Soldiers face new inquiry:
Three veterans cleared by two investigations face third inquiry over death of looter in Iraq in 2003
MARTIN McGing was only 18 and barely out of school. But at that young age, he risked his life to serve a country he thought would be grateful. Joining the British Army as a teenager, he found himself thousands of miles from home in the hostile, terrifying environment of Basra in southern Iraq.
Guardsman McGing’s comrade Joseph McCleary was only two years older. McCleary had seen two friends killed in Basra, and back in 2003 the duo were part of a detail trying to maintain order in a city overrun by looters and insurgents.
An incident on May 8, 2003 would change their lives and still haunt them 13 years on. A young Iraqi accused of looting, Ahmed Jabbar Kareem Ali, had been arrested by the pair and another older soldier, Carle Selman, a colour sergeant. In the process – events at this stage are heavily disputed – the 17-yearold Iraqi drowned.
Three years later the trio were cleared of manslaughter at a court martial. But in 2010 they faced a second investigation, by the Iraq Historic Allegations Team (Ihat), which is examining more than 1,500 claims of abuse by British forces and can bring further charges if it sees fit. Again they were cleared but only after a five-year investigation. Ihat found “there was no prospect of gaining any new or compelling evidence to go any way to altering a previous decision made by the courts martial”. But it hasn’t ended there. In a move described as “vindictive”, the three men face a further judicial inquiry into their actions in May 2003. The Iraq Fatality Investigations (IFI) inquiry, led by a former High Court judge, has begun its own investigation into Ali’s death.
The IFI – like an inquest – will not look to attribute individual blame but is mandated to explore fully the circumstances of deaths of Iraqi citizens during the conflict. It has the power to force Selman, McGing and McCleary to give evidence to the latest inquiry.
It was set up by the Government to examine the “relevant facts and accountability” for a number of Iraqi deaths, after the European Court of Human Rights concluded that previous investigations had breached procedural rules laid down by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The IFI will not rule on any criminal or civil liability over the death, but the prospect of being put in the dock once more and so many years after the incident has horrified the veterans, who fear the physical and mental exhaustion of having to relive their ordeal.
The trio are not alone. Many British soldiers who fought in Iraq are still being pursued. Ihat is still investigating more than 1,500 cases – likely to take well into the next decade, with the threat of criminal charges hanging over many veterans. Meanwhile, lawyers representing hundreds of Iraqis claiming abuse by the soldiers have made a fortune out of the Iraq war.
Some 1,070 of Ihat’s investigations of alleged abuse and some cases of torture and unlawful killing of Iraqi civilians have been brought by one British law firm, Public Interest Lawyers, founded by Birmingham-based solicitor Phil Shiner. One of his longest-standing clients is the family of Ali. The latest investigation has appalled the veterans. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, McCleary, now 34, said: “I gave my life to the Army. I fought for and served my country in Iraq and I lost a couple of good friends out there. I had to face the danger every day there.
“It feels vindictive to keep looking at this same issue again and again. It feels as if they are looking to find something else against us.
“I had to put my life on hold for two years while waiting for the court martial with these claims hanging over my head. It was terrible. I was bordering on suicide. I didn’t sleep for six weeks during the trial because the whole thing affected me so much. But nobody wanted to know that at the time.
“The thought of giving evidence all over again, this time to the IFI, makes me feel sick. I’ve gone through stuff I’ll never forget and I don’t want it dragged up again. It’s simply not fair. It took me a long time to rebuild my life. I’ve married, I’ve got a new job, a family. If they contact me to give evidence, of course I will co-operate with the inquiry, but it will be heart-breaking for me and my family.”
Selman, 49, who lives with his family in Wiltshire, said: “I thought I had finished with that part of my life before this came up all over again. I’d put it behind me and I was trying and move on from it. I really don’t want to talk about that period or go through it again.”
Friends of McGing, who is now married with children, said he feels as if he has been plunged back into a nightmare he thought he had left behind. “He is very worried about this. He thought he had put it all behind him,” said one.
The three men were originally accused of forcing Ali and three other looters at gunpoint into a canal as punishment, and allowing the teenager to drown. Ali’s death came a week after the official end of the war in 2003, when the Irish Guards, who had lost two men in the fight for Basra, were striving with other British troops to control almost a million people.
The “not guilty” verdicts followed criticism of the Army Prosecuting Authority and Royal Military Police investigators by politicians and retired officers who said the investigations were politically driven. A key eyewitness admitted he was seeking compensation for his detention.
Campaign group UK Veterans – One Voice says troops are being “vilified” by repeated legal investigations, and that several of its members have been left feeling suicidal after finding their cases were being looked at again more than a decade after they fought in Iraq.
A spokesman for the group said: “There should be a thorough investigation but once it’s been investigated in a reputable manner, a line should be drawn under it.”