I wish i could say that to all the muslims living in england who like to incite racist/religious hatred here.

If the US and UK were to pull out now the country would be in chaos through having a corrupt police/security force and the fanatics running the circus. Get a clue and realise that its not as clean cut as just pulling out the troops.

edited for language[/quote]

[Sam_2005]

The soldiers are out there to do a job, when people throw stones at them amongst other weapon like paraphernalia it must get on top of them. The way the Iraqi 'teenagers' were portrayed as innoncent in all this worsens reactions against the millitary. I also question why this footage was released as it will only fuel the flames of a delicate situation. It is out of context with the portrial and it also seems to be an isolated incident (actually happened two years ago).

"so why not go back to ur countries and care for ur own buisness...... " This is a just a double standard. It's considered racist for any one british or Western to say this. I am personally sick of having muslims whom incite racial hatred in my country, why cant they move out to Iraq if it means so much to them. Oh I forgot we supply free health care