Military shaken by torture probe

By Finlo Rohrer
BBC News Online

There are fears opinion of the British could change among Iraqis

Former senior officers have told BBC News Online of their shock at photos apparently showing UK soldiers tormenting an Iraqi prisoner.

The photos published in the Daily Mirror show the captive being urinated on and assaulted.

Former assistant chief of defence staff Air Marshal Sir Timothy Garden said if true the photos could broaden support for the insurgents in Iraq.

"It is the sort of action that loses you the campaign," he said.

Sir Timothy, soon to be a working peer, said a very quick investigation was needed to establish whether the photos were genuine and who was responsible.

If you do things which broaden the support for the insurgents you are losing the battle Sir Timothy Garden Former assistant chief of defence staff

"It is really worrying when you are in a campaign trying to protect Iraqis and rebuild the country.

"The campaign has been going badly in the central sector in part because of the way the battle has been waged with too much force.

"If it turns out these pictures are what they are said to be, it must be investigated quickly and they must hope that it's isolated.

"If it turns out to be the tip of the iceberg then there is a major problem.

"You can't have a campaign to win hearts and minds, and then this."

Arab world

Sir Timothy said he had been on an Army chatroom where serving soldiers had been expressing their "revulsion" over the photos.

"When you get to the stage of photographs, it suggests a number of people are complicit.

"The Arab world will jump to conclusions, it is bound to have an effect on the broader Iraqi public opinion, which is already pretty anti the coalition who they see as an imperialist occupying force.

"If you do things which broaden the support for the insurgents you are losing the battle."

Morale, which had been boosted by the general perception that the British Army was handling things better than the Americans, would inevitably be affected, Sir Timothy added.

It is always the fault of the officers - there are no bad soldiers, just bad officers Major Charles Heyman Jane's World Armies

Major Charles Heyman, editor of Jane's World Armies, said many servicemen were angry about the photos.

"It is pretty horrific. The Army is beside itself with rage.

"They will go to prison, almost certainly."

He said the ultimate blame would lie with officers rather than the men directly involved.

"It is always the fault of the officers. There are no bad soldiers, just bad officers.

"All the officers involved will find their careers come to a full stop. Nobody will get away with this."

Bigger headlines

But Maj Heyman said there had been other bad incidents in the armed forces that had eventually been forgotten.

"It will have an impact but it will be very quickly become yesterday's news. In the great march of history there will be bigger headlines."

He said morale among ordinary soldiers would not be significantly lowered as the blame, if the photos were substantiated, would be heaped on the regiment involved rather than the Army as a whole.

But he said for the military planners in Iraq it constituted a major problem, with the Iraqi public and commentators conflating the withdrawal in Falluja, the battles against Shia militia and the photos.

"It is difficult to see the coalition achieving their aim," he concluded.