Truth censored by the top brass
Evidence that backs jailed Marine to be cynically suppressed
COVERED in the censor’s black ink, this is the official report the Navy plans to publish into the shooting incident – with only Blackman’s name visible.
The report draws ‘challenging’ conclusions about failures through the chain of command.
But instead of making these public, it plans to conveniently absolve military chiefs of responsibility while piling all the blame on the jailed Royal Marine.
The single page is all the Navy wants the public to know about its inquiry into the case, the investigation by the Daily Mail has discovered.
Military top brass have been plotting the cover-up for weeks – vowing to use a loophole in the Freedom of Information Act to deny the public the full truth.
The lengthy internal inquiry – codenamed Operation Telemeter – was commissioned by Navy chiefs after Blackman was convicted. Its purpose was to investigate what went wrong on the battlefield and ensure lessons were learned. The resulting report is 50 pages long – and will not be made public.
However the Mail has obtained a damning internal letter making clear the inquiry found failings in the chain of command. It also reveals a ‘media handling strategy’ to release only a single page, in heavily redacted form.
Written to military chiefs in July by the Fleet Commander of the Royal Navy, Vice Admiral Sir Philip Jones KCB, and seen by the Mail, the letter states: ‘The full review will remain a controlled document. Unsurprisingly, however, knowledge of the review is i n the public domain and there have been requests under the Freedom of Information Act f or i t to be published.
‘That is NOT the intention but we will be releasing a redacted version of the executive summary by the end of September.’
He added that the report’s findings ‘may make uncomfortable reading for some’. Sir Philip states: ‘In Blackman’s chain of command... it has identified what might have been done differently.’
He demanded the report’s ‘challenging findings and recommendations are adhered to’, and said several individuals were affected – none named publicly.
This is at odds with the official line that only Blackman was to blame for the incident.
After he was jailed, Prime Minister David Cameron described Blackman’s case as ‘an appalling story’ and said i t would not ‘besmirch the incredible work of the Royal Marines’.
However his supporters say the Operation Telemeter report – even in redacted form – makes it clear that others in the chain of command come in for criticism.
The Freedom of Information Act contains provision for the military to refuse requests by citing national security.
The single page the Navy has decided to publish by the end of this month is covered in black i nk. After four paragraphs of obscured findings, the review has just one answer to what went wrong – Blackman.
The conclusion for public consumption i s: ‘ Sgt Blackman allowed professional standards to slip to an unacceptably low level.’
Last night author Frederick Forsyth, leading the campaign for Blackman, said: ‘He was made the scapegoat at the court martial, and now he is to be made the scapegoat again.
‘It is disgraceful that Navy top brass plan to sweep under the carpet evidence which could help Blackman.
‘He and his men were abandoned in an Afghan hell on earth until they were dangerously exhausted – a grenade with the pin out. Now the sergeant has been left to rot in jail while the brass pretend they have never heard of him.’
‘Uncomfortable
reading’